2001 Nissan Sentra 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 60000 miles
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my car runs well, no engine light on, however, occasional smoking...been told the belts need to be replaced as well as maybe the water pump...can the belts be replaced and not the water pump or will replacing the belts and not the pump end up blowing my engine...how do you know if you need a new water pump replaced.

water pump failure will show it leaking from the back. If the water pump is not making a noise and the car runs fine then you should have no problem just replacing the belt. Make sure you make a diagram before taking off the old one off. sometimes the cars do not have a diagram on the front saying how the belt goes on.