Water pump & timing belt

97 jxi convertible with V6. Mechanic says I need a new water pump and, as long as he's in there, to do the timing belt also. I'm wondering if with only 47K miles and little likelihood of adding many more (I just drive around town for errands) if I should skip the belt replacement. The total bill with timing belt will be $922 - yikes! I'd like to trim it down a little if you think I should skip the belt.

i did the same thing and i was quoted 400 for everything. parts and 3.5 labor

I did replace my timing belt with my water pump. but my car had over 100,000 miles on it. I had a bunch of other work done too. The thing to think about is they have to take the timing belt off to take the water pump off. I don't think they should charge extra labor for it. But if in the future you need to replace the belt I think it takes about 4 hours. so you are saving a lot in labor by having them done at the same time. But if they are charging you extra labor, in exess of half and hour. I would question it.


After writing this post I see that you posted this back in november and probably have already made your decision.