On Friday, I get a call from my wife who tells me that the car was overheating. She adds coolant and then proceeds to drive again and car continues to overheat. She parks the car less than mile from our house and takes a cab home the rest of the way.

I suspected that the thermostat was acting up so buy the necessary parts to change it. Upon opening the hood and removing the engine cover, I notice that the camshaft belt that drives the water pump is gone. After moving the airbox out of the way, I find the damaged belt.

I was able to track down a replacement belt from Autozone and begin the process of bumping the engine so that the belt would slide onto camshaft pulley. Well, my first attempt failed because the belt was not properly seated on water pump pulley and like an idiot, I let the engine run which resulted in the outermost edge of the belt (furthest away from the engine) being sheared off. There was also smoke coming from where the belt was which I attributed to friction from the cut end of the belt rubbing against something.

I ended having to order a 2nd belt which arrived this morning and this time, everything seemed to line up perfectly. I was the man..............or so I thought. Being the belt was properly seated on both pulleys, I stared it up and was preparing to go on a test drive when I again noticed smoke coming from the area of the water pump. This time the belt was cut straight across its width and I also see coolant leaking from the water pump itself.

I had to get to work today, so I had the car towed to our local Mazda dealer for further service. The service department was closed today, so I'll get the final word tomorrow morning as to what the deal is, but it seems to me that my water pump decided to quit on me.

Also this: while I was bumping the engine for the first belt, the battery died. I took back the stuff I bought for the thermostat and used the proceeds (and the credit for the old battery core) towards a replacement, but dang!

 

So.....prior to discovering that my water pump was shot, it was hoped that this would have been taken care of with a $20.00 belt and a few minutes under the hood. But of course that would have been too easy. Now I have to cough up over $600.00 to replace that thing. They recommended replacing the thermostat, but that will have to wait. Oh well.....look at it as a long-term capitol investment.