Why Do I Need to Change My Water Pump?

When water pumps leak or quit working they quickly cause an engine to overheat, but they generally don’t need to be replaced unless such problems develop. An exception to this is that some water pumps are driven by the timing belt (as opposed to the accessory drive belt), and most mechanics recommend  the pump be replaced at the same time as the belt (and vice versa). That’s because both are hard to reach and require considerable time and labor cost to replace.