I had a metal on metal pinging sound
 

I was on my way to my nephew's bday party on Sunday and there was this slight pinging sound at first, then it got louder and quit altogether. I got off the highway and about a mile from my sisters house my car starts smoking, white smoke though. I pull into her neighborhood and my power steering completely gives out. I high tale it to her house and shut off the car. All of the lights lit up on the dash right before I shut it down. There's white smoke pouring out from the passenger side of the car.

My dad told me it was probably a busted antifreeze line and it was leaking onto the power steering belt. I left it there and had it towed into the shop Monday afternoon. Turns out it wasn't a busted line but, the water pump completely caved and basically blew up. :confused: My mechanic told me it was pretty rare for that happen on a Boxster that only has 60K miles. It shredded the belts also. I'll take a pic of the mess and post it later.

That repair was pretty heavy on the wallet... :eek:

Anyone else have this happen?

The water pump imploded on my 01 Boxster at 59k miles, and I was lucky I made it to the dealer without having to get a tow. By the time I got there, the coolant resevoir was about empty and I had a nice puddle under the car. The water pumps installed in the 01 models must have been made to croak at 60k miles. :D

Luckily my car never over heated. It never got above normal operating temperature and I got no CEL. When it was just sitting it never leaked any coolant but, when they pulled it up on the flat bed it started pouring out.

Yeh...mine didn't overheat either. I should say my coolant tank read at the minimum mark by the time I got to the stealer, so there was obviously still a lot of coolant in the engine. Regardless, with plastic impellers in the water pump, it's no surprise that they don't last all that long.

Water pumps fail... at 60K they are done with their service life.

I guess I'd better think about replacing mine in my 01 with 82,000 miles. What's the best pump available?

my pump went out at 75k.

it started leaking at about 74k....i never heard any noises...i used the boxster to go out and grab take out and when I got to the restaurant and got out of my car i heard the sound of water dripping..looked under car and a huge puddle was forming...i was only a half mile fromm home so I got right back in car and headed straight home...drove it easy...car never overheated... once home it just dumped all over my driveway. towed to mechanic. $600 later I had a new OEM pump. i don't even want to know what the "stealer" wants for that job...

my 1999 Volvo had 150k on it when I sold the car. stock pump. why can't my Porsche pump go as long?? it's not like the water pump is a high performance part is it????? i'm cool with my tires wearing out FAST...they're supposed to..but c'mon...the water pump?

Does anyone have any experience with a non OEM new pump?

Paul, why bother with non OEM? You turn your own wrenches, so no crazy labor charge. A new OEM pump and gasket (part codes: 99610634054 and 99610601155) runs about $210. How much can you save on non OEM and at what "cost"?

I usually use Porsche parts, but Jake seems to be making some good parts for other repairs. I'm looking for a recommendation.

I've taken my 01 on several 2000 mile one way trips and want to get it ready for several more. So far the cooling system has not been opened.