Water pump longevity

[Frodo]

I’m currently sitting at 57K miles and am, necessarily, thinking of maintenance issues. One thing that comes repeatedly to mind is the water pump---the original water pump. Now I’ve read snippets here and there on the Boxster water pump, everything from “they’ll go 75K miles” to Jake’s “replace them every 3 years, regardless of mileage.” Now, I’ve gotten so I take seriously Jake’s warnings about what can (and does) go kaput in these cars, but still I’m curious. My questions are:

Who here has had a water pump fail on them?

What was age of the pump and how many miles were on it?

Was it OEM or made by someone else?

What was the symptoms/mode of failure (seepage, bearings went, impeller blades self-destructed, etc.) and consequential damage to the engine, if any?

What brand pump did you replace it with, and any thoughts on your wisdom of your choice?

[schoir]

Originally Posted by Frodo

I’m currently sitting at 57K miles and am, necessarily, thinking of maintenance issues. One thing that comes repeatedly to mind is the water pump---the original water pump. Now I’ve read snippets here and there on the Boxster water pump, everything from “they’ll go 75K miles” to Jake’s “replace them every 3 years, regardless of mileage.” Now, I’ve gotten so I take seriously Jake’s warnings about what can (and does) go kaput in these cars, but still I’m curious. My questions are:

Who here has had a water pump fail on them?

What was age of the pump and how many miles were on it?

Was it OEM or made by someone else?

What was the symptoms/mode of failure (seepage, bearings went, impeller blades self-destructed, etc.) and consequential damage to the engine, if any?

What brand pump did you replace it with, and any thoughts on your wisdom of your choice?

For reference, RedLightnin' and MarcW on Pedro's Board replaced their original water pumps at 174K and 172K miles, respectively: http://pedrosboard.com/read.php?7,5750,5750#msg-5750

So, it appears that the sky is not ALWAYS falling.

Regards, Maurice.

[JoeFromPA]

Water pumps go from age, not mileage...it's related to the pH of the coolant mixture (and the amount of time on that coolant), heat exposure, heat cycling, and pressure mostly.

My guess is 3 years is completely conservative and safe, 5 years will almost always be safe except for extremely rare failures or defects, and 10 years is working on borrowed time.

Coolant changed every ~3 years or so should make them last towards the end of that range.

Hope that makes sense.

[DFW02S]

Changed mine at 58k, the impeller was perfect but there was a bit of particulate showing that came from the spindle. I only changed it because I was doing the motor mount.

[97 Boxster]

Originally Posted by DFW02S

Changed mine at 58k, the impeller was perfect but there was a bit of particulate showing that came from the spindle. I only changed it because I was doing the motor mount.

How hard was this DIY??

[DFW02S]

It was really very easy.

For a 3 armed Porsche certified tech with a lift.

Pedro's board has an excellent how to. It wasn't that bad. I can always manage to make the job bigger than it should be, plus it was cold (even in Dallas) and that never helps.