Is it true that we have to change the bender and water pump at the same time than timing belt?

Question

It's a volks new beetle 1998 and this is a recommandation of the dealer. It gets expensive...

Answer 1

You don't "have" to do it but it's a good idea to do both at the same time b/c you have to take the same parts off to do both jobs so it saves you the labor expense of doing them seperatly.

Answer 2

First off, dont go to a dealer. They will charge twice what any other mechanic will cost. It will cost even more then what a german auto mechanic specialist would cost.
if you vw has high milage, it would be a good idea to replace at least the pulleys on the pump. The reason for this, is that the old pulleys wear has coincided with the wear on the timing belt, when you replace the belt, the wear on the pulleys, might be so great, that the belt teeth wont secure properly, it slips, your car wont run.
If this is the first timing belt replacement (50,000 miles.. give or take), i wouldnt worry about it.
And in 'bender' i believe your saying your car is a valve bender engine. Same answer as the water pump. If its your 2nd timing belt, replace the pulleys.

Now there could be a case made to replace both of them at the sime time as the timing belt.
If VWs have notoriously bad water pumps or valve benders, then it would make sense to replace it now, while the car is already in peices, it would save you labor costs later on. But if its not a normal problem, and this can be checked in any vw owners group www.vw.com/owners/index.html then dont worry about it.
Also, it might be cheaper to replace the entire system, instead of just replacing the pulleys.

Answer 3

Too many modern cars have a water pump driven by the timing belt. The problem is that if the water pump bearings sieze up, it will destroy the timing belt, because timing belts can't slip at all. And in many cases, if the timing belt breaks, you'll need to replace or seriously overhaul the engine.

It's an annoying design flaw, but one it seems that manufacturers are a bit reluctant to fix because it's sometimes cheaper to build one that way. I am not sure if the Volkswagens have this problem or not - I know it's pretty common on Hondas. And the usual work-around for this problem is to replace the water pump every time you change the timing belt.

The other way to drive a water pump is with a separate V or serpentine belt, by the way. These belts do not drive anything else that's nearly as critical as what a timing belt controls, so if one of these pumps seizes up, you can usually shut down the car before you do any permanent damage.

Answer 4

You don't have to do all of that at the same time, but the reason why they're recomending it is because in the long run it will save you on labour costs. lets say doin the timing belt costs 5 hours labour, and the water pump costs 6 hours of labour, what they would do is charge you for doing the water pump, and then add on another 1 hour to accompany putting the timing belt on, so it would be 7 hours to do both, but if only one is done ant the other goes then you'ed be looking at 11 hours to o both. I work in a garage, and I always recomend doing that to my cliends, It saves them money in the long run, and since we're already in there doing the job anyway, whats it for us to take a little more time and to do a little more work that is called preventative maintance.

It just so happens that I have an automitive text book beside me and i can not find anything about a Bender. Index or Glossery, and i'm not in the mood to go looking for a single word. I'm at S.A.I.T. Right now and need it for homework.
Automotive Service : Insepction - Maintance - Repair : Second Edition - Tim Gilles.

Answer 5

I've never heard of a "bender" but replacing the water pump when doing a timing belt is just a good idea because of the access to get to it but it's not required.

Answer 6

I have no idea what you mean by a bender. While it is apart you can easily get to the water pump, and if there is any question at all I would rather than pay labor twice. But it's your call.

Answer 7

It make not sense to...

Change only one of the three if You have all of them in You hand.


Bender?.belt tensioner ,You might said

Answer 8

the dealer is 100% correct. there is a very high failure rate of these water pumps, and they are doing you a heckuva favor by giving you a heads up. i still dunno what a bender is, but as far as the pump replacement goes, i say heck yes!!! by the way, i am a journeyman vw tech.

Answer 9

you shouldn't have to. If your water pump was working fine, you can wait until it dies a natural death and then change it. I don't know what you mean by 'bender'.

Answer 10

WHAT IS A BENDER. YAH i went out on a bender last friday night.