2006 WRX, with 50k miles.
Here's the deal. I have a leak and the mechanic says it's a front seal leak. So he's going to replace a bunch of seals while he's in there. He also suggests a timing belt an idler, since he's already that far in.
He also said he could do the water pump, but doesn't really recommend it due to the relatively low mileage.
The price is about $400 for the seals, idler, timing belt, or $800 for all that, plus water pump and tensioner.
I'm thinking I can skip the water pump, and get the belt, seals, tensioner, idler and be safe, but I wanted to make sure that a water pump failure isn't catastrophic like a tming belt failure is. I'll likely get some warning, right?
The reason I ask is because if I get all the other stuff done, I'm not planning on replacing the water pump at 90k miles. I'd just wait until it started leaking or showing signs of failure.
Any thoughts?