My 95 Contour pump exploded at 78,000. At least in my case, the failure is sudden and catastrophic. You can't assess your impeller "remaining life" by how your temp is running today. When that sucker goes, your check engine light will come on, you will find yourself saying "Hmmm ... never seen that come on before", and then if you are lucky, you will notice that your temperature gauge is totally pegged in the red zone. Then, after pulling over God know's where (they dont always fail in front of the Ford dealership), you will eventually get a tow truck to take your car in. Then, in my case, the service guy will assume the "pump is OK 'cause I see the shaft turning and it isnt leaking any water", so they will install a new thermostat, and think they are done. Then, when they test it and it gets hot as hell for the second time, they will wonder what the problem could be. Finally, they will take the pump off and 4 chuncks of impeller will dump on the floor. When the pieces are put back together like a jig saw puzzle, you will notice that some fragments are missing and most likely somewhere in your cooling system. This of course, will mandate an engine flush, and then of course the new water pump. By the time all is said and done, you will have a $500 bill, and after complaining to the service manager, he will feel sorry for you and lower the price to $400 just to keep you from feeling so angry.
The above is my TRUE story folks. Do you REALLY want to put yourself through this debacle, and risk toasting your aluminum moter?
Dont cogitate ...
Dont debate ...
Dont hem and haw ...
Its a ticking time bomb. Buy a metal impeller replacement (see many previous posts) and give yourself the ability to replace the pump at YOUR TIME rather than WHEN YOU LEAST WANT TO DO IT BUT HAVE NO CHOICE!
If you don't replace your pump, I'm gonna have a hard time sleeping tonight! :p
Good Luck!
Jab
