As part of replacing the drive belt on this washer I needed to remove the water pump. To do so took a bit of force, as the shaft was rusted to the pump (even though it is plastic). I reassembled it all, and the pump went back on with a fair amount of force. When I started the first load it appeared that the pump was leaking around the center point where the motor attaches. There is a very slight chance I did not have one of the hoses on properly and it was leaking there and moving into this area, but I don't think that is highly likely.

Anyway, I took it all apart. I put some water in the pump and used a screw driver to move around the part where the shaft goes in. If I put some pressure on that in certain ways I could see it leak a bit. I decided to see if I could get it working for a load or two until I could get a new pump. I removed the rust from the drive shaft so the water pump went on cleanly. First load went through with no leaks.

So here is the question. I am wondering if the pump leaking when it drive mechanism has unusual pressure on it is just a characteristic of these pumps in general, or if I am still running on borrowed time.