What Sealant For Water Pump

[feb 47]

I had the Panda's water pump replaced last year when the cambelt was done and it has started to leak recently.

 

Being honest, the coolant level has been slowly but gradually going down in the expansion tank since it was replaced from the start but I didn't bother looking into it until recently when it was more noticeable.

 

The Fiat water pumps don't have a gasket and a sealant should be used.

 

What sealant do you guys recommend and should I be expected to pay for the work again since it was done by a Fiat specialist less than a year ago?

 

They said they would put the pump through warranty but I haven't asked about labour, I expect at least a discount if not FOC (depends if the pump itself is leaking or it's the sealant that was not applied properly/was dodgy).

 

Also, should the cambelt be replaced again? I was told by someone that cambelts stretch and should not be reused but I don't see why not if the belt is in good condition since the tensioner will stretch it anyway.

 

Cheers.

Edited October 20, 2015 by feb

[Anthony 1,003]

A decent RTV sealant should be fine and is what I've used with success.

 

I've no experience of Panda's in particular, but assuming that it's a cambelt driven waterpump meaning that the belt will need to be part-removed anyway, it almost seems silly not to replace it.

[feb 47]

Anthony, after aplying RTV do you have to wait for a certain time before refilling the system with coolant?

 

The cambelt was replaced last year at the same time as the water pump (around 17k miles ago) that's why I am not sure if it is necessary but for the sake of a tenner or so I see the logic of replacing it.

Edited October 20, 2015 by feb

[Anthony 1,003]

I normally leave it overnight to be safe, but I'm sure it doesn't need to be that long.

 

Of course, this sort of thing should be bread and butter for any competent mechanic, let alone a marque specialist.

 

What's the cambelt change interval on a Panda? Say it's 60k miles... if so, you're rapidly nearing a third of the way through the belts scheduled life.

 

The devil is in the detail though and I don't know how much more work it is to do the cambelt over and above a waterpump on that engine. On Peugeot XU's it's about another 10 minutes as you need to partially remove the cambelt anyway, hence to me it's a no-brainer to do if you've covered that kind of mileage on the existing belt.