2003 Turbo Beetle Convertible -- Water pump leaking again after third replacement!

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and have joined to see if anyone might know what the heck is going on with Herbie, my Beetle. She's an '03 with just over 140k. I bought her, used, a little more than a year ago and am REALLY hoping to get her to 200k+ (considering I still owe a pretty penny on the loan).

A few months after I got her, the red coolant light started flashing. The reservoir was low, so I added coolant and was able to keep doing that until I had the water pump replaced in December of this year under warranty. The mechanic (a trusted family mechanic I've gone to for years) said it was leaking. Two months later (in February), the same thing happened. He replaced it again. It happened again last month (in May), and he replaced it a third time. It's been two weeks, and this morning when I started my car up, it happened AGAIN. Is it just me, or does it seem like something else might be the problem? I mean, the reservoir is definitely close to empty when it happens, but it sometimes goes weeks without my having to add any coolant. There are no leaks under the car, so I know it's not dripping out onto the ground to the point that it would empty the entire reservoir, and I don't believe it's a head gasket issue, as my engine oil isn't frothy or milky.

Suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Have a great day!

~Sly :)

Is the waterpump leaking from the shaft or the outer body seal? - if it's the seal, the pump should be covered under VW warranty if installed by a mechanic. What indications have you had that the pump is actually leaking.

this is a strange one, were you actually adding coolant or just water? and was it distilled water or plain water? if you just added plain tap water you just screwed up your cooling system . these vw are meant to have the
correct mixture of special coolent 50% to and distilled water if you mix it wrong you intrude corrosion valnerabilities into the system and cause your
cooling components to eventually fail. it also needs that special G12 coolant for vw engines...........if not mixed properly it also runs a little hot.
don't get it confused with the orange stuff or yellow stuff for the fords or toyotas. i know it looks kinda like the same,but changes color when you pour it out, looks some what pinkage......IS THAT A WORD? Let's say some what light pink. Good luck man.

I believe my water pump had a large O-ring on it. In school my teacher said before you slide a O-ring into something check for burrs in the housing that will cut the new oring also put a little petroleum jelly on the slidding surface so you don't roll/burn the new oring. You might be paying for a new water pumps forever until you get the screw driver gouge out of the mating surface that the oring slides thru before seating in the engine. Alot of mechanics can change parts but don't understand proper assembly and hardly ever anymore function.

I don't understand why the waterpump is being replaced if it's not leaking or making noise ? My suggestion is to pull out the spark plugs and see if 1 looks very different from the others. Sometimes a head gasket can seep just enough to be vaporized without fouling the oil. One spark plug will look as if it has been steam cleaned . This would explain the Coolant level going down without a visable leak and coould be intermitant because it might only happen when the engine gets hot enough to expand the the head enough to let the defect seep. 3 waterpumps do not go bad that close together, fix the cause not the effect. Good luck