<p>Would this be a bad risk if car is running well and make and model is considered highly reliable by Consumer Reports? Car has 68,000 and would be certified with warranty to 100,000. If there was a problem would it show up before 100 K? How do I find a trustworthy mechanic to look it over?</p>
<p>There’s not a problem with a replaced water pump. Water pumps wear out and are usually a maintenance item that needs to get replaced every now and then. I’ve personally replaced the water pump on my current car 4 times (but it has over 200K miles on it) and I’ve replaced many other water pumps on various vehicles. I wouldn’t hesitate buying a car just because the water pump was replaced. it’s better than buying one whose water pump ‘needs to be’ replaced.</p>
<p>It can be tough finding a quality mechanic to look the car over. if you don’t know of one then ask friends if they know of one. the problem is that some people might ‘think’ their mechanic is good when they’re not. You could also ask a place like AAA for a referral to one. If nothing else make sure the mechanic is ASE certified.</p>
<p>Who’s going to warrant the vehicle to 100K? Is it a manufacturer certified used car or is this just some used car lot saying they’ll guarantee it or is it some third party warranty company?</p>
<p>A water pump is a maintenance item. I’ve replaced a bunch of them over the years.</p>
<p>In cars where the water pump is driven by a timing belt, the two are usually replaced together (often during schedule maintenance for timing belt replacements), since the parts tend to cost a lot less than the labor.</p>
<p>This would be a manufacturer certified preowned vehicle. I’m just concerned that there could be engine problems caused by whatever led the water pump to be replaced that might not show up for years. Is that possible or would any problems show up now?</p>
<p>Apollo, what a " maintainence" item means is that it is to be expected. Replacing a water pump is not indicative of a problem.</p>
<p>I’m afraid that there could have been a leak that could have caused the engine to overheat -not that I know this happened but this was the end for one if dh’s cars.</p>
<p>I get what you’re saying, Apollo6, because that is what happened to my Honda Odyssey. In my case the water pump went out and the engine overheated within a few minutes, but I bet I drove less than a mile. Honda replaced both, even though I was 5,000 miles over my warranty.</p>
<p>If you are looking at high-mileage cars (> 100K), you’ll typically find that the water pump has been changed. It is always possible that an owner ignored a leaking water pump and that there was an overheating problem and that there was some damage. In general, my service places always told me if there a water pump needed to be replaced - I really didn’t notice anything on the water temperature or oil temperature gauges. I don’t know if they looked for leaks or just looked at the coolant level. If you want to be sure, then you might have to look for a car with fewer miles on it.</p>
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<p>I think that these things usually provide a fair amount of notice and that they take some time to reach failure if you’re doing the recommended maintenance and inspections on the car.</p>
<p>68,000 miles seems kinda early for a water pump to go. It wouldn’t be good if car was driven overheated and cylinder head got warped or something. If car has timing belt and it hasn’t been replaced yet, it should be changed before too long…will cost maybe $800-1000 for the job. Some cars have timing chains instead of rubber timing belts…I’d rather have car with chain that doesn’t require timing belt replacement every 60-80,000 miles. If belt breaks, it can destroy engine. If you’re buying from dealer ‘certified preowned’…that’s good. would still be best to ask for service history and getting car examined by mechanic first before buying. Good luck!</p>
<p>It may depend on the design and quality and maybe the environment in which the car was driven. I remember that the timing belt service interval on my car was 90,000 miles but it was considerably fewer models on a similar car, the Camry from the same era.</p>
<p>I just had a look around and it appears that there are many cars that recommend changing the timing belt at 60K and it also appears that a lot of people ignore that recommendation. Is the car that you’re looking at one of those that recommends changing the timing belt at 60K? If so, that may be why the water pump was changed.</p>
<p>How old is this car? Most won’t certify a car that is more than three years old. If this car has 68,000 miles and is only three years old…or even four…that is a LOT of miles per year. Maybe the extensive amount of miles driven is why this maintenance item needed to be done sooner than later.</p>
<p>Per the OP, the car is warranted until 100K miles.</p>
<p>^^^really?? What is considered average? Our 7 month old Honda has 17k on it and our 11 yr. old Odyssey has 237k. I guess we must drive a lot.</p>
<p>I drive 20K miles/year which is considered a lot. I think that average is around 10K-12K. There’s great variation. If you live in the city, then you might drive very little. If you have a 60 mile commute because of high city housing prices, then you might drive a lot of miles.</p>
<p>Average annual mileage for new cars is between 12k and 15k per year (people tend to drive their new cars more than their older cars). For all cars the average is closer to 10k to 12k per year.</p>
<p>It’s not unusual to replace a timing belt at 60,000. (I was surprised I got to go until 90,000 on my Honda Pilot.) It’s customary to replace the water pump when you replace the timing belt.</p>
<p>This would not give me a moment’s hesitation about an otherwise desirable used car. But if it’ll make you feel better, find out whether the timing belt was replaced at the same time as the water pump. If so, it was probably the belt that was really the target, and the water pump was just replaced while half the engine had been removed to get to the timing belt. Which is S.O.P.</p>
<p>But this doesn’t sound to me like a car that’s been trouble-prone. Quite the opposite, it sounds like a car that’s been maintained.</p>
<p>I just checked my car and it has a timing chain. Should be good for at least 300,000 miles. Apparently the 4-cylinder Camry has had them since 2002 and the 6-cylinder since 2007. So I have to do the water pump on it’s on schedule.</p>
<p>BC…I realize the OP says the car is warranted until 100,000. I understand that. What I am asking…what year is that car? Most manufacturers don’t certify cars that are more than three years old (even IF the warranty is still in effect). If this is a 2010 car, to me almost 70,000 miles is a LOT of miles for a car that age.</p>
<p>Now…having said that…the new owner would have 30,000 more miles on that warranty. Assuming average miles per year, that would be 2-3 more years. Assuming the price is good, this sounds like a car worth considering.</p>
<p>I replaced the water pump on a Honda Accord (back in the 80’s) three times before 75,000 miles. I thought that was excessive.</p>
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<p>While that’s true, if it’s a car that new, it’ll probably go for a lot more miles than cars did in the 20th century. A hundred thousand miles used to be a lot; now 150,000 miles is kind of normal.</p>
<p>If this is a car that new with that many miles, I would want to know how it racked them up. A single owner with a long commute wouldn’t worry me much–especially if the commute included a lot of highway miles. On the other hand, if this was a car used for taxi service or deliveries in a city, that might be another issue.</p>
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<p>You were right!</p>