While the price of foreign used cars are currently at an all time high, the cost of spare parts, OEMs and After markets are over the roof.
Reason is not far fetched. More people are opting for used cars amd replacing parts to be able to put them in great shape.
A particular sensor I recall buying for about 3,000 a couple of years ago, was sold last month for 22k. This was after so much haggling and begging.
These days, cost of petrol is hardly the concern of many folks. It is keeping the car on the road. For someone who earns say 350k a month, and the vehicle has to gulp 150k, amd that’s not fuelling, you’d agree with me that’s a lot to keep up with. Now imagine earning less and having similar problems.
So when we write about these maintenance tips, we don’t do it for the accolades, lol. We do it so that you don’t end up accusing someone who sold you a car for selling you a bad car simply because you are ignorant of what’s suppose to be and what’s not.
One part of every engine that its neglect has been known to cause a lot of damage to engines is the water pump.
There are 2 major types of water pump, the electric water pump and the mechanical water pump. The electric as rightly put relies on the battery. Most performance cars come equipped with electric pumps to release tension from the engine. It has its pros and cons, while the mechanical water pump turns with the engine. Hardly fails but is prone to wear and tear just like the engine and every other moving part with it.
For a component as important as the water pump, responsible for pumping coolant to the engine and transmission, many folks neglect it during servicing and maintenance. It’s even worse that a lot of people use water in the place of coolant thus exposing the pump and the engine components to rust attack. Oh yeah. That’s why when you open some radiators, or some engines, you practically see rust runoff, thick brown. Yet, many mechanics would still tell you it doesn’t matter. Coolant is for oyibo people. I don’t want to digress.
Taking care of the water pump can be a very easy thing to do. Have the engineer bring it out, if it’s accesible, clean sludge or debris around and within it, change Gaskets and bearings where necessary and use coolant instead of water. For some cars, like the duratec engine in some Ford cars, one needs to open up the engine to access this. So coming accross a Ford vehicle without an engine repair history (opened engine before) is rare. Infact, it’s a red flag. Landed them some court cases in north America, but it is what it is.
That noise you’re hearing especially in your Toyota vehicle thinking it’s your engine, it maybe your water pump bearings warning you. 2021 I had a similar case. The buyer condemned the car that it had a knocking sound, meanwhile it was just a bad water pump which was changed for 15k at the time. I don’t know the price now, but that gives you an idea.
Thank you for reading.
I believe I’ve made my point.
Photo below is the water pump my BMWF30 uses.
Annoyingly expensive. 🤣
