Water pump

I have 90,000 miles on my 2004 Chevy Aveo. The timing belt has been replaced once as well as the other parts that "blow" when a timing belt breaks. But they did not change the water pump. This was done at 50,000 miles. Now my mechanic says the water pump is "leaking". My question is, "How long can a "leaking"water pump go before it stops working. As you Aveo owners know, the water pump is located within the timing belt encasement. $800 job. How long can I go before I need to replace this water pump [since I have to do the whole timing belt assembly at the same time].
Thank You
Proud and disturbed Aveo Owner

It all depends on the leak. As long as you keep it topped off you'll probably be fine. No guarantees though.

Yup, that is what I am hoping for. Just wondering if anybody had any actual experience with this. I will pray for the best. thanks.

I had a leaky waterpump on a Honda CRX years ago. It leaked for about 3000 miles before it let go. I was lucky that I stopped the engine imediately - I suffered no internal damage. YMMV.

That waterpump failed at the bearing on the shaft. This is where it was leaking from. I would gather that a leaky gasket would last longer.

Hey Robin, here's my two cents. If you change the belt every 50,000 miles, you're only 10,000 miles from a new one. Just do it now. As long as you are in there, change the water pump. Believe me when i tell you, I'm no mechanic and I did it myself. There is an incredible right up on this procedure on this forum. Print it out and I'm sure you can do it. It is step by step. You can't go wrong. I even made notes as I went along (wrench, socket sizes ect.) to make it easier next time. I bought the Gates TCKWP335 kit (which includes the water pump) for my 2004 and all is well 32,000 later. The kit was about $85.00 and I also bought the 41mm water pump wrench (Lisle 13500) for about $15.00. You can do it. Good luck. Tom

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Originally Posted by Tom H.

Hey Robin, here's my two cents. If you change the belt every 50,000 miles, you're only 10,000 miles from a new one. Just do it now. As long as you are in there, change the water pump. Believe me when i tell you, I'm no mechanic and I did it myself. There is an incredible right up on this procedure on this forum. Print it out and I'm sure you can do it. It is step by step. You can't go wrong. I even made notes as I went along (wrench, socket sizes ect.) to make it easier next time. I bought the Gates TCKWP335 kit (which includes the water pump) for my 2004 and all is well 32,000 later. The kit was about $85.00 and I also bought the 41mm water pump wrench (Lisle 13500) for about $15.00. You can do it. Good luck. Tom

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Tom has some good advice there. Read the write up and you can free of the mechanic forever (except you're the mechanic!)