My water pump needs replacing - does the cambelt need to come off to do that ?? The belt is only 18 months old but should I still replace it if indeed it does need to come off ?

Fiat Brava 1.6sx 1996/Mk1

Yes, its only a few extra ££ to get a new one.

What symptoms have you got that require a new pump?

Well, I'm not being tight or anything but its another 20 quid for a cambelt on a 100 quid job so that's a bit more than a few quid.

The water pump is making some terrible chugging noises particularly from cold, but basically all the time. The car is kangarooing in low gears too so I'm putting 2 + 2 together (maybe coming up with 5 ..)

You sure its not the alt or PAS pump? A water pump won't make the car kangaroo.

How would the PAS pump make the car kangaroo ?

It wouldn't either.

Kangarooing is usually a fuel/ignition problem.

Hmmm ... well it seems to be taking longer and longer to start the car these days. It always starts first time but needs 5 or 6 revolutions before it fires up. I replaced the starter motor 2 years ago .. what else should I be looking at ?

Does the starter turn at the same speed when you start it as before or is it getting slower?

When did you last change the battery?

Same speed - sounds very healthy, just takes too long. Battery is 2 years old.

When did you last do the plugs and plug leads?

About 9 months ago .. but this problem has existed since before that, very slowly getting worse. (Thanks for your ongoing time BTW)

Both leads and plugs?

Is it better or worse when hot?

Yes, both plugs and leads. It is better when warm, though still there. Incidentally, the engine flooded itself last month for the first time ever ... I thought it was bad luck but maybe it's related to this ....

How many miles on it?

If it flooded then you probably do have a spark problem.

Do you have a haynes manual and a multimeter? The manual shows how to test the coil pack. Also worth checking your charging voltage but if it cranks quickly then its probably just fine.

Other culprits are the crank and cam sensors, although they usually die after a clumsy cambelt change.

The car's got about 65k on it. Unfortunately I don't have a multimeter so can't test the coil pack. Is that an expensive part to buy new ?

Regarding crank and cam sensors, I did actually have the cambelt replaced about 1 year ago but I certainly don't remember anything seeming wrong immediately after that. Would I know if they have died (other than this symptom I mean) ?

A multimeter is useful, about 10x cheaper than a new coilpack.

Does it use much oil? Is the performance still OK?

Petrol efficiency is going down (or are prices just going up ). Once (literally) I had no acceleration for a few seconds but then it recovered. That's all I can think of really.

Oil consumption?

Does it idle smoothly?

It could always be a blocked exhaust, but it would fail MOT and drive like crap.

I've got a 97 1.6 with 85k on the clock and it starts first turn every time.

Oil consumption seems normal. No problems at MOT time either and the exhaust is 18 months old.

Have you taken the battery out in the last 12 months or so?

Might be worth doing an ECU reset just to be sure, disconnect the batt for a couple of hrs then reconnect and start the car and let it idle for 5 mins then turn off and restart.