[s-cars] Hepu water pump

[Tom Green]

The next door neighbor made a dramatic entry to his driveway a couple  
of days ago with steam billowing from hood seams and from underneath
the car.  I figured a hose had let go since he has been nursing the  
turbo return line (under the intake manifold) for some time.  So we  
replaced that
right away along with another lower hose that looked bad, but saw no  
big sources.  He said there was a rattling noise in the front so we  
pulled the
TB cover to find the water pump drive pulley had all sorts of play.  I  
put the Hepu pump (made in Germany, all metal) in two years and 40K  
miles
ago.  When we removed it, the shaft wobbled as if there were no  
bearing left in the unit.  Glad it held together and didn't freeze and  
destroy the
timing belt.  Replaced the pump and coolant and all seems well for  
now.  That's the first pump I've heard of  that failed within a 60K mi  
belt change.
I've heard of those that failed 20K after the belt change that weren't  
changed with the belt, or those with a belt too tight, but not this.

Tom