Anyone running with a metal impeller water pump?

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by petee_c

Great news. My memory was a little foggy. This pump has been sitting on the shelf for maybe 4 yrs.

Yeah, I procrastinate.

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Do you have a new gasket? Some of the water pumps come with a felt or other type of gasket but for this one you want the OEM style metal gasket. If your original water pump is still on the car you will have to trim away the old gasket since it is shared with the oil pump housing. That is one way to tell if you are still on the original water pump when you remove it.

Lots of good details here:

Porsche Boxster Water Pump and Thermostat Replacement - 986 / 987 (1997-08) - Pelican Parts Technical Article

If you are down there it is a good time to replace the thermostat too.

Good luck with your project!
Steve

[petee_c]

Magnet doesn't work on the housing or impeller. Definitely non-ferrous

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[rick3000]

The lifespan of the WP in a 986 is variable, and it is not on any official maintenance schedule. There is no way to really determine when they fail, the average life from what I have seen appears to be in the 60-80k mile range, with some failing sooner and some lasting longer.

That said, it is best to replace them before they fail to avoid either impeller bits in the coolant system or boring a hole into the engine casing. It's completely debatable, but the suggested preventative WP replacement seems to be in the 50-70k mile range. I had mine replaced under warranty at 30k miles, I replaced it preventatively at 95k, and I will replace it again in 60k miles, assuming I am not experiencing symptoms of a WP failure before then.

[jdraupp]

The problem with the metal impeller vs the composite is that when it fails and starts to wobble the impeller doesn't disintegrate like the composite and it instead mills the block, which isn't good. Most of the metal impeller pumps also don't last as long as the pierbergs from what I've read.

[NewArt]

Well Peter, you're good to go! Happy wrenching!

[NewArt]

Well Peter, you're good to go! Happy wrenching!
BTW, don't we have the popcorn box emoji on this forum?

[Smallblock454]

Well, i think if you drive 35 K miles a year with your Box, 3 years might be OK. At the moment i'm pretty proud if i drive more than 2 K miles a year. So i will have some years left. And my next water pump will be one with a metal impeller.

Regards, Markus

[Duezzer]

Make sure you don't over torque the nuts - Only 7 lbs I believe and use the metal gasket!

Take a piece of cardboard and make a drawing of the pump housing and where the bolts go -- they are different sizes - I pushed them thru the cardboard drawing. This kept me form screwing them up. You will need a knuckle socket to get to one of the bolts.

there is a bleed under the oil/anti freeze surround - You will need to vent as you top up the coolant or it will not go in.

Happy Wrenching.