I had mine replaced first around 85K miles or so. It basically fell apart as the dealer took it off the car. Damn near caused my engine to blow up when it went bad. Then, the piece o' ****e replacement factory pump went bad about 7500 miles later. So I'm on my 3rd water pump. So far so good at 117K miles.

You lose your water pump on an all aluminum engine, and it won't take much more to ruin an engine. But I'll say this, my engine completely seized due to heat. Still came out OK though. My mechanic couldn't believe I didn't warp the heads... Same engine as you. '95 SE 2.5L

I love my Contour to death, but my 'vette is still my #1 baby.
There's money to be made in racing. I should know. I put a lot of it there.
You can make a small fortune in racing. Start with a large one.
How fast do you want to go...how much money do you have?
You can fix a lot of things, but you can't fix stupid!