Longevity of HEPU pump?

[abscate]

Replace pump and idler and tensioner. I think idler.And tensioner failure is more common, anecdotally.

All of this is predicated on 5 more years of expected use.

[brick_and_motor]

Marginally more work for a lot more piece of mind. And it's not a bad job at all. The hardest part for me was removing the stuck on pieces of old gasket from a pump that was at minimum 12 years old, possibly original, on my '98 with 107k on it. And that wasn't even too bad.

[wizechatmgr]

You'll never thank yourself for having done it - but you won't be stuck on the side of the road wishing you had done it either asking yourself why you didn't while waiting on a tow. (Note: a tow can take hours if you're in the middle of a snow storm)

I had a '85 VW Cabriolet Convertible. Did the top and bottom end - rings, hone the cylinders, bearings, wrist pins, connecting rods, seals, new higher capacity oil pump, disassembled the valve body on the tranny (think it was an 010) and cleaned it, you name it - everything but the water pump... Think you can guess what happens next... Just think snow storm - plus needing to arrive at work before 4 AM - and now tack on AWOL of a full day due to my decision. All for a $40 pump in my case. I had the money, I even had the time, I just didn't do it for some unknown reason. It would have taken me maybe 10 additional minutes at that point.

Murphy's law of the mechanical world - anything you don't do today you will be doing in the future - under the worst possible conditions at the worst possible time. You may get lucky, you may not. As I've become older I've learned I'd far rather avoid situations than gamble on the possible outcomes. Usually the sooner you can identify or avoid an issue, the cheaper it is to address.

After all - depending on how bad that sucker could decide to punish you with a leak - you could be talking just a pump, or if it gets far enough out of hand - even a head.