2001 Ford Escort ZX2 water pump

I took my ZX2 in to the shop for a timing belt change at 70,000 miles. The guys at this shop have earned my trust. I agreed to go ahead and replace the belt tensioners and the water pump as long as everything was torn down anyway.

When I picked up the car I was told the water pump was external to the timing belt and looked fine so they didn't change it. That was good news since I saved a little money,

When I got home I looked in my Haynes manual out of curiosity and read very clearly that the timing belt must be removed to replace the water pump, period. I awoke in the middle of the night, mulling this over, wondering if maybe the mechanic working on my car just forgot to change the water pump and the shop owner was covering for him. If so, I could have a water pump failure in 20-30,00 miles and be faced with another big labor charge to again remove the timing belt. I knew I would have to go down in a few hours to confront the shop owner and I began to mentally rehearse what I wanted to say to him.

Being unable to sleep in the early a.m. I did some quick internet research and discovered that it seems there are two water pump designs for that car, one under the timing belt cover and one external. A quick look under the hood with my flashlight revealed the water pump pulley with the accessory drive belt running over it.

Fortunately, I didn't go back and humiliate myself at the shop. These guys are as honest as the day is long. The moral for me is not to trust the Haynes manuals as gospel.

 

Haynes and Chilton manuals, by necessity, tend to cover a range of sub-models and years, so it is sometimes difficult to narrow things down on your specific vehicle.

FWIW appears the replacement interval on that is 120,000 miles, so you're WAY safe on it. Also the Gates site indicates it is not a valve-bender, so that's one less thing to worry about.