How likely is this? Maybe I missed the warning signs but this morning I had a full coolant system and less than one hour later it was bone dry. Mechanic said water pump leak. Does this thing really go out in a split second? No warning? I was not prepared for a $513.00 expense today!

 

yikes, water pump has a weep hole warning system. inner seal starts to fail and it slow leaks as a type of heads up.
I would think that a sudden dump from that area would likely have a crazy noise attached. bearing wobble or something. mine had a slow drip from weep hole for a couple of weeks before I swapped it.

 

yeah, no, it held nice coolant for a while. No noise. Just a sudden apparent failure. I had just replaced the front seal maybe a week ago and it was leaking horribly so I was already headed to the shop this morning first thing. I checked coolant and oil this morning and all was fine, took the kid to school and went straight to the mechanic who did the seal so he could check it out.

He says yes, seal is leaking and then he says your water pump failed too. He showed me the tank and it was definitely bone dry. Had I had my sufficient amount of coffee (or any coffee) I would have probably asked him to fill it back up and I would have driven to Mickey and paid him to fix that seal too, or, I would have walked to where it was parked waiting for opening time to see if there was actually antifreeze pooled there. A big fail on my part. (darn coffee addiction)

I just wondered if this was even a possibility to have a wham bam failure. I stood there under the car for a moment looking at the ground and my gut says he put a bucket under here and drained me because he didn't want to do warranty work on that seal. --- not a good way to feel and I apologize to all the professional mechanics out there --- but I honestly have never been hosed like I have with the Rover and it makes all things suspect.

I did have a water pump go out on a different car a long time ago and you could hear that coming for days and miles. Loud. Creepy. Painful. So, this just took me totally by surprise.

Maybe It will turn out to be a hose near the water pump that leaked where the water pump would leak and that is the explanation for no sound, no warning. I really want to be positive here but it is just difficult right now.

 

yep, sorry about your situation. I feel you on the trust levels of unverified services. I have seen some fishy stuff, in the past.
good luck

I feel your pain with the caffine. suggestion keurig.= cup of coffee in .5 minutes and that usually gets me to starbucks

 

Your water pump failed because you were out of coolant cause by the leaking seal.

Listen a water pump is under $100 part with a gasket. it is held on with with 9 bolts. To replace it you have to remove the fan and the serpentine belt.

Then you have to fill it back up with $35.00 bucks of anti freeze.

Thus $150.00 to $250.00 in parts in this this job.

Which means he is charging you 2.5 to 3.5 hours in labor to do this job. The question I would be asking is how many hours is the book for this job. Because the book is 1.8 hours or $180.00 in labor. plus parts,

He screwed up the first repair and now it sounds like he is overcharging you to fix his screw up. I'd run

I feel for you on this one because he has it. But I'd do some negotating

 

It's a rotating shaft in a bearing. Once a configuration like that starts to go, it can go very quickly.

 

Mine went from weep to gush in one day. Did see wobble in the belt and pulley. I wondered why the AC drains were dripping from the front center of the block.

BTW replace the fan clutch at same time or you may be back in the shop in short order, the clutch and water pump are a mated pair, millions of spins around the dance floor, perfectly worn down by each partner's minor flaws. New one of either puts extra stress on the other one.

 

I had that exact same problem! I took my 2003 Disco to the shop for a repair and I get a phone call 2 hours later that my water pump failed and is completely out of commission; sounds suspect to me. I believe the mechanic tried to take advantage of the fact that I am a woman and told me the price of the water pump alone (without labor added) would run me $206. I told him that I found prices for the water pump with gasket online ranging from $35 (aftermarket on eBay) to $149 (O.E. from O'Reilly's). He told me that if I could purchase it for less than he quoted me, then do it and he would install it. So the question is....what pump should I buy, and from where, so that I can get it fast? My Disco is sitting sadly at the shop until I get the part there. It's my winter beater, so I'm not looking to put the top of the line part in it. I just want it to run. Xmas is in a couple weeks, so I can't just start dumping money into it. But yeah, instant water pump failure??? Sounds very fishy....

 

if you want the best there is a German pump out there with needle bearings in it for $160.00 or so maybe lucky8 has it.
but any standard replacement water pump is fine I have one from AB for $80.

 

I replaced my fan clutch. Then a few days later I replaced the water pump, then the hoses followed by the radiator and finally the throttle body heater. Once it starts to go, it just all goes. The up side is that none of it is very difficult work. If you just do it all at once, it will save some duplicated effort.