Hi Everyone,

It is time for a new timing belt for my Croma (almost 5 years passed). Generally, the idler pulleys and tensioners will be replaced as well. I see that some sets are sold with the water pump included.

The Fiat manual is not mentioning the water pump. Is it necessary to replace the water pump? Does it have to be replaced over time? Or is it designed to last the entire life of the car?

Hi

The waterpump shaft is running on bearings..
I have had a waterpump bearing fail..

Result was the cambelt jumped 7teeth after the belt tension changed

Not good news on any modern engine

Had a Laguna and had the belt done with specific instructions to replace everything that was accessible while the covers were off. 1 week later thanks to the stupid garage it was back again for the waterpump that they failed to do so a second belt and a pump that cost an arm and a leg to do its a local rural garage dealership. I bought our Panda 1609 there and it came with a new MOT. I should have expected it to need the £500 of repairs that were required - all MOT failures if that had been done correctly.

My advice - change the pump tensioners and idlers every time.b Avoid the gambling! If you find a good garage / mechanic, treat them well!!!

Yup, if the pump is driven by the cam belt I'd always fit a new one. Before I did the belts on our Panda and my boy's Punto I asked around a few garages for quotes including the main agent and was very surprised to find the main agent was cheapest. Being very suspicious I asked them to detail exactly what they would fit and no, it didn't include the pump. I asked why not and was told they would check the pump during the work and fit a new one if needed but that would increase the cost, and boy did it increase the cost, by at least 50%. What I want to know is how anyone, no matter how experienced and qualified, can tell if a water pump which appears to be Ok at the moment of changing the belt - but may well have done 60,000 miles and be maybe 4 or 5 years old, is still going to be Ok at 100,000 miles plus and another 4 years old? No, I don't believe it's possible. So if you don't change it you can only be living in hope. The other smaller local garages I approached all quoted for a new pump as part of the job and were charging only slightly more than the main agent would for fitting just the belt kit without the pump.

IMHO then it is best to replace the water pump at every cam belt change.

That said IF you have been doing to cam belt changes at the recommended 5 year (+/-) interval then you may have only done say 25K miles (5K per year) in which case any water pump that can not handle this sort of mileage is pants!

I've changed cam belts and pulleys but not pumps, and everything (belts, pulleys, pump, ....) but in ALL cases I have have well documented change history to rely on as on the first change I replaced everything and then on subsequent changes may have skipped the water pump, but rarely.

Bottom line is this. If in doubt replace everything.

All that said then there is another factor. Modern Long Life anti-freeze has a recommended life span of 5 years. If you change your cam belt etc. every 5 years then a coolant change will also be required so it makes sense to do the water pump at the same time as you have to drain the system anyway.