Hello all, looking at an 05 G35x with only 70k on it. Looks very clean. However, owner says it started overheating recently and a mechanic told him it was the water pump. If the price is right, I'm interested, however after reading about the water pump being driven off the timing chain, and that its rare they fail, I'm concerned.

He also referenced that a year or two ago when his brother owned the car, he had the head gasket done. Says they also had the thermostat replaced recently. He states the oil is clean and doesn't show signs of leaking, and they aren't losing coolant.

From reading here - it seems it's more likely that either the fans aren't working, the thermostat is bad, there is air in the system, or the o-rings are shot. Doesn't seem likely to need a new water pump after only 70k miles, but same thing could be said for the head gasket job.

I guess I'm trying to sort this out and wanting some direction on what could be bad here and what my worse case scenario is. Of course the dealer when I asked for a quote for a water pump change also included the timing chain to the tune of $4000+.

The guy is asking $6500, but my thought would be to buy between $5000-$5500.

Should I walk away?

 

I wouldn't pay more than $1500 for a broken G that could possibly need a new engine, keep looking and you'll find one that doesn't have problems for the same price. Asking $6500 for an overheating car that's already blown a HG is ridiculous.

 

Don't walk. Run.