Water pump trouble
 

97 Buick Century Custom
3.1l v6 w/ 4spd auto (only engine/transmission available on this car)
92k miles

Long story short: Car starts overheating, coolant is low, coolant is added, coolant is low again, coolant is added again, coolant is leaking out from under water pump pulley.
http://www.boomspeed.com/mrcactus/buick_underhood.jpg
This is not a picture of my car, it is a picture of a similar car with an arrow pointing to the water pump. This is just to confirm that I'm not a complete idiot an dit is, in fact the water pump.

Two questions:

1: How much will I expect to pay for a new water pump?
I did some google searching, and I found a few sites offering water pumps for $25-$35. This seems far too good to be true, and I'm either getting something crappy and generic, or I'm getting a different part altogether.

2: How long will it take to replace it?
Please tell me it's not more than an hour or two.

I replaced a water pump in my 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, and I think I paid maybe $35-$40 for it, so your price sounds about right. All in all, it took maybe 45 minutes to install, including taking out the old one.

Yeah the 3.1/3.4 engines are pretty easy to swap water pumps supsprisingly. If your ever wondering prices napa, autozone and checker (shucks, kragen and advance autoparts) have good websites for looking up prices.

www.napaonline.com
www.autozone.com
www.partsamerica.com

Autozone normally stocks this pump w/ a lifetime warranty for $22.99 if they don't have it in stock they can usually order them and have them for you the next day. Buy the pump, then locate the part on your car that looks like it, drain the coolant from the engine and radiator and replace it w/ the new one, using the new gasket that comes w/ the new part. Make sure you get all the old gasket material off the mating surface of the engine, or it will leak.

With a water pump, its totally worth it to get a good one. Even OEM. Get another 90k miles out of it or more instead of replacing it every 3 years (or less) for the cheapo generic one. In my experience, its worth the extra bucks to get a new one, and not a remanufactured.

ok, looked at prices. $85 or so for an OEM dealer pump, as opposed to 40-ish for a new NAPA one. IF you have the money to spend, oem parts have proven reliability, but a new napa pump should still last you a very long time.

Oh, and dont forget the water pump gasket. they're like 2 bucks

Take a look at your hoses, rad cap, and serp belt while your already in there. You don't want to have to get in there again next month.

I think I'm going to go with a NAPA one. My bank account is overdrawn by 4 cents, and I'm returning cans and bottles so I have money for food. Just a few more days until a paycheck comes in.

those waterpumps aren;t bad to replace...however your motor is notorious for leaking lower intake manifold. where the dogbones (two black visible mounts in the picture) meet the engine follow right down them under the intake...if you see puddles of coolant you know yours is leaking.

just so you know if you want more room to get to that waterpump, remove the closest dogbone (15mm bolt and nut) and then under the car the two 15mm nuts for the front mount. then put a peice of wood and a jack under the oil pan. you can then jack the front of the engine (where the belts are) a ways for more room.

I sat there watching orange water drip out of the water pump, and nothing is coming from anywhere else, so I think I'm safe on the manifold problem.

The advice on jacking up the engine is much appreciated, I'll probably have to do that since I'm a tall guy with big hands to match

I have an 89 corsica just replaced the radiator +hoses, water pump, and belt. Water pump was$22 AutoZone. That looks like almost the same setup as mine. It's not to badto get off. Good Luck

Replacing the water pump is pretty easy, and relatively inexpensive if you buy the part from Napa or a similar store. If it's leaking from the weep hole on the pump, it means the seal has failed.