Water pump and maintenance
 

When did everyone change their water pump? I don't have any issues with mine currently, I am trying to be proactive and maintain my 2005 2.7 sebring as long as possible. I have 62k miles on her right now and just looking into keeping her going as long as possible. Also, I was quoted $650 for the water pump, timing chain and tensioner from my mechanic. Is that a fair price for the work and parts? I just want to kill all these birds with one stone and replace everything while the engine is pulled for the water pump.

62,000 miles on an 11 year-old car is quite low mileage, averaging less than 6,000 miles per year. I have owned 2 Sebrings with the 2.7L engine and got more than 100,000 miles on each without ever changing a water pump. There's no set time for replacement and you could get several more years out of the current pump without trouble. The time to replace it is when it starts leaking. The problem is that it can leak into the crankcase and get water in the oil, which can lead to major engine damage if not corrected. The best practice would be to keep up with normal engine maintenance and check the oil regularly. If it ever starts looking like chocolate milk, it's a good possibility that the water pump has gone bad.

$650 is a good price for the work that needs to be done to change the water pump. He will have to remove pretty much everything at the front of the engine to get to it. Might as well do the oil pump as long as he's in there. He won't be "pulling" the engine out but he will be pulling a lot of things off of it, as you are already aware.
Personally, I would wait for an actual failure before throwing that kind of money at an 11 year-old car.

Thank you for that advice. I just recently purchased the car (around a month ago), I am the second owner of the car. I jumped with the low miles and how beautiful the car was inside and out. Like I said I don't have any issues with the car, I just read through a bunch of forums and the owner manual. I just want to be proactive with it and save the engine. Hoping I can get some time out of it before I have to replace those parts.

you might want to get a second quote on that water pump timing chain tensioners and such. the labor time is 6.9 hours and parts alone run about 500 to 600

If you get off the water pump can erase the tensioner in the result of which could break the timing belt and the motor will need to be renovate.

2.7 engine has a timing chain not belt

And what is the timing in the engine 2.0 in 2002 ? There is a timing belt or chain ?

Is that a diesel?

They didn't sell diesels over on this side of the Atlantic.

When to change the 04 2.7L water pump
 

I'm toying with the same question. My 04 Sebring seems to be fine, no water leaks or noises. No water in the oil either. However this winter I noticed the heater was not providing any heat unless I kept the RPMs above 1500, in other words no heat at idle. My Haynes manual says this condition indicates the water pump is failing. I've never heard of a water pump just stop pumping! After looking at a bunch of these posts about changing a water pump, I am having a senior senile moment. I've changed many water pumps over the last 5 decades (none Mopar) and never had one inside the engine or one that I couldn't change in half an hour. Do I need to change this water pump?

if the water pump had gone out teh heat inside would be the last thins id worry about your engine would starter to over heat first. Second if you can hold both the heater core hoses when the engine is full hot then you have a blockage in the heater core.