I'm going to be ordering a timing belt and water pump soon and had a question about the water pump. Do you recommend buying the whole water pump housing every time you change it with the timing belt, or would the basic water pump assembly suffice? Here's a pic of each of them.

 

when I bought my kit, they give me the whole waterpump, but I didn't change the housing.
get the assembly stuff.

 

Just change the whole thing. It's not expensive enough to warrant the extra labor and potential for leakage or other problems.

 

have you seen whats involved to change the whole thing?
thats why I suggested to get the assembly part, plus, it won't leak if he does prepares the areas where the gasket is being placed.

 

I've seen it on every thermostat and t-belt job i have worked on. Whether you change the pumping gear inside or the whole housing, it all has to come apart. Why add more work by taking the guts out of the housing?

If I'm missing something please let me know - my understanding here is it's a question of whether to change the water pump as an entire unit or just the pumping assembly inside the pump housing. If that is the case then I would just change everything to avoid the extra work of pump disassembly.

 

Well, I'm actually having a shop do all the work. If I get the whole housing though, I guess I'd worry less wondering if they sealed up everything correctly. Engine leaks are my worst enemy lol.

 

changing the pump assembly is alot easier than replaceing the entire waterpump with housing is what I am trying to say. either way when doing the timing belt, it takes more time to replace the entire unit, than it would take to replace the guts, the guts is just 9 bolts and a quick swap, but to replace the entire unit you have to remove the alternator, intake manifold support, if you have a bently look it up, so much ***** gotta be removed. reason why i suggested to purchase the pump "guts" its alot easier and less work.

 

Jesus, then it's a much bigger process than it is on the 2.8. I made the assumption that it'd be more accessible than that, as it us on my engine where the whole thing comes right off. I didn't count on that much of a difference, which is why I recommended doing the whole thing.

 

That would actually cost more doing all that work then if I'm paying a mechanic by the hour. So I think replacing the "guts" sounds like a better idea then. Thanks.