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Originally Posted by Steve Tinker
There was talk a while ago about steering clear of the metal bladed water pumps.
If I remember correctly, its possible that if the pump bearings collapse it allows the metal blades to drop & wear through the alloy crankcase wall - you can guess the outcome of that.
My pump which was 10 years and 48,000 miles old when I removed it had no damage to the pump vanes and visually looked the same dimensions as the new pump. But costing only a couple of hundred dollars, I strongly believe that this type of preventative maintenance is a no brainer, considering the damage (not to mention the considerable inconvenience) of a failed water pump....
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I didn't know that any of the water pumps were available with metal vanes. That confused me because American car makers have had metal vaned water pumps forever, and don't have any problems with the vanes breaking or bearings collapsing.
I'd just replace it every few years.
The belt is super easy. Put a piece of masking tape on it indicating which way it goes before you remove it though. You will likely have to trim the water pump gasket though. The Bentley manual tells you exactly how to do that.