Yeah, turns out the thermostat was cracked and coolant tank was leaking.
Also a leak in the water pump.
Took it to a Saturn dealer.
Everything would cost 700 bucks so I'm just having them fix the first two.
Taking my chances with the water pump.
In my humble opinion, "taking a chance" on a leaky water pump is not a good
choice. That pump not only circulates water through the heater, but through
the engine as well (well, duh). I know, seems trivial right - but if that
water pump fails, you can heat the engine up to a level where the heads will
warp fairly easily.
It's your engine, hope you made the right choice ...
> Yeah, turns out the thermostat was cracked and coolant tank was leaking.
> Also a leak in the water pump.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Everything would cost 700 bucks so I'm just having them fix the first two.
> Taking my chances with the water pump.
SnoMan - 24 Feb 2006 17:51 GMT
I agree, when a water pump starts leaking, it will only get worse and
could suddenly sieze if coolant gets in pump bearings. If that
happens you will have a very bad day.
>In my humble opinion, "taking a chance" on a leaky water pump is not a good
>choice. That pump not only circulates water through the heater, but through
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>> Everything would cost 700 bucks so I'm just having them fix the first two.
>> Taking my chances with the water pump.
> Yeah, turns out the thermostat was cracked and coolant tank was leaking.
> Also a leak in the water pump.
>
> Took it to a Saturn dealer.
>
> Everything would cost 700 bucks
$700 seems a bit high. I bought a thermostat housing two years ago, it was
approx $50.
According to NAPAonline, a water pump is $32.
By coolant tank,I presume you mean the plastic reservoir. Lets figure $50
for it new.
$132 in parts. $568 in labor seems pretty high, I would get a second
opinion from an independant shop.
-David
p_vouers@goochs.com - 24 Feb 2006 12:11 GMT
the alldata manual rates the labor as 2.0 hours for the pump and .9 hrs
for the housing.. the container would probly be around .5hrs for a
total of 3.4 hours or 167.00 per hour.. I would find a good shop that
would probably charge you 50 to 60 per hour.