Water pump seal nightmare

Sianm90

Have recently got my car back from Peter vardy to find the old part in the car is the housing for my water pump. Am I correct in thinking that to replace this part they had to disturb my water pump and in turn the timing belt is going to need replacing. Thanks for any help

maxmycardagain

not sure what you mean but.......

if its any sort of modern car the water pump is hidden behind the cambelt, so to change the water pump requires the removal of the cambelt (aka timing belt) and as the belt kits cost only £70 (ish) it would be a false economy to do the pump and put the old belt back on. a broken belt will meana £1200 reapir bill

if you had a leaking water pump seal it would be commonsense to change the pump and belt even though a seal is only a tenner maximum

a dealer might not think my way though

Sianm90

That's exactly my thinking too. Its a 2012 Citroen c3 vtr only bought in July. It went back to Peter vardy after being in the garage and the garage saying there was a fault with the water pump but to change it I need to change the timing belt so I was to hand it back as it was still under warranty to be repaired. Peter vardy said it was the thermostat and replaced it instead of the water pump. Less than a week later I had to send it back to them saying it wasn't the thermostat and they have said it was the seal on the water pump this time and replaced the seal. But I am worried now that the distribution to the water pump mean I need a timing belt replacement before I should drive the car and Peter vardy are refusing

maxmycardagain

tight !!!!ers lol

labour is the biggest cost and the w/pump seal is behind the pump

replacing the seal shouldnt hurt anything else

maxmycardagain

take it away, drive it 200 miles and monitor water loss

Sianm90

Don't even want to drive the car. My PCP covers the parts and labour so they are just at it and couldn't be bothered fixing it properly. Car will be going back to them on Monday . It isn't just the seal it's a massive part says on the repair list that it's the back plate and housing

casseus

Sianm90 wrote: »

Don't even want to drive the car. My PCP covers the parts and labour so they are just at it and couldn't be bothered fixing it properly. Car will be going back to them on Monday . It isn't just the seal it's a massive part says on the repair list that it's the back plate and housing

The back plate (plastic back of the timing cover if I got this right)may have been damaged when they removed the timing cover so they charged for its replacement.


The Timing belt, depending on its condition and its tensioner and idler, may have been of satisfactory condition to not warrant a replacement along with the Aux belt.


Did you request this to be done? Is the belt due to be changed according to the schedule in the service book?

EdGasketTheSecond

You dont replace seals on water pumps; you replace the pump. What do they mean by they replaced the seal? Did they just throw some rad-seal in and hope it will fix it for a few more miles?

casseus

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

You dont replace seals on water pumps; you replace the pump. What do they mean by they replaced the seal? Did they just throw some rad-seal in and hope it will fix it for a few more miles?

OP said the old pump was in the car when they picked it up, so they must have replaced the whole unit. If the garage is any good they would cleaned both mating surfaces and torqued the bolts to spec. Not splodge silicone sealant all over it. Time will only tell.

Sianm90

If I could post a pic I could show you it's quite a big part they have left in the car on the repair report it says they replaced the backplate and housing

AdrianC

The cambelt needs to come off to replace the water pump on many (but not all) engines. The reason the cambelt is replaced as part of doing the pump is simply that you've done the expensive bit of the job (the labour), so it seems daft not to do the cheap bit (a new part) at the same time.