How do I find out if my water pump is working?

A repair shop next to us was chasing an overheating problem for two days, they had put in a new radiator and thermostat and tried everything and found the water pump was bad I think it was a Taurus around your year. Call an independent Ford repair shop in your area or someone with lots of Ford experience and ask them if they have ever seen a bad water pump impeller on a !997 Taurus, they may say yes we see it all the time! There are certain cars we work on have that as a common problem.