Genuine Water Pump or After Market - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

JamesBorisPerez · 04-22-2010, 07:43 PM

The cost of a Genuine Water Pump for a Boxster 2003 S is $ 370.00 and after market is $ 170.00. I know the old saying " you get what you pay for" but what's everyone's experience.

Please advise.

gschotland · 04-22-2010, 09:49 PM

You can get an OEM water pump from Suncoast Porsche in OR for ~$200. No need to pay out the a$$ at your local dealer.

http://www.****************************************************.com/

Lots of iffy remanufactured water pumps out there for as little as $100. Of course some think the OEM unit is equally iffy. I bought from Suncoast and have no regrets so far.

Dragonwind · 04-23-2010, 12:34 AM

It's a tough call for me because my OEM failed in under one year and was replaced under warranty (for the part + labor) so who knows. The original lasted 10 years and wasn't bad just old and I had it changed before anything went south...of course that's what the new one did lol!

Lil bastard · 04-23-2010, 09:17 AM

There are several aftermarket pumps out there which are superior to the OEM.

This is because the OEM uses a plastic impeller which actually disintegrates over time while the pressed metal impeller on the aftermarket pump lasts the life of the pump (ie bearing). A degraded impeller may not always be the cause of failure, but over time, it is the cause of reduced coolant flow.

When the time comes, I'll go with aftermarket due to it's robustness. The fact that's it's less expensive simply sweetens the deal.

Cheers!

JFP in PA · 04-23-2010, 11:30 AM

Interesting comments, particularly as I see it the other way around: We see more problems with the aftermarket units failing prematurely than the OEM pump. After too many “come backs”, we no longer install aftermarket and only use the OEM units as the result.......

jcb986 · 04-23-2010, 01:01 PM

There is another post like this on Pelican Parts 986 BBS. The guy was going to change his water pump as a maintenance procedure which was working fine. A Porsche Tech said it was not necessary to do so. Pumps can go 10K to over 100K miles. Replace after it only starts to fail and he then described how to monitor which was really simple. The pump usually leak first as they began to fail. Me, why fix something that's not broken.

blue2000s · 04-23-2010, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcb986

There is another post like this on Pelican Parts 986 BBS. The guy was going to change his water pump as a maintenance procedure which was working fine. A Porsche Tech said it was not necessary to do so. Pumps can go 10K to over 100K miles. Replace after it only starts to fail and he then described how to monitor which was really simple. The pump usually leak first as they began to fail. Me, why fix something that's not broken.

I'd rather not have little pieces of water pump vane floating around in my coolant lines.

jcb986 · 04-23-2010, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue2000s

I'd rather not have little pieces of water pump vane floating around in my coolant lines.

Here's the info from Pelicans discussion from 2 who responded. Just FYI info.

The gasket is a coated steel gasket. No doctoring required or recommended.

1) Water pumps are truly hit or miss- one may last 100k, one may last 10k.
A new pump may fail before the one currently in the car.
Usually they give you plenty of warning by the weep hole. Inspect inspect inspect.
Sometimes you get even more warning by the bearings growling.
Rarely they fail w/o any warning.
I would rate a water pump 4/10 in difficulty. Without a lift to get under the car, may want to revise that to 6/10.

2) OK I will take a stab at it. Since our coolants are silicate free wear on the impeller should not be an issue. If the shaft seal begins to wear it should start dripping or maybe squeaking and you will most likely smell some coolant. Yes it could just seize up and the belt flip off, or the impeller shear from the shaft, but what are the chances. Unless you have some real mean time between failure data I would leave it alone. At least this one is a proven item. Right out of the box is the highest failure probability there is until you reach some mid time service life. And we do not know what that is. At least I do not know it. You can bet Porsche knows it, but we will never ever see those data sheets. I had a friend who had a car with a water pump that began to squeak. He purchased a new one and put it in the trunk, just in case. He sold the car with 350,000 miles with the new pump in the trunk.
I think that is called a scare tactic.

BikerDrew · 04-24-2010, 07:01 AM

My two cents:

I do ALL my own work so I looked at sourcing a water pump last December as mine had a bearing failure at 58K. Upon disassembly, I found no broken impeller parts, just a bearing failure.

I steered away from metal impellers all together. Here's why. WHEN the bearing fails, the impeller will contact your engine case and damage it like a grinder contacting the surface. This may distort the case enough to reduce fluid flow.

After looking around, I got my my local auto parts store to sell me a rebuilt one, with a plastic impeller for....$110 exchange! :dance:

They priced matched an ePray quote, believe it or not. The pump I received was rebuilt locally and looked every bit Porsche OEM. Perhaps even the new bearing was improved? We will see.

It came with a paper gasket, I applied a quality water pump gasket sealant and it actually worked fine. I had to change the pump when it was about 15 degrees outside. Way too cold to work on any vehicle. By far the easiest water pump replacement I have ever done. Oh, and I used Prestone Extended Life coolant

and will do a full change out every year.

So far, I have driven about 2500 miles and no issues. I will keep an ear open for bearing failure and be glad I went the route I did. Hope this helps.

jcb986 · 04-24-2010, 11:16 AM

Rebuilding a water pump is no major problem for the rebuilders. They take an OEM part press out the old bearing and impeller shaft. Most will use a manufacturer of bearings like SK. They then soda blast the part to make it like new again and inspect it before installing the new bearing and either installing the old impeller or even replacing it. Most all water pumps fail because the bearing fails.

JamesBorisPerez · 04-24-2010, 02:12 PM

Excellent advise, I have decided to get the aftermarket water pump from Napa Parts, that way I some local backing. I will get the metal gasket and replace the serpentine belt. I have all the tools now so I plan to get started today.

I will let eveyone know my experience with the project.

Thank You.

BikerDrew · 04-27-2010, 06:00 AM

Good luck with your project.

Be sure to notice where the two long mounting bolts came from so you can put them back in the same places. The inboard ( hard to reach) bolt is one of them. you will need a 10 mm wrench and a 10mm socket which for me was easier with 1/4 " drive tools. I ordered a metal gasket and had no luck sealing it given the low torque of the fasteners. Maybe it was the temperature outside, but it would not hold presure for me.

BE SURE to bleed ALL the air out of the coolant system. I am sure you can find a thread on that issue. I was easy for my project, so don't worry about it.