Water pump - DIY? How much is fair to PAY to get it fixed?
 

My car was at my independent mechanic today to fix a vacuum leak. It's so nice to NOT have that nasty hissing sound as I drive...

anyway, while they had the car on teh lift the mechanic pointed out what he said was a coolant leak at my water pump. He said it looked like it was leaking fluid when it was cold - he said the gasket would expand when hot to fill the leak, but when it cooled off, it would drip.. he said the water pumps go out between 75-100k - some sooner, some later - butt hat he recommended changing it.

He said the ballpark price to repair it at his shop with an OEM Porsche waterpump was about $600.

is this fair/reasonable?

is this something I could do myself? while the car was up on the lift, it didn't look all that hard to get to - but stuff always LOOKS easier than it reallly is.....

he didn't tell me I had to fix it ASAP, but he said when it goes - it will just dump fliud and I could wind up stranded...as the car is not a daily driver - and I don't routinely use it for long trips - being stranded would be a PITA, but it would not be a catastrophe.

what do you all think of this? is his info valid? he wasn't trying to sell me on the repair on teh spot - but he did seem to imply that if it was his car - it was something he wouled take care of and NOT "wait for it to break".

any input is appreciated.

You can buy a new OEM water pump for $214.

http://e-partssales.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=P&Product_Code =99610634054and99610601155&Category_Code=986Coolin g

Cost of new water pump, new coolant, new belt (since your there anyway), the procedure (which is a pain) and you’re dealing with a Porsche...price sounds about right.

IMO, what can make this repair tough is getting all the air bubbles out of the system. I thought I read once a procedure for "burping" if you will the system. It had something to do with the manipulating the filler cap if memory serves me, maybe some other posters can fill in the blanks I'm leaving, good luck.

I just bought a pump and gasket from Sunset Imports for under $200. Genuine Porsche, of course. Whatever you do, DON'T buy a water pump from ebay seller "Deutsche Parts." They sell "Hamburg Tech" parts, which are NOT the OEM quality stuff that they claim. They are probably made in China or India...

I agree with you on using only the Porsche water pump. the mechanic said he has used generic parts for SOME repairs, but said he NO LONGER does that for water pumps. he said he repalced several with NON-OEM pumps and most of them failed very quickly.... so he only uses the Porsche pump. this guy has been in business servicing only porsche's for 20+ years - so I think he knows what he is talking about. from my few times having the car worked on there - the place seems VERY legit, no sense at all of being upsold or any funny business.

I was more curious if this was a legit DIY project. I am capable of stuff like brakes/rotors... but at the same time , I'm the kind of guy that would rather pay to get some jobs done if they are a royal PITA.... when they are $600 jobs - I wonder if I could do it myself and save some serious coin...

if it's just a matter of unbolting the pump and slapping on a new one - I could do it. if there is a lot of "finesse" involved. it might be over my head.

It's not a difficult DIY, especially if you've done brakes/rotors.

You need coolant, gasket (which you'll cut to separate the part for the oil pump) and the pump. Polyrib belt is optional, but since you'll be taking it off and putting it back on anyway, now's a good time to reset the clock on that item too. You are really only unbolting the old one and bolting in the new one w/ belt rplacement and coolant refill/bleed.

So far as the pump, the Porsche pump is not a very good design. It uses a plastic impeller and many of these have failed. It's almost always the bearing and seal which fails, hardly ever the impeller, except for the plastic ones used on Porsches and BMWs.

There are reman'd pumps available (everything is replaced - shaft, seal, bearing and impeller), only the housing is reused. In most cases these remans are built better than OEM using a metal impeller. Personally, I'd go with one of these before using the Porsche pump.

Start to finish I'd say 2 hrs.

:cheers:

You Da Man LB, I knew you would slide by with the 411. Regarding the refill, is there a procedure for bleeding requiring the manipulation of the filler inlet? I could have sworn I read in the Bentley book that a specific operation is carried out during refill.

