knackered water pump bearings?

[camelrider]

A month ago I had the inlet manifold replaced and replaced the two drive belts at the same time. I now notice that from cold start there is some belt noise which dissapears when she\'s warmed up. I figured this would be rectified with a belt tensioner. Its just occurred to me that if the water pump bearings were on their way out before I replaced the belts, then it would be apparent afterwards.

Does this sound plausable? anyone care to put a figure on what its likely to cost me to fix it?

she\'s only done around 27K so I didn\'t expect any problems with bearings yet, but then again the belts were in poor condition according to the garage.

[John Yorke]

You do not say what age the car is, 27k on a say 99 car you would not expect problems 92 car that has sat for long periods of time then you have to factor in corrosion [sp].

If you have noise most likely is the alternator, not heard of water pump bearings giving problems, but would not rule it out. Try checking your alternator first though.
HTH

[clive]

A month ago I had the inlet manifold replaced and replaced the two drive belts at the same time. I now notice that from cold start there is some belt noise which dissapears when she\'s warmed up. I figured this would be rectified with a belt tensioner. Its just occurred to me that if the water pump bearings were on their way out before I replaced the belts, then it would be apparent afterwards.

Does this sound plausable? anyone care to put a figure on what its likely to cost me to fix it?

she\'s only done around 27K so I didn\'t expect any problems with bearings yet, but then again the belts were in poor condition according to the garage.

Sounds like the tensioner was done up to tight and its killed the bearings in the tensioner pulley, look at the smooth side of the belt and if its marked badly you have found the cause.

Any bearing company should be able to supply these very cheaply, when you put the belts back on you should be able to twist the belt 90 degrees at its longest part quite easily, this will tell you the adjustment is correct .
Hope this helps.

[camelrider]

Cheers I will get under the bonnet tommorrow and investigate further. The fact that it goes away when warm has me a bit stumped though.

Its a \'96 and I\'m told it has been in storage for several years, so I expect a few problems associated with that like but more along the lines of corroded rubber pipes etc.

[Bobfish]

corroded rubber? lol.

Water pump bearings do go - but at around 80k. and when they do, water will squirt out the top of the water pump (mazda designed it this way)