A tale of 2 water pumps
 

Last week I drove my 2003 S to work and on the way home the light in the temperature gauge started flashing, while the gauge continued to read just over 180 degrees. I made the 60 mile trip home, saw that I had a leak and added 3 quarts of distilled water. Saturday I had it flat bedded to my independent Porsche specialist, who I heard back from today. My water pump packed it in after only 3 years and 24,000 miles, which is the earliest he'd ever seen that happen. I replaced my original water pump on my 2003 S in 2014 at 42,000 miles as a preemptive move. At that time I went with a metal impeller pump, as I was more worried about plastic impeller chunks breaking off and getting caught in the heads and cooking the engine than a metal impeller blade grinding out the inside of my block. You can burn me at the stake, but after discussing it with my garage, My mechanic has seen ruined engines from broken plastic impeller bits caught in heads but has caught the metal pumps before they ground into engine block cavities, and he runs a metal impeller pump in his own car. So I'm going to go with a metal impeller blade again. The impeller didn't come in contact with my block's cavity. I'm not saying it can't happen, I think there are pros and cons to both options. Either way, it's important to check your water pump on a regular basis and replace it preemptively.

The irony is that your diligent preventive maintanane has resulted in premature failure. What kind of pump did you install?

FWIW, I never replaced my water pump pre-emptively, and at 59k miles, it failed after 8 yrs. it gave me signs of failure (weeping under my car) so I wasn't stranded. Replaced with the factory unit, and I'm now at 73k (9 years later), and still good. At this rate, I'm sticking with the factory unit.

Another data point...
 

I bought my 2004 S in 2015 with 25,000 miles on her. I R&R'd the water pump proactively with an OEM unit.

40,000 miles on her now.

So far, so good.

Folks should really look at the water pump as a consumable and just replace it every four years with a new OEM one.

Cheers.

I'm not sure of the brand, it is what my indie uses in his own 987 Cayman with a m97 3.8 liter engine that he only drives on the track. He said he's never seen one fail so soon and is seeing if his parts supplier will warranty it. I thought I would replace it after 40,000 or 50,000 miles.

Unfortunately, I agree.

I think if there is ever a good time to use Porsche genuine parts it's the water pump and AOS.

Just get a Pierburg WP for ~75% of the cost of a Porsche one.
Its that same at what Porsche sells.
Mine even had a Porsche part number on it

+1 for a Pierburg WP, they are an OEM supplier, easy way to save some money, unless you collect Porsche part boxes.

water pump woes
 

Hi guys, I just bought my 2003 base with 66k on it and only have driven it only a couple of weeks (about 300 miles) and just the other day I heard something starting to squeek in the engine compartment like a belt or pulley. I only drove it one more day and the next morning I went to start the car and the temp light was blinking at me, so I added two liters of coolant and noticed that its leaking right below my water pump. So I decided to pull the access cover and do a little investigation, and the squeek is definately coming from the water pump. So this will be my first project on the boxster, kinda excited but bummed because I wont be able to drive it until I get it done. I just ordered the pump, gasket, and low temp thermostat plus a drive belt, anything else you guys would suggest while I have the access cover off?

Don't mix coolant types, and make sure you use a 50/50 mix with distilled water. A lot of people change the motor mount at the same time, but they normally last about 100k miles. Best of luck, it's a fairly easy job once you get everything apart. :cheers:

As long as you're in there give the idler/tension pulley bearing a good look too. Mine went last year at around 60,000 miles after my first HPDE.

water pump/air bag light
 

I got my water pump replaced yesterday and got the rest of the car together today (took about 4 hours) took for a test drive and no leaks, however I removed the pass side seat to have room to work and now my air bag light is on?? I reconnected the seat harness and the see functions still work so what could I have messed up? thanks in advance

At some point in time you must have turned on the ignition with the seat removed? That will set off the airbag light. It will need to be reset with a PIWIS or Durametric.

Yes I did, dang it. I will stop by the Porsche dealer tomorrow, thanks for the info