99 1.8t Sedan - two issues

[CajunSpike]

1)Reverse lights stay on all the time. Tranny is an automatic. The gearshift indicator in the dash works normally. Is it the tranny electrical switch thats bad?

2)Engine just started overheating. I know for a fact the belt to the water pump is loose. Whats the proper way to tighten up that belt? I know how to take the front off the car...just don't know how to tighten the water pump belt. Its the motor that has the separate water pump outside the block, AEB engine.

[CajunSpike]

So I pulled the front end off, got the water pump out. Seems it was the original german pump. The impeller had broken loose from the drive shaft. Even though the shaft was spinning, the impeller sometimes would turn, sometimes wouldn't.

Also I now understand how to tension the water pump belt. The wp pulley comes apart in two pieces.
You unbolt/remove the outer 1/2 of the pully, pull the old belt, put on the new belt.
When you retighten the wp pulley bolts, the two pieces of the pully come together making the wp belt tight....so if the wp belt is loose, its worn out.

Also changed the timing belt and tensioner assembly since I was in there. Come to find out, the old belt was so stretched, it had jumped two teeth out of time since I last aligned it 4 months ago.

As for the reverse lights, just pulled the bulbs for now.

[CajunSpike]

Eventually replaced the switch on the transmission that tells the dashboard what gear the car is in.
That also controls the reverse lights...so swapping that out fixed the reverse light issue as well.