I just started to notice that my car has been leaking coolant. I tried topping it off with water just to get me home from where I was. When I arrived back home not much had leaked and it never over heated. It usually only leaks if it sits for a few days. So I decided to take it to my local mechanic and he said the water pump is leaking. He said it is leaking through the weep hole and will probably get worse. I took it to another mechanic and they said the same thing. The first place I went to I have done a bunch of work with before so they said they could cut me a deal on the labor. He quoted me $251.28 for the pump and $262 for the labor. The second place quoted me $700 for the pump and the labor. Do these quotes seam to be reasonable? My car has a little over 70,000 miles on it and I would like to replace the timing belt while they are in there doing the water pump. Are there any other components that I should be replacing? I have been looking at timing belt/water pump kits. I found one on VAST's website and ECS tuning. The one on VAST's website is $345 and come with "Timing belt tensioner damper, Timing belt tensioner roller, Timing belt idler, Timing belt lever, Timing belt, Accessory belt, Upgraded water pump/gasket, Thermostat/O-ring". The kits on the ECS website vary from $216.53 to $383.20. The only difference I see between the ECS tuning ultimate timing belt kit and the one on VAST's website is that the one on VAST's comes with the Timing belt tensioner damper and thermostat O-ring. The difference between the ECS tuning ultimate timing belt kit and the ECS tuning ultimate plus timing belt kit is that the plus comes with a hydraulic tensioner, relay lever for hydraulic tensioner, cam seals, crank/oil pump seal, and G12 coolant (which I already have). Some of the kits come with the ECS Cam Locking Tool. I am not sure what this is or what it does? So I am at a point where I am trying to decide between the VAST kit, the Ultimate ECS kit, the Ultimate Plus ECS kit, and do I need the ECS cam locking Tool? Or should I just replace the water pump and timing belt? I also notice that the ECS website has Graf water pump ($73.26)and my mechanic said he was going to use an OEM pump ($251.58). Is this something I should be concerned about? Is there a huge difference between OEM and aftermarket parts? Does it matter if the water pump has plastic blades or metal blades? I would also like to know if there is anything else I should consider replacing while I have the front bumper and radiator off? Or any other maintenance I should consider doing with at 70k miles?

Once I have that fixed I have to figure out what these codes mean. I know that I have a multiple cylinder misfire problem but I wanted to know if anyone has insight? I have had this problem before and it was a pain in the neck to figure out. After hours of trouble shooting my mechanic figured out one of the ignition modules was cooked. So I replaced this at $250 and it fixed the problem for a week. So they checked the coil pack and determined they were fine but the plugs were the problem. The person who owned the car before me put autolite spark plugs from autozone. So I had the shop replace them with Denso Iridum plugs and that fixed the problem for about a year. Now I am back with the same problem. Here are the codes I am getting now. Any ideas?

VCDS Version: Release 805.1

Address 01: Engine
Control Module Part Number: 8D0 907 551 H
Component and/or Version: 2.7l V6/5VT G 0002
Software Coding: 06711
Work Shop Code: WSC 06325
7 Faults Found:

16826 - EVAP Emission Control Sys: Small Leak
P0442 - 35-00 - -
17927 - Camshaft Adjustment; Bank 1: Malfunction
P1519 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent
18010 - Power Supply Terminal 30: Voltage too Low
P1602 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent
16684 - Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0300 - 35-00 - -
16687 - Cylinder 3: Misfire Detected
P0303 - 35-00 - -
16689 - Cylinder 5: Misfire Detected
P0305 - 35-00 - -
17521 - Oxygen (Lambda) Sensor; B1 S1: Internal Resistance too High
P1113 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent

Readiness: 0000 0001

 

I would look into haveing a compression test being done. For the misfires to happen on cylinders 3 and 5 might be the head gasket leaking. Thsi could also be a reason for a loss in coolant.