<p>I drive a 2002 Honda civic with 106.000 miles. One dealer says to replace the timing belt and water pump since it is easier to do and one tells me to replace the timing belt but inspect the water pump and replace only if leaking. They also want to do a tune up and the total will be in the 1300 range (if we do water pump and 1000 w/o pump).</p>
<p>Any experience with this?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Always good to replace a water pump when everything else is apart. It’s a wear item.</p>
<p>We have a 2000 Toyota Camry with 87,000 miles. At the recommendation of our mechanic, we elected to replace the water pump along with the timing belt last month since 90% of the labor was already done. The cost of the water pump itself was negligible.</p>
<p>I suggest you get a quote from an independent mechanic. The quote on our car was $400 more from the Toyota dealer than from our local mechanic.</p>
<p>My mechanic did both when he replaced the timing belt at about 110,000 on my Subaru. He has never recommended things in the past that weren’t needed (in fact, sometimes I have had to twist his arm to do things I think he should do 
).</p>
<p>My mechanic sent me home when I thought I should get an oil change after 5 months. I had only driven about 500 total miles. He said I was fine. </p>
<p>A good mechanic is a critical as a good hairdresser. I don’t know I’d do without them.</p>
<p>My 2000 Avalon still has the original water pump at 180,000 miles. I guess I will replace it on the next timing belt change. I’ll also do belts and hoses too. My previous cars went through water pumps faster than the current car (they were German vehicles).</p>
<p>Depending on the design, the water pump needs to be removed/installed anyway when the timing belt is replaced and there’s little point in reinstalling an old water pump, especially if it has 106K miles on it since it’s an item that does eventually fail. A water pump has seals and bearings and it’s usually one of these that’ll fail. Sometimes it’ll fail just due to corrosion of the metal parts. The labor to replace the pump should be negligible though since they have to reinstall the pump, whether the old one or the new one, anyway when they replace the belt. If the part cost for the WP is unusually high then it might make sense to use the old one until it fails but there are usually aftermarket ones available for a reasonable cost (although parts for Japanese cars are usually more than for my Dodge).</p>
<p>I’d ask the initial dealer how much of that extra $300 is the cost of the pump as opposed to labor and if there’s much at all in the labor ask them why since it’s your understanding that there’s essentially no incremental labor time to install the new pump.</p>
<p>I’d avoid the second dealer because it makes no sense to not replace the WP (usually) when doing the timing belt.</p>
<p>I agree with checking the cost with a good quality independent car repair place since dealers sometimes (usually) charge more than an independent dealer. They also can have less expensive parts costs since they might use quality aftermarket parts and often don’t mark up the parts costs as much as the dealer does.</p>
<p>BCEagle:
180K is a lot of miles to get out of a water pump so I think you’ve done well. I’ve changed the WP 3 times so far (with actual failures each time but they were gentle leaks rather than catastrophic failures) in my Durango with 163K miles on it although it’s a bigger engine with more force on the pulley. I did all the work myself so the cost wasn’t high but it was still a pain to have to do.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Do you all agree then that this is something that should be done at this mileage?</p>
<p>I agree that it should be done at this mileage but they shouldn’t ding you for much, if any, additional labor.</p>
<p>The Avalon is Toyota’s flagship and maybe they put in better parts here and there. Cost really isn’t an issue to me on maintenance. If they say I should replace something, I replace it.</p>
<p>One of my old (cheaper Audis) had a leak in a fuel line after a zillion miles that I replaced. I think that my second Audi (rather expensive) had steel braided lines. Sometimes more expense = better parts.</p>
<p>Be advised: If your car has a “zero clearance” engine a timing belt failure will result in a ruined engine. Replace per the manual. </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_zero_clearance_engine]Link[/url”>What is zero clearance engine? - Answers]Link[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I agree with barrons and mapesy. The extra cost to replace the water pump should be negligible, and this is the kind of work any decent mechanic can do competently. </p>
<p>Whoa, I just re-read your post. $1,300 with pump and $1,000 without? DEFINITELY find another place to do this work. NAPA lists the cost of the pump $75 - $115, depending on the brand.</p>
<p>We had to have timing belts done on an old camry and '99 passat which both had exceeded 100k miles. In both cases, we were advised to do the water pump simultaneously. The labor costs are the big component so it really saves money in the long run. Typically, the manufacturer has a recommended mileage timeframe for these to be done.</p>
<p>FYI, in both cases, we had excellent mechanics who we trusted. (The kind that try to do only what’s needed. And they both are very honest about prioritizing what’s needed when. I felt pretty comfortable proceeding with doing the timing belt and water pump together.</p>
<p>Timing belt change is rec 110,000 miles for Honda…
Too much money - Belt and pump under $700. (perhaps under $500.)
Tune-up - mostly handled by on board computer - so what does a tune-up mean (maybe replacing the O2 sensor ?, PVC ?, spark plugs?, wires?, filters - mostlikely way over priced so make sure you know exactly what it covers.</p>
<p>It sounds like too much to me, too. The total for the timing belt and water pump for our Camry was a little over $500. Granted, the dealer did quote us around $900.</p>
<p>I agree with what everyone else said about finding another place to have this work done… I had my timing belt, water pump, and belts changed for $345 by my local mechanic. I’ve been using the guy for 10 years now and my parents have been using him long before that… so it definitely pays to look around.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I will definitely look around. I have been burned by a local mechanic and therefore went back to the dealer.</p>
<p>I just replaced the timing belt and water pump on my 2002 Landcruiser. Also rear brakes. our friend who is a sales rep for an import auto parts company recommended the water pump be done the same time, as it would be less expensive to do while they are already replacing the timing belt. I once had a timing belt go on a relatively new car…it isn’t pretty.
Pretty routine maintenance , but the entire job was about $1000 . We had it done by a mechanic that our friend highly recommended.</p>
<p>DH just bought DD a “new” used car. Since we were limiting the budget and wanted reliable, he was looking at Hondas, Toyotas and Acuras among others. They all had close to 100K miles so he always checked to see if the timing belt and water pump had been replaced already. He said they should be done together since the water pump has to be removed anyhow. It should not cost any extra labor to put the new one in. He thinks you are being billed from the standard shop rates as if that was the only thing being done. Talk to them and let them know that you know it does not take any more labor to put a new one in. .</p>
<p>The cost of changing a timing belt - with or without a water pump change - is pretty substantial. I live in an area where the cost of auto repairs is extremely high so I don’t buy cars with fiber timing belts. Metal timing chains do not require periodic replacement.</p>