Found out from my mechanic that I might have a water pump going bad and the coolant leak may be due to that. I am getting quite anxiuos to how much it is going to cost. Is this a major fix? Please let me know anything helpful.
96 Camaro V6 3.8 Automatic.Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you Winston
The parts should be under $50, if a trained pro is doing the job he COULD have it done in an hour. It took me about that long on my 305 Blazer and it's basically the same shit. You can tackle this job in your drive way with a std ratchet and sockets on the weekend if you wanted to save some dough and learn a little about how it works.
I'm not sure on the V6 cars, but when I had a '95 Z28 with an LT1, when the water pump went, it also (supposedly) killed the "optispark" ignition system. Total repairs including labor (at a dealer) was something like $300-400 for the water pump and $700 for the optispark. It's been a while but the total repair at dealer prices was definitely more than $1k. Prettty sure I got hosed.
According to my labor estimating guide, a 1996 V6 Camaro calls for 1.8 hours. That for the pump removal. It lists 1.0 hours time to remove & replace the belt. So that's 2.8 hours book time. Figure @ 60 per hour, $168 labor plus parts.
You may find higher or lower labor costs,depending on what area you are in. A budget water pump, I have seen for around $40 (with out shop discount). Most pumps include gaskets needed. Although cheep ones.
$208 for a water pump sounds high. Yet unless you do it your self, and use high quality parts, it's not that bad.
Personally I would use an A/C delco brand pump. As I find the cheaper ones do not last as long. Charles
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