My experience has been the seal fails first, and that takes out the bearing, but the opposite can happen too.  So, there would be a leak at the pump.  Loosen the belts and spin the pulleys by hand to test for smooth spinning. 

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Dan N
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2016 4:21 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: water pump bearing noise

hi all,

could a water pump make bearing noise (clatter noise) - or alternator bearing - only when the engine is cold? ... I mean during warm up.. The noise went away after about 10 minutes...

thanks

dan