how long can a water pump last?

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I am curious to hear how long some peoples water pumps have lasted. Mine looks old and makes me nervous with winter coming up. But seems to work alright for now..... It's on my Saturn sl2.thanks all.
 
I've been told that they don't usually leak as much as gush tons of fluid out. Apparently they usually fail with the water pump just pouring out antifreeze. That's what I've been told it could be wrong. And 238k on the original water pump.that's pretty good in my book
 
My experience has been that if it is a replacement with a lifetime warranty, it probably won't last very long.

I typically replace them before or around 200K as PM in my japanese cars and have never had a failure, but they usually have some evidence of weeping at the weep hole by that time.
 
I blew mine on a '79 Chrysler Cordoba at 1am, doing WOT, between a 2-3 gear change. Talk about scaring the explicative out of me. Thought I'd blown the engine or trans.
It was about 9 years old, <80k miles.
 
We have cars with >>200k on them with original pumps. So long as we arent seeing coolant loss, and temperature stays rock-steady in all conditions (mainly a summer thing), I dont see a reason to swap it. Especially since the original one is probably the best one youll find...
 
I replaced the one in my cavalier at 130k miles. And the only reason I did that is because I already had the entire engine apart for the head gasket replacement and it was $20 for a new one.
 
Uhhh good old cavalier and the head gasket work. I could do that in my sleep now. But its pretty easy all things considered. Seems like chevys water pumps don't last as long as some other ones
 
We had a jeep that was my moms 2 pumps in 120k cavalier needed one with about 100k Chevy truck had one in the time I had it it had 221 but I know it had one replacement prior to the one I did Atleast my jimmy needed one around 190k not sure how many before that. And the Ford truck at 176 and it wasn't the original either previous owner had it replaced 4 times . The Ford was the worst the bolts froze up and broke the timing cover ended up replacing timing set cover and pump. I think Ford aluminum cover on the 302 is a dumb design . My Chevy corsica never needed one in the 1.5 yrs I had it and my Buick neither but the Buick had 107k and was replaced before I got it it died from a spun main bearing thanks to the head gasket.
 
Like I said there was nothing wrong with the water pump, it wasn't leaking. As I said since the engine was already apart I figured I might as well change it.
 
I had almost 100k miles on the water pump on my toyota truck. Changed the timing belt and the works and the mechanic showed me the old water pump where coolant was coming out of the weep hole.
 
Hmm mine isn't leaking but I dont like being in sudden bad situations. And with an aluminum motor it doesnt take much of a bad situation to kill it for good. That's why I worry .
 
NEVER had to change a water pump*, I have a Triumph that's 37 years old, and once had a Toyota Truck that had close to 500k.

* Had a VW Golf and changed the WP at the time the timing belt was changed, But not sure if that counts?
 
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