Coolant leak

Water pump sits on the front of the timing chain cover. Water passages through the timing chain cover carry water from pump to block. The cover gaskets can leak and/or the cover can corrode away. In a motorhome, it's pretty hard to see where the problem really is without tearing it apart...which you have to do anyway to fix whatever the problem is. I sure wouldn't be replacing a timing cover gasket set without putting a new water pump on at the same time. The timing cover also mates to the oil pan in the front requiring the pan to be dropped to replace the oil pan gasket with new. Again, wouldn't do the job without replacing all the parts that could be bad. A job you only want to do once. I'm no expert on prices since I do most all my own work but $1200 in labor doesn't sound too exorbitant to me. That's a LOT of work, especially in the confines of a motorhome chassis. There's bunches of stuff to take off and put back on.