I recently moved to a new city and found a supposedly reputable local mechanic. My 2002 S60 has 55000 miles on it and he helped me with my regular service promptly and inexpensively. However he told me that in the course of the regular check up on the car that my water pump was leaking on top by the belt side of the engine, and that it needed to be replaced.

I am skeptical that this is true due to low mileage but I have to wait until daylight to check out the parts.

The real kicker is that he said the part would be about $140 and with maintenance the total cost would be around $575.

Can anybody help me with this, especially inspection of the part and the amount it should cost if indeed broken? Thanks

 

I suppose he is putting new belts in?
If it is coolant leaking, then it may well be a gasket or a seal leaking. Not a cracked pump.

Take it to another mechanic for a second opinion.

They sometimes put dye in it to isolate where the leak is occuring from.

Or, if you are still in the warranty time period but out of milage, take it to the dealer and whine and see if they will do it so close to the milage period.

 

He said that the water pump needed to be replaced, and quoted the part price at about $140, then said that w/ labor this would cost about $575....

 

The water pump is driven by the Timing belt.
So it should be about 3 hours labor to replace the water pump.

If you want to inspect it your self then remove the timing covers both top and front. Then with a small mirror inspect the lower part of the water pump. Look for a Hole that has a Metal plug in it. Look for seepage around the plug. There is where it usually leaks if it is bad.

 

Okay so I'm looking at the engine from the front of the car. The timing belt is on the left side. I don't see a cover per se but I may not be looking at the right place. I did image searches for an S60 turbo engine but to no avail. I know what the water pump looks like by itself and I think I see it on the left side behind the timing belt which is the one with the large and small pulley, I presume... please advise... thanks...

 

The top cover I said that needs to be removed is on the top of the engine all the way towards your left. It has 2 T-30 screws holding it on. That will expose the top of the timing belt.

Then you will have to slide the power steering bottle and coolant bottle out of the way to get the front cover off. It is held on with one 10mm screw. Then the water pump if you stand on the right side of the car looking at the front of the engine will be on the left side.
http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/imageDe...2Bwater%2Bpump
That is what the Water Pump looks like.