The wife's car (1993 300E 2.8) developed a squeek-squeek-squeek under the hood. The water pump was replaced 50K miles ago, the tensioner, pulley and belt are only a few months old. So I spent a few minutes removing the fan shroud, fan, and serpentine belt to check out the pulleys & bearings. Much to my surprise, the water pump has significant play in the shaft. I don't have any method of measuring the play, but as you apply force to the pulley, it is very easy to see the movement in addition to feeling it. We're talking about more than just a couple of thousandths here. Compared to any of the other pulleys there is several times more play. No sign of any leakage yet, though.

Is this sufficient cause to replace the water pump? Or should I just keep an eye on it? Perhaps limit the car to around town use, with a gallon or two of coolant in the trunk in case it decides to start leaking?

I buttoned it all back up and put a bit less tension on the serpentine belt; the squeeking mostly went away. The new belt is a Continental, and reading the archives I see that many folks have had problems with them squeeking. So I don't even know if the water pump is making any noise.

Finally, the car has 131K miles now. The fan bearing is still original. Is it worthwhile to replace it at this point? I've not yet looked up the procedure to see how much fun that task will be.

- JimY