Water Pump with Metal Impeller

[seawind]

Update on the water pump replacement :

As seen on the original post here, the water pump impeller disengrated, and I went with a metal impeller replacement from Autozone - lifetime warranty. That was at 140,000 miles. Two weeks ago, I heard a ticking in the motor, got the stethoscope out, and pinpointed to the water pump. The car now has 152,000 miles on it, six months latter. I purchased original Porsche part, and replaced the metal impeller water pump this weekend. The pump had play, slight leakage, the water level down about a 2cm. No rubbing, scrapping apparent on engine, so I am happy about that.

So yes, as most here noted, best not to fool Mother Porsche - stick with the correct parts. The nice thing is I did get a full refund from Autozone, so kuddo's go out to them.

At the end of the day though, this seems to be a bearing problem. Is there any development for a good bearing that can take the load of the belts, no lubrication, but have a pretty consistent operating temperature, and perform with very tight tolerances for a longer time?

[Flavor 987S]

Originally Posted by seawind

Is there any development for a good bearing that can take the load of the belts, no lubrication, but have a pretty consistent operating temperature, and perform with very tight tolerances for a longer time?

Yes. Go talk to Jake. He's been there done that, too and got the t-shirt. It was a $1,000 water pump. No one wanted to pay for it.