1987 Volvo 740 Station Wagon with a 4 cylinder Turbo motor with a 4 speed manual transmission with a electric OD. I replaced the motor at 283K due to rod knock. New motor has 35K on it and should be happy to at least 500K miles with a steady diet of M1. I really like the car so driving it is a joy. It's a Volvo owner thing if you have never owned one you will never understand our fascination with the cars.
If the waterpump goes on my Audi the timing belt will skip and the valves will kiss the pistons good-bye. Waterpump failure is the number one reason for destroyed Audi motors. Waterpumps on Audis don't usually last more than 100k miles. Every well-informed Audi owner is aware of this issue. When the timing belt is replaced every 60-90k miles or 4 years, the added cost of $80 for a new waterpump is negligible. A timing belt change on our cars goes for about $1000-$1200 at the stealer, or if you do it yourself, the parts will run you about $300, while labor is maybe 6 hours.
In the real world, for a street vehicle, I think it is more important to renew the aged, worn rubber parts of the brake system than to change the brake fluid. Most brake problems come from components with little if any contact with the brake fluid. Timely preventative rebuilding of the wheel cylinders and calipers every few pad changes will replace the brake fluid long before it causes any problems. Do you know anybody that ever had problems with the brake fluid boiling? There are some people here that have their mind made up on this matter, and go on about potential problems which seldom happen.
Ok, guess I should have defined "my experience" as being mainly older Fords. Should have figured there probably are 101 ways to pump water and/or build a water pump, some not so good.
In case I wasn't clear, I mentioned preventive WP change in regard to Audi (VW too) models in which the WP is driven by the timing belt, and not any other marque. Whether or not you've ever heard of preventive WP change being common doesn't change the facts. It's unfortunate that Audi and VW decided to have the WP driven by the timing belt instead of the accessory belt. The belt only has to skip a tooth or two to cause massive engine damage. Ask any authorized Audi dealer. Ask any independent shop that works on Audis. Ask over at audiworld.com. Ask all those guys who had waterpumps fail and consecutive engine damage. Ask Quattro Pete and Audie Junkie, 'cause I'm just a paranoid freak.
Oh yeah.
Absolutely! Never cover the same ground (and pay for it) twice. I had the timing chain checked out on my daughter's Taurus when the WP was being replaced. The cover was exposed. No brainer. Chain had slack ..it got replaced.
If this is the case ..you must be the 1 in 250,000 units that makes up the MTBF (mean time between failures) statistic. You are bucking some serious odds on that rate of failure. Assuming that you don't tighten the belts with a pipe extension and keep the auto in LOW and ONLY shift after the engine has dwelled at the redline for a few seconds ...keeping undue stress on the WP bearings at very high rpms ...I don't see how this is possible for one human in mulitiple vehicles.
I had the work done on those cars. I never touched them myself. The dealer wanted to use the GM coolant pellets (the product name escapes me now) as a permanent solution. Could be a fluke. I had a brand new VW once that needed three new fuel tanks in the first 6 months. It also need the alternator replaced a few times. A Monday car? As for the Audi WPs, they do become a liability after 60-80k miles. I would never again buy a car with an interference motor.
