Jake, do you know what manufacturers have the "Porsche P' stamped on their pumps? Is there any manufacturer's info other than Porsche p. I have called 2 dealers parts departments and they have no idea what they are selling. I am concerned with quality and that is the reason I am looking for more info, so I can be sure I am getting it.

The OEM one's at Sunset. Did you call Phil Coy yet?

As a matter of fact I did and they have no idea who manufactures the pump they sell, only that it is stamped made in france. Is that more OEM than one made in china? He said it is definitely not the manufacturer that made the one that came on the car. It appears that you are also buying a pig in a poke like the rest of us and thinking you are getting OEM.

I really like that diet Coke product. I'm going to call into Atlanta, and see if I can find out who supplies the nutmeg and cinnamic aldehyde.:)

Except that for the occasional "out of the box" dud, they go in and seem to last, and more importantly do not have metal impellers.

Very few dealer parts departments can tell you anything about who makes any part, or even what country they originate from; they just place an order in the OEM's parts distribution computer network and wait for the part to show up.

The Differences Between OE OEM and OES Parts

Mountainman, what line of work are you in? Do you tell your customers who your vendors are?

It has been my experience that anyone who makes a quality product that they can be proud of and stand behind are not ashamed to put their name on it. Would you buy a tire with no name, or a car or anything else. Why a waterpump? I have owned several businesses and have never sold anything with no name on it. I like to know what I am buying and that was the whole point of this post, not to find a cheaper product or another vendor who wants to sell his product. I want to know who made the water pump that Porsche used when they assembled the engine in their factory. Why is that so difficult to understand?

Here my opinion for what it worth and I'll probably get slammed for it. Porsche will sell you an OE water pump with the same flaw yours has, and then for parts sale, warrant it for 90 days. Auto Zone Napa and others sell you a quality part and warrant it for 10 year half the cost. Most of those are being made the same place your new US car pump is made Mexico, China, and Korea.

it's not difficult to understand, but you seem to have difficulty understanding that porsche does not release that information. and i dare say part of the agreement the MFGs have with porsche, is that they do not release the information either. their customer is porsche, not you or i.

there is a name on the part, and that name is porsche.

Never mind. I'm staying out of this one :p

I don't know who actually is the OEM water pump supplier. Pelican Parts suggests it's Pierburg. Maybe the P stamp on the part stands for Pierburg not Porsche. Just saying...

that might make more sense to me if there were not dozens of other components in a Porsche with the manufcturers name and logo on them. Why is the water pump a secret

When you owned these businesses, did you tell your current and potential customers where to purchase competitive goods & services?

Sounds silly, right?

But, that's what you want the Porsche parts department to do.

He's not asking for a competitor. He's asking about the OE manufacturer so that he can make sure that he gets the right one. I'm sorry, but you're being completely ridiculous about the whole thing. There's nothing wrong with ensuring that you're actually getting OE parts. Just because a company says that a product is OE does not necessarily mean that it is. Humans do this thing called lying ;)

It was a perfectly valid question. Why are you taking it so personal?

Porsche, like many businesses, uses private labels for its parts to support the high prices (and margins) charged by dealers. It's simply a business strategy that either works or it doesn't. If the OEM supplier becomes known, then the strategy becomes less successful.

I agree with many posters that buying genuine Porsche parts is appropriate for critical parts where the consequences of a parts failure is especially costly to the owner. My own view is that the water pump is one of those critical parts.

That said, others may have a different risk calculus than me. If they want to take the risk and buy from an OEM part from a source other than Porsche, I see it entirely reasonable for them to ask fellow forum members if they know the name of the water pump OEM.

Just for my two cents worth, before you try Pelican Parts, Suncoast, etc. see if your local Porsche dealer provides a discount for PCA membership. If so, join the PCA and then go to your dealer and buy the parts. It surprised me to find that my dealer was able to underbid both the above parts suppliers with my PCA discount. I joined for two years and have already recouped my membership fee. Plus I get a free magazine in the mail! :)

Of course, your dealer may not offer the same price point, so YMMV.

PS: The only non OEM parts (aside from sound system) I've bought to date are low temperature thermostat, spark plugs, and spark plug tubes. I just finished a complete wter pump replacement. LT thermostat, and hose replacement. So far, I'm happy with the results and what I paid for it.

Since Jake buys these all the time and seems to be as specific as you about what he buys, why not buy it from him? Or, why hasn't Jake posted the exact brand and sku of the part he uses with the P on it?

I think the question in perfectly legitimate and now I would like to know as well.

^ This could potentially backfire, namely because this is the internet. Word spreads quickly.

either way, the wp as a critical part, should be changed with a certain regularity, much like critical commercial jet parts. You see how few jets go down given the millions of flights that are boarded? They don't wait for things to break. They're tossed well before they come remotely close to failing because they must protect things that much more expensive to replace than a $300 part.

We have noted at least 3 different suppliers of water pumps. We buy them direct from Porsche and don't complain about the cost.

The pumps are different, not just re-branded.

That said, we change all pumps every 3 years, no matter the mileage. I just sent letters out to our engine purchasers from 2011 as a reminder to change their water pumps.

I am not big on OEM Porsche parts like most people are, in fact I'd love it if we had every part for our engines made in our network. The water pumps are worth the extra money.

As for "competition", well I took my parts store offline last year and don't care if we ever sell another component. I develop, someone else can sell it. Selling parts is boring and any keyboard warrior can do it.

All we sell is engines, built primarily from our own developed components.