HELP:Is a water pump job very costly?

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 s*it. 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