Water Pump Failure at 54K

Got a little story for ya. On July 21, 2001, I headed out with the local Austin CEG group for a little ride through the country. Well, after only a few miles, I heard the accessory belt squeak, and I looked at my gauges to check the "status" of the car. The temperature gauge was pegged above HOT! "HOLY SH%T!" I freaked, but managed to pull the car off the road immediately and turn the engine off. Fortunately, there wasn't much steam coming out of the hood. After opening the hood carefully, I knew why the belts squeaked. Coolant had leaked out of the pressure cap and spilled on the belt. The only steam was from where the coolant hit the engine. No burning oil smells, no shavings in the oil, no other fluids dropping to the ground. Whew.
The rest of the gang figured out that I was no longer with them (Note: I was the "chase" vehicle"), and they helped me with what I needed to do next. I got on the phone with my roadside assistance company, and Chris Hightower and Deron W (AggieSVT) started calling parts stores to find a water pump and thermostat for the SVT. Clay (SVTCop) even had a few road flares to share. :) Thanks guys for helping out, sorry to "ruin" the day.

Well, I got the car towed back to my house, and made it to the parts store 30 minutes before closing. After buying AggieSVT dinner, we got to work. When we took the water pump off, we were shocked. The impeller had shattered, wedged itself against the edge of the housing, and then had dislodged itself from the shaft. We carefully removed all the pieces.

My car had 54K miles, and I had been planning to change it at 60K like everyone recommends, but I guess I should have done it at 50K. :) Well, to wrap up, we got the car back together, and monitored it with AggieSVT's ODB-II program. No codes, no alarms, no leaking, and no bad smells. Whew, I think I got really lucky. I guess I caught it just in time. I'm glad the coolant hit the accessory belt, as I don't know if I would have noticed until it was too late.
Thanks again to Chris Hightower, AggieSVT, SVTCop, and Sidewinder for helping out.