Date:         Fri, 26 Jun 1998 08:40:13 -0700
Reply-To:     Mark McCulley <raven@HALCYON.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Mark McCulley <raven@HALCYON.COM>
Subject:      Re: Water pumps - '1986-1991' Vanagons
Comments: To: Wolfsburg <wolfsburg@CENTURYINTER.NET>, Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

At 10:31 AM 6/26/98 -0700, Wolfsburg wrote:
>This morning my Vanagon is getting it's sixth water pump put in!!  Is it
>common for the Vanagon to have this much problems with the water pump.
>My Vanagon has 130,500 miles on it.  This is the approximate times I had
>to replace pumps:
>
>    1    6,000          covered under 2 year/24,0000 warranty
>    2    23,900        covered under 2 year/24,000 warranty
>    3    48,000        covered under emission warranty
>    4    74,000        paid for
>    5    96,000        paid for
>    6    130,500      paid for
>
>Can someone tell me what is going on?
>
It would be interesting to know what brand the pumps were and exactly how
they failed. Vanagons do chew up water pumps, but your case seems to be at
the extreme. The German-made pumps supposedly outlast other pumps. The only
vehicle-related factor I'm aware of that affects water pumps is the tension
of the belt that drives the pump. The shaft bearings can fail rather
quickily if the belt is over-tensioned.

MM