Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting my failling WP.. and thermostat

Hello.

thanks again to everyone responding to my previous posts. The latest diagnosis is that it needs a new WP, and new belt for the WP, and new thermostat.

I think I've read elsewhere that it's a good idea to replace the thermostat while you're at it? Would it actually be bad just because the waterpump is? I ask because it would cost an additional $100 (parts and apparently take over 1 hour to of labor to put in.) All in all nearly $500 at the local mechanic.

Thanks.

who diagnoised that you need a new water pump???? if it was the mechanic then next he might say you need a new motor??
if the pump is not leaking via the weep hole or the impeller is not cracked then you migtht have another problem that is causing the car to run hot??????
do you have a 4 or 6 cyl. engine??? on a 4 cyl. engine there is a bolt that you remove to let air out of the coolant system so there is more coolant in and no air pockets.. on a V-6 you just add the coolant and then on mine i had squeezed all the hoses to move any air pockets that i could move around an never had a problem with it since.. the belt might mean that it is slipping and not moving the water pump around engough so that would give you a high reading on the temperature gauge???.....
why not do it yourself and save the $500 repair bill.
on my 96 V-6 engine the pump cost me $120(complete) from dealer, the thermostat cost about $15.00 and no new pump belt was needed.... took me about 10 minutes to change the thermostat and 2 hrs. to do the water pump.. i was taking my time......

Yes, it was the mechanic, but all the symptoms seem right from what I've read here. He showed me the old one and the plastic had broken into 4 pieces. Based on the information I gathered here, and from calling the dealer and pep boys, I told him he was over-charging me. The owner redid the estimate and charged me $350 in the end to do everything.
$170 labor, $155 parts (pump, thermostat, coolant, & belt) +tax.

I got my car back today. Seems to be OK so far. A while ago someone on this forum was collecting information (to petition Ford or class action or something) from people who've had waterpump failure, especially those who had major damage as a result of it. Does anyone know if anything ever come of that?