Dodge Caravan Water Pump

[lumpy]

 I imagine someone here has changed one of these before. I took my wife's 2000 Dodge Caravan to the local chain store mechanic shop, and sure enough they told me what I thought I already knew, the water pump is on it's way out.
 They also showed me where they thought water was leaking from between the head and the block? They said I would need to have the heads pulled and sent to a shop to have them resurfaced. Now I love this ol' van, but I am not about to spend $3,000 on it!! So I asked them to just give me a quote on the water pump, $725.00!!
 My next stop was to the local parts store to pick up a water pump,which was only $24.99, some coolant and a new hose. They said at the shop that the bottom radiator hose was also leaking, so I figured I can replace that myself. When I cralwed under the car I found that the hose was not leaking, and I also noticed how the water pump seemed to be easily accessible.
  Looks like once you remove the belt and hoses, there are just a few bolts and off it comes. Now after hearing the quote of $725 to replace it, I figured about 5-6 hours of labor, which translates to about 10 hours of my labor, so I had no intention of doing it myself, since this is my wife's vehicle and can only be down for one day, I just don't need that kind of trouble.
 So, anybody that has changed one of these, if you will kindly respond to let me know if this is a pretty easy job, or should I just pay someone to do it? Not the chain store, there is a local grease monkey that will work pretty cheap. I figure if I can get it done for under $200, I would go that route, BTW it's a 3.3 V6 , auto, ac, etc.

[lumpy]

I did a little more research and it looks like the water pump on the 3.0 engines is driven by the timing belt, luckily we have the 3.3 and I got a quote from the local greaser garage for $100 for the labor,whew!! It always pays to check around.

[Bullitt-]

our '98  3.3 was diagnosed with a leaking water pump, turned out to be the metal heater hose connector on the front side of the block. 

[lumpy]

I'll know for sure tomorrow. I hate it when the mechanic calls and says "I've got some good news and some bad news"

[daveh]

I had the same van and the same water pump issues.  It's easy takes about an hour.  Now a couple of tricks.  Don't drain the coolant by the pet cock in the rad it will surely strip and its a pia to get it back in.  Just use a large tub and remove the lower rad hose and dump it in there.  Also be careful of the idler pulley if you wrench too hard the wrong way it will screw it up.  And finally make sure you have the O ring seated properly in the groove or it will leak. I used a little auto spray adhesive to get it to say.  Good luck.  One more thing keep the receipt the first one I put in went up after 6 months and I had to get a new one.

[Mr. 6pak2go]

my 99 3.3 had a leaky pump its a pain to change its not that hard to get to just jack it up securly pul the passager side front wheel and tire and remove the splash gaurds! BE VERY CARFULLY REMOVING IT! i broke of three bolts just tring to loosing them! they are very cheap low grade aluiminum the snap with very little presure!! i had to drill tap and die the three holes and put in bigger bolts i used high grade bolts from lowes! good luck check autozone.com  go to the repair guides they have detailed pics!!

[lumpy]

Thanks for the advice guys, but I'm not doing it myself. I figure it's worth the $100 to have the mechanic fix it and save me the headaches. This is my wife's baby, and if I screwed it up I would just never hear the end of that!!