Water pump failure? Probably!
Roger M. Woodbury
rmwoodbury at downeast.net
Sat Nov 2 04:56:02 EST 2002
Got the friendly, ominously red, low coolant warning on the '94 100CS Avant
Quattro yesterday morning. Pretty lousy, really, as my wife and I were
heading out to go shopping, 35 miles away. Mileage is 59,700+, so I know it
is probably timing belt time.
Popped the hood and notice the resevoir is down to near bottom, hence the
warning, and, worse still, some wet on the panel under the serpentine belt
pulley. Not to worry. Callled the friendly local dealer....100 miles
away....and made an appointment for next Thursday...timing belt, water pump,
tensioner to be on hand if necessary, also pull codes for mysterious
intermittant "check engine" light, and fix the interior light delay, which
doesn't....
Filled the resevoir with coolant, and drove away to do my local stuff, and
returned to pick up my wife. Noticed a LINE of antifreeze leading from
where I had turned to about thirty feet up the driveway. "Uh, oh," thinks
I. "Water pump maybe seriously leaking." Could a flat bed be in my future?
My wife and I drove to Bangor and returned without incident. We may luck
out.
The history is this. The car was owned by the a woman who is a part of the
family that controls one of the largest motor freight companies in the
country. The car was (apparently) religiously maintained by the local
authorized dealer, and it would appear, on a "cost no object" basis. I
bought the car last year with 39,000 miles on it. Just before I bought the
car, the 45,000 mile service was completed....as stamped in the book by the
authorized dealer. Now, I had rather assumed that the timing belt probably
had been done at the six year point, for age, but now I am not entirely
sure. At any rate, it would seem that the car will stagger the 100 miles
for service next Thursday.
At least I hope that it is the waterpump leaking, and not something far more
ominious, although there is no sign of that.
While at the dealer, I will be driving a new VW TDI of some sort. It might
well just replace my V8 soon, or I might wait a bit longer, and try out a
new Tuareq, which so the dealer tells me, IS expected to be imported with
the TDI 10 cylinder engine.....500 lbs of torque, and TWENTY-FIVE miles per
gallon! Holy SUV!!
Roger
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