Hi guys, im getting a squeaking sound during idle on the passenger side. How does one know when the water pump is going bad, or needs to be replaced. The car has high millage, and i was given no history of maintenance. Only that the timing chain and related components were replaced.
thank you

 

Check your belt train. Take a piece of tubing and carefully listen on one end while poking it around the different pulleys. You probably will find the culprit.

 

When a water pump begins to fail, you’ll notice that the car tends to overheat at low engine speed, such as sitting at a stoplight. When you accelerate, the engine temperature will drop. Now, this is not always indicative of a coolant pump failure, but a good starting point. You may also want to try squeezing the top radiator hose with the engine warmed up and running. You should feel pressure build up on the back of the hose and surge once it is released. If you feel no pressure, it’s a fair bet that the coolant pump is failing. The most common problem with the electric coolant pumps is a fault code for coolant pump volume. When you give the car a bit of gas does the squeak go away? The water pump pulley has a rubber friction surface that is driven by the friction wheel. The noise could be caused by the friction wheel of the belt tensioner. Pretty good info in this thread here with some diagnostic guidelines at post #3.