changing water pumpe when
 

Not Rover but in general, is it good practice to change the water pump when changing the serpentine belt and or cam belt?
My sister has a 2005 For fiesta and is thinking of having the cam belt changed. I am sure I read somewhere that it is advisable to change water pumps on cars at the same time, due to tension being released on the pump and it could leak.

macafee2

I change the water pump if it is/ could be leaking. If there is no coolant loss, I leave alone. If changed, best to get an oem quality one.

It’s one of those questions where there is no right or wrong answer. No manufacturer stipulates the changing of the water pump at the same time as the cambelt change but it’s time effective to do it. If I do a K series I will always change the water pump. I changed the cambelt on our Fiat 500 and left the genuine pump on as in my opinion it was better quality than anything available after market. If somebody was paying a garage to do the work then I’d advise to have it changed at the same time.

And that's the quandary in a nutshell ! Who wants to take off a good one and replace it with a piece of rubbish which won't last as long as the one you took off ?
If it is a big job then there is sense in replacing it whilst you are in there , but do make sure you pay for top quality ! :xmas-smiley-008:

ok guys thanks

may be I should get a Haynes manual for the car and look to see how difficult it is.
Right now I am nit in a position to do the work for her

macafee2

In the case of the M47R my original water pump gave up the ghost just shy of 300k miles and the replacement lasted 60k, so I just check for play and leakage when replacing the belt, and if both are fine I leave well alone.

my 2.5 kv6 had 3 water pumps in over 3 months, all started weeping seal within weeks. Thank god that time the repair shop supplied the parts and had to do the refits free . They ended up calling thee supplier in the end and finally got one decent pump out of their chinese supplier!!
Got a good run out of a Cont branded one out of the eu.

When I did my Freelander 2 TD4 a few months ago I changed the water pump timing belt and tensioner all at the same time, it’s a personal opinion but I always do the “set” it just seems logical that while your there do the lot, I do this on any system like that regardless of if it MGR or any other make, but I do understand why some don’t due to the rubbish aftermarket pumps currently being sold that ain’t fit for purpose being made god knows where.
Mick