Mr. Goodwrench?

Here it is... extracted from deep within the dirty, grimy, cramped, nearly inaccessable bowels of a 2002 Nissan Sentra. Just as the Greek goddess Nemesis personified the distribution of vengence and justice, so this seemingly harmless, inanimate water pump has executed retribution upon me. I am left with the intellectual flotsom of wondering what I have done to deserve this punishment in the first place? Hoses and thermostat replaced, radiator flushed, reservoir filled - what else was left? No flow noted through the lower hose, despite a functioning thermostat - it had to be the water pump. The first sign of trouble was the fact that the replacement pump cost less than $40 (if something seems too good to be true, it probably is). Then, the challenge of actually removing the pump manifested itself in the cruelest of ways: I could see the pump (after removing the reservoir, belts, and tension pulley), but only six of the seven bolts holding it in place were visible! Actually getting a wrench on the bolt heads would require the skills of a hand and forearm contortionist. Finally, after several scrapes, cuts, and knuckle-bustings I had disengaged the pump, coolant spewing forth like a ruptured artery, and I beheld the greasy part still glistening with escaped antifreeze. As I gazed upon the woeful apparatus and manipulated its internal workings, I painfully realized that what I held in my hands was a fully functional water pump!! How? Why? All this effort and travail for nothing!? Inconceivable!! The final devastating blow is that the easiest part of this whole endeavor was getting the dopey thing off!! - Mark