I have had my current Z for 2.5 years. I have only driven it about 5K. It has 119,000 miles on it. When I got it, I had the intake leak fixed. After that I pretty much did some bolt ons and minor things like change fuel filter, oil, battery, ect. My previous Z was bought new in 94 and I had it for 3 years with only about 30K on it when I sold it, so I never needed to change wear items.

My question is this.....Would you change things like the waterpump, surpentine belt, just in case they are original? I hate to have a failure on something I could easily do.

Think of it this way...What would you have changed BEFORE it broke/ failed???

Jim

 

A water pump? No. A belt? Maybe - depends on its condition. It all depends
on the part - check the condition of the part, then decide if it needs to be
replaced. I mean, would you tell a dentist to pull a tooth or have it filled or
crowned just because it's twenty years old?

 

On the water pump deal, look on the bottom of the pump and there should be a small hole. If its leaking then its time to replace the water pump.

 

I guess i am used to the import ( Honda) train of thought that you should replace the waterpump at 60-80,000 miles.

Anything else besides waterpump / belt ? I'm thinking ahead....dont want to say " if I only replaced "xyz' last year"!

 

Well, plugs, oil, maybe coolant, and if you pull the water pump that leaves you a few paths you could take. Replace the water pump with a stocker or go with an EWP, and then while its off, may want to think about replacing the Opti. Painful as that is, you may at least want to look it over.

 

if it ain't broke don't fix it

 

O2s

 

Definitely O2's and the fuel filter.

You could invest your money in a scanmaster. This will let you see all of the sensor readings more closely and determine if there are any hidden problems before they cause major issues.

Check your fuel and oil pressure with manual gauges to verify they are still within specs. Low pressures can be early signs of failure of the pumps.

 

I wouldn't change out things like a waterpump just because of their age.

On a lot of imports and 80's era domestics, you changed the waterpump just because when you changed the timing belt, you were already doing all the labor so you might as well change the water pump.

On LT1 cars, the equivalent would be if you have to change the Opti, then you might as well change the waterpump.

When your LT1 gets well in excess of 100k miles, your best bet is to stay on top of your fluids (Oil, trans, brake, steering, coolant, etc..) and repair things as they wear out or replace things in groups to save labor time/costs.

 

x2. Replacing the belt is always a good idea, because it takes 5 minutes and it's cheap. Water pump, on the other hand, not so much. If you replace the opti, go ahead and do the water pump to save it from your stock WP from crapping out in the future.
If you replace just the water pump, however, I don't see that warranting replacing a $300 opti that works fine.

Like mentioned, check all pressures and if you have the tools, monitor your sensors. If any are abnormal, you can replace them. Plugs and wires, fuel/air filter and PCV valve. And of course: fluids. Tranny fluid/filter and rear end oil.

 

o2's, fuel filter, pcv valve, power steering fluid, trans fluid, diff fluid, plugs, wires, cat(if its got 119k its not flowing like a new one. Magnaflows are on ebay for $50).
Front suspension bushings, alingment, re balance tires, clean tb and maf, about all i can think of at the moment.

I know theres the saying "if it aint broken dont fix it" but if you have 100k+ on a opti and waterpump i can almost gaurantee that new ones will help the car run better.

 

[/QUOTE]I know theres the saying "if it aint broken dont fix it" but if you have 100k+ on a opti and waterpump i can almost gaurantee that new ones will help the car run better.[/QUOTE]

^Thats what I was thinking. BTW the car runs great. I think its better than my 94 was brand new. I just dont want it to have an issue I could have avoided. I really love this car



Jim

 

Well if you want to live by the "don't want to have problems in the future" then you should probably get a crate/turnkey engine brand new with accessories... anything mechanical is going to fail eventually.

 

I continue to adhere to the "if it isn't broken, dont fix it" philosophy.

However, I will admit it does depend on what is being fixed or modified.

I've been a shade-tree mechanic of cars/trucks and motorcycles since I
was 14. So I've learned to maximize my effort when working on some
component.

Did I replace the Opti because I'm replacing the water pump at 120k miles?
No (the car was running fine).

Did I replace the water temperature sensor just because I'm replacing the
water pump?
No.

Did I replace the water temperature gauge sensor when I installed the headers?
No.

If I'm going to drain the engine oil, will I replace the oil filter?
Yes.

If I'm doing a "tune up", what will I replace?
Plugs, all filters (oil/air/etc), and I'll check the
wires, and I'll use the tuning software to check
all attributes of the system, check the shocks,
check the air pressure in the tires, check the
bushings in the suspension system, and check
all fluid levels.
(On the Buick, I'll replace the points/condensor
and check the cap/rotor)

Will I change the magneto system or clutch in
the 'Busa just because it's got 65k miles?
No.

I've read of folks (including myself) that have
seen 140k+ miles on the original water pump
and Opti (I've changed the cap/rotor at about
that mileage). Why change it?

Yes, I changed the engine mounts when I yanked
the tranny to put in an FLT tranny and Yank TC
and headers, because it made sense to do it,
because of the mileage.

But I didnt replace the brakes because I was
doing all of those mods.

If the chain is stretched on the 'Busa, do I change
the sprockets? Yes, because you should never
put a new chain against old sprockets.

What it all comes down to - really - is if it isnt
broken, or showing obvious age, dont worry
about it. If in doubt - check the component in
question - if it's out of spec, replace it.

 

I don't think I would replace the water pump or opti unless they needed to be replaced. If I were replacing the opti, and I knew there were a lot of miles on the water pump, I would consider replacing it at the same time.