Water Pump (indications of problems)?

[BoomerRoadie]

Hi. First, I have a "97 Boxster with 45K miles. The water pump was last changed in 2010 when it has 28,600 miles. So it has about 17K miles on the pump, but of course 7 years on it too.

Ok....Here's what I observe:
Normal warmup time
Normal max and stable operating temp (~190ºc, straight up needle)
But, I have noticed the low coolant light (red light on the top of the temp gauge) has gone off a couple times in about 4 months. Each time it takes a bit more water to get it to the max line.

I'm going to be a little more scientific going forward, but it took a full 16-oz bottle of water to get level up. I see no leaking signs on the garage floor.

Short of ripping things apart and take a look, is there anything I might do to help my odds of detecting problems before they become a real problem.

Thx!!