Originally Posted by racerx67

In older cars the water pump was driven by the fan belt and so was the alternator. But now they run it from the cam belt two issues can crop up. One is the mileage over 2 belt changes will be longer than they expect the life of the pump bearings to last. The second is the tension on a cambelt is higher than s simple fan belt so the bearings do get more load on them now too. I agree its a bit much to be expected to have a new pump just because you are having a new belt and the old pump is OK. But if it fails during the life of the new belt it could make the belt jump or slip a tooth or two if the bearings collapse. Its cheaper and safer to say you need a new belt now then hit you with a bill for an engine rebuild if they just do the belt and not try to get you to do both. If you see what I mean.