kwizzman

Just turned 20K miles and -bing- on comes the charging system light, A/C compressor stops working, and temperature spikes into the H range. Honda dealer service only partially diagnosed the problem as a failed alternator when they didn't initially notice a (serpentine?) belt had fused to the failed water pump. How does a dealer initially miss such an obvious belt-related problem when three problems all point to that?

B20Zer

How did the serpentine fuse to the water pump pulley, when waterpumps fail they normally just start leaking which doesn't affect the belt or did the watepump seize?

tech8

Water pump failure on later year model Hondas are usually due to water pump bearing failure, without leaking.

kwizzman

In my case, no leaking of any fluid, just seizure of water pump bearings, I suppose. Question remains: if the mechanic does a visual of the running engine rather than just looking at codes, how does he miss a belt that is not turning????

Bill Biag

Was reading this thread... I'm shopping for a 2016 Honda CRV and came across one that had a water pump replaced in the Carfax. My question is: was there any long term adverse effects that your car suffered? Overheating, etc. Thanks.

kwizzman

It's been 11 months and about 15,000 miles since Honda replaced the water pump, belts and alternator under warranty. I have not noticed any lingering effects from the mechanical failure. I believe it was only the water pump that failed and caused the other components to either fail or be replaced because of a faulty initial diagnosis in which the dealer did not notice that the belt was fused to the water pump!k

jimspiderman

This doesn't instill confidence in reliability when a water pump goes bad in 20,000 miles. This is our third Honda and all have been problematic. The first one had so many problems, we sold it with less than 7,000 miles on it.

Bill Biag

Thanks for the information. I went to checkout the CRV that was for sale (with the CarFax-listed water pump replacement) and found something really odd. I always check all of the fluids for anything unusual. I pulled the oil dipstick and it was stained with oil all of the way up to the very top. I tried to wipe it to see if it came off and it was permanently baked onto the metal. I've done maintenance on 5 different CRVs since 2008 and I have never seen a dipstick that looked like that. The only thing I could figure out was maybe the car was driven for a while with the busted water pump, overheated and cooked the oil. Needless to say, I didn't buy the car - which was a shame - it was an EXL with NAV for under 20K with 30K miles at a decent price.

tony_2018

Sometimes the car was driven so oil would inaccurate when checking.

Bill Biag

Let me clarify. The car had not been driven and the top half of the dipstick was dry. This was not oil splashed up from driving.

tony_2018

Confused, but hey you passed up a vehicle that was suspicious. At least you made the call.

BabaNaperville

Hello All

I Had same Issue and milage is 70K 2014 CRV and I Never had a Issue Also ,Painting is going badly on rear door. I Called HONDA and registered a Case. It was so disappointing that for No reason my vehicle got stopped at middle of street