Water pump went on LW300

Can't complain too bitterly, got 98K on the car when the water pump bearing
started to go. Time to do the timing belt as well.

I could do the water pump myself the the timing belt requires too many
special tools. Left it off at buddy's garage and waiting for the bad news.
Keeping my fingers crossed now.
Oppie

 

Well this is novel.
Flat rate manual showed 3 hours to do the water pump by itself and 5 hours
to do the timing belt. Figure 5 hours and 20 minutes for both to be done.
All went well and picked up the car two days ago. Buddy said my bill wasn't
ready and he'd catch up with me later. Pretty nice since there was several
hundred in parts alone.

Water pump outer bearing was pretty trashed but amazingly did not cause a
leak. Car is VERY quiet now.
Given that I bought the car with 40K on it and that it was in fleet service,
most likely no major repairs were done on it. I now have 98K and the
serpentine belt was starting to get a bit dry but would most lilkely be good
for another 20K. Timing belt looked almost new except for a bit of polished
tooth faces. Pretty surprising that it held up that well. Just not anything
you ever want to see break unless you're ready to spring for a new
motor/car.

One final note is that the shifting had been a bit erratic. Following the
repair, it drove much better. I reasoned this to be related to the bad water
pump bearing... Not as far fetched as it might seem. A bad bearing mimics a
spark knock and can cause the ignition to be retarded. This may not cause a
SES but will affect the driveability.

Now just to find out what the final cost will be.

Oppie

 

Got the bad news today which wasn't as bad as I thought it might be - $670
Timing belt, Water pump and Serpentine belt plus labor. Done at my friendly
neighborhood garage. Took him two months to give me the bill. Nice since I
budgeted $800 and have been putting away something from each paycheck for
it.

This morning the HVAC blower switch jammed in the HI position. Thought I
could get just a switch - Wrong! Have to replace the whole HVAC panel at
$160. Didn't want to get caught without A/C, <sigh>
Oppie