Water pump failure - head gasket risk?

So... we were on the motorway yesterday, en route to the in-laws prior to catching a ferry to France. Then the rev counter and the power steering disappeared. My wife continued to the next services which were between five and ten miles further down. On arrival, the accessory belt was shredded and it was clear that the water pump was the culprit. The engine was hot and had ejected coolant through the expansion tank. When I opened it half an hour later, the level in the tank was low (not dry) but there was no longer pressure in the system. Stripping the engine after recovery last night, the water pump bearing has failed and I'm kicking myself for not spotting it - I'd recently changed the belt because it had started to squeak but just hadn't thought enough about the source of the noise, or expected it to progress this fast.

That's the background. I can fix the water pump easily enough; my question is whether it's worth re-booking the ferry for Monday or whether head gasket failure is now a near certainty. Any thoughts welcome.

What state is the oil in and how much water comes out when you remove what's left of the water pump, if plenty of water comes out when you remove it I'd say you should have got away with it. I've just fitted my third since Christmas, both the ones that failed were the same brand from Craddocks and the only replacement they had this time was a Britpart one so mine's a ticking time bomb

would be good to know what engine is involved though

sierrafery said:

would be good to know what engine is involved though

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Good point, I'm afraid I always go to my default 300tdi setting. I blame being tired

Ah, sorry, yes, it's a 300tdi. Can I blame being tired too?

A fair amount of water came out but it was hard to see how much (dark, head torch). A litre or two rather than millilitres. The wife rather descriptively referred to the sound as "like waters breaking"! As I say, the expansion tank wasn't completely dry either. Here's hoping. The oil looks OK - at least, there's no mayonnaise on the filler cap.

thetim said:

Ah, sorry, yes, it's a 300tdi. Can I blame being tired too?

A fair amount of water came out but it was hard to see how much (dark, head torch). A litre or two rather than millilitres. The wife rather descriptively referred to the sound as "like waters breaking"! As I say, the expansion tank wasn't completely dry either. Here's hoping. The oil looks OK - at least, there's no mayonnaise on the filler cap.

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expansion bottle level isnt reflective of whas in the engine you need to remove bung on thermostat housing to find out ,, your not going to know till you try the chances are your ok but theres no guarantee

I'll file that information about the expansion tank away for future reference. Thankyou all - I'm not looking for a guarantee that it's all fine, but it sounds like it wouldn't be altogether foolhardy to drive south - cautiously. I'll post up again once this has resolved itself either as a head gasket failure or a happily ever after.

Update, 6:30pm - made it to the in-laws, 170 miles away. Nothing untoward, despite both the wife and I being hyper-sensitive to any and every noise! Stopped to take a look under the bonnet twice; all seems to be more or less in order although the new fanbelt looks like it's been on there a while already, which is strange. Slackened the tensioner off and checked the new water pump pulley for play and resistance - nothing. Hopefully I'm imagining things and / or didn't clean the pulleys completely of the debris of the old belt before fitting the new one. Another note - there's been that much spilled on the rocker cover and cleaned up again over the last few days that it's cleaner than it's ever been. Looks as though one of the ever-present oil leaks is from the plastic thing half way down the passenger side of the rocker cover - vacuum pump?

Certainly no odd signs from the head gasket, at least.

Sounds like you got away with it. Enjoy your holiday and don't forget to bring me back a stick of rock

Makes no matter how much water was still in engine it all depends on how hot it got as pump kicking it means the water that's left is not circulating through radiator to be cooled.

Well, we got to France, spent a week driving around it and got back to the Midlands again. Seems to be OK. I'll let this thread sleep now unless there are any major developments (i.e. the head gasket does go in the near to medium future).