You don't exactly manipulate the inlet. If you remove the oil and coolant caps (and dipstick if you got em), you can then lift the black plastic cover/escucheon under them by carefully prying it up. Underneath you'll find the coolant bleed valve controlled by a 'D' ring. You lift the ring to open the valve and then run the engine (filled w/ coolant of course) and vary the rpms up to 2500 for 5 or so minutes and any air in the system will migrate to the open bleed valve - be sure to have some towels in the trunk in case any coolant overflows. It is sometimes necessary to repeat this procedure after several days.

:cheers:

From another forum, FWIW...

QUOTE
"Let it run for 5 or ten minutes after reaching operating temperature just to make sure all the trapped air is out then shut the valve --- Job Done".

Sorry, 5 or 10 minutes won't likely do it. He should drive with the bleed valve open for a couple of days - topping up the coolant as needed daily.


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Loren
RennTech.org
PCA member since 1978
My Mods in the Registry · My Blog

where in cali are you? i might be able to help if you are local... my buddy and i did it when i just repurchased a boxster about a month ago... yeah, the indy quoted me about $700 for the whole deal which included the belt... it is a pretty easy DIY if you have someone helping you!!... we did it in about 1 and a half hours but if we did it again could probably do it a little quicker... i'd also go with a different waterpump the one i took out was the original waterpump and i only had 39k miles on my car... the original one has the plastic impellers and there were pieces that broke off mine so i had to make sure i got those out... the one i bought was from rockwood i believe for under $100 with a warranty and metal impellers... i'm in san fran and wouldn't mind helping out a fellow boxster owner.. just need to buy me dinner or something... as i do get hungry!!lol... my cost for repair was about $200 with waterpump, gasket, belt, coolant.... couldve been cheaper if i hadn't used the wrong coolant initially...

Well that's the procedure quoted in the manual and it worked perfectly for me when I changed my coolant 2 yrs. ago.

I don't think I'd want to drive around with the bleed valve open because of the risk of overflow, not to mention condensate buildup in the trunk. But if that works for you, that's how you should do it.

:cheers:

do you get at the water pump from the top or the bottom? the mechanic showed it to me from the bottom, while it was up on the lift - but if I did this in my garage, I'd be able to put it on jack stands, but honestly, I don't like getting under the car. the idea of my car up on the two jack stands I have, and my floor jack - just creeps me out. I get this premonition of it falling and smashing me... :)

if you could do it from the top that would be "safer" to me...

when I painted my brake calipers, i used my floor jack to jack up the front of the car and put jack stands under each front jack point that is just being each wheel. then i used my floor jack at the rear center to jack up the back of the car. i just left the floor jack there, for 24hrs, with the rear up in the air - and painted. that didn't bother me - while maybe not teh safest way to get the car completely in teh air - but I wasn' tunder it... i was just painting from the SIDE...

if i had a lift - going under wouldn't botheer me.

i'd love to save $500 though.

your gonna have to get it from the top and bottom...

You know, of course, that you can gain easy access to the pump and belt through the fire wall panel don't you?

Yes, always a good idea to compare prices between Sunset Porsche and Suncoast Porsche. These guys are very competitive, and they will price match against each other.

"I don't think I'd want to drive around with the bleed valve open because of the risk of overflow, not to mention condensate buildup in the trunk. But if that works for you, that's how you should do it".

Have never bled my system, though the car is seven years old with 15k miles.

Just thought it was interesting that a Porsche Tech would post that comment.

I'm seriously considering installing the low temp t-stat this spring, so I'll likely find out what works the best.

[QUOTE=jmatta

I'm seriously considering installing the low temp t-stat this spring, so I'll likely find out what works the best.[/QUOTE]

Lower than 180 degrees? Why is that? To fool the ECU into thinking the engine is still cold so fuel is enriched trying to get the engine up to temp? I would think the thermostat is set for one purpose, proper sealing. The engines dissimilar metal parts expand at different rates and in that expansion engineers have determined that 180 degrees (coolant temp) is the optimum temp for the cylinders, pistons and rings to seal properly. This minimizes blow-by, contamination of the oil and excessive wear on the rings from the extra fuel “washing” the oil off of the cylinder walls.