Recommended Water Pump Replacement time/miles?

Yes, I did a search on this topic and found various threads, but none of them addressed my question. I'm seriously looking at a 2010 Base Cayman with 65K miles. None of the service records show a water pump replacement. I checked all the Porsche service maintenance schedules and none of them list a water pump to be replaced. Understanding nothing is definitive, at what mileage and/or age should a water pump be replaced? Or should you just let it go until it shows signs of problems? Same question with the serpentine belt. Thanks!

There is nothing specific from Porsche . It's not in the maintenance schedule. In my experience shortest life was about 25k and longest was 60k. Numerous opinions on whether to change on time/mileage. I recall a Tech Q&A in either Pano or Excellence and the author recommended changing on time/mileage but I can't recall the details, maybe 4 years/40k? Not sure. My own opinion is to watch for signs. Coolant has a distinctive smell and easy to identify if it starts to leak. Also if the bearing is failing you can hear it. So I just watch closely for signs of failure. If it's the original at 7 yr/ 65k miles and you are worried then budget for it and have it changed when convenient. Good luck. Edit- drive belt is check at 40k/4yr, 100k/10yr, 160k/16yr. Replace at 60k mi.

My Boxster failed at 94k, so I would do it before then. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just wondering, what was the failure mode (leak, noise, impeller shattering) and did it let you know ahead of time that it is was failing?

When I did the scheduled (60K) drive belt replacement @ 62,000 miles I also had them replace the water pump...which at that point showed no signs of failing. Would the old one had lasted another 40K miles? Will the new one go bad after 20K miles? No one knows...I think replacing them at a regular basis will decrease the chance of getting a failure at some inconvenient time.

LN Engineering recommends replacing the water pump every four years with a genuine Porsche water pump. On my 987.1 I went through two in under 25K miles.

I find this whole topic really confusing. For the record, my 2007 Cayman Base is on its original water pump with about 50k miles. I replaced the drive belt a couple months ago and saw no evidence of leakage or bearing issue. So do I replace the pump preemptively? Any time this topic comes up a couple people pipe up that they made it to around 100k or more miles - I seem to recall someone making it to around 150k on the original pump. If I replace my pump now, maybe I get a weak one that fails in under 25k miles as you mention (if you pull data from TrueDelta you will see some that failed with well under 10k miles). I'm currently on the fence about replacing mine - will probably just keep an eye on it.

I don't understand the confusion, at exactly 77439 miles you are supposed to replace the water pumps..

The problem with 987 WP failure is that sometimes the bearing fails catastrophically causing the impeller to shear plastic bits which then travel through your coolant passages causing localized overheat and possible cracked head. This has been well documented in 986 and 987.1 cars over the last 10 years. To avoid this you can change it at a preventative interval typically 40-50k miles. Otherwise roll the dice and look for coolant spotting on your garage floor as the WP shaft seal begins to fail indicating time for replacement.

My '11 2.9L Cayman with the 9A1 engine appears to have a new-style water pump. I proactively replaced it at >70k miles about a year ago without any symptoms of failure. The old one didn't have any real significant shaft play, just a "looser" feel than the OEM replacement one. If I knew the 9A1 was a new style then the high-failure-frequency style, I would have waited until I had failure symptoms (noise or drips). BTW, if you are decent at wrenching on cars, this is a straight-forward job. However, I STRONGLY urge you to use a vacuum extractor when refilling the coolant, as burping the air out of an engine sitting in the middle of the passenger compartment is messy and not at all fun! Easily the worst part of this job, even worse than accessing some of the water pump bolts with big hands (its a tight squeeze!). Good luck...

Funny, I started to get a chatter from the engine compartment and spotting of coolant on the garage floor. Sure enough my WP was failing. I changed it last week and I too was surprised to find a redesigned closed-face impeller which is much better than earlier open-face designs that would sheer off bits and clog cooling passages in the heads and rads. The downside is that the bearing and shaft seal were completely toast at only 53k miles. Those Germans still haven't figured out bearing load stresses to design them to go the distance. I run a fleet of Japanese trucks and I don't think a bearing failure has ever occurred in less than 100k throughout the fleet of 40-50 vehicles over the last 30 years. No wheel bearings, water pump, alternator , starter, power steering pump ... It just doesn't happen with those guys. Maybe the Japanese could do a bearing master class for the boys in Weissach some time soon.

Good info Greg W. Thanks. Did you remove the seats for easier access? Did you drain the coolant completely? I ask as the online vids I found show an empty coolant system when using a vacuum extractor and I'm not sure how to use one when only doing a partial fill. Eddie

Hi guys, gee, I thought everybody knew that you change out the WP right before it fails. Seriously though, Cajundaddy has a point: what is so difficult about making a WP that will live a long and productive life? Automotive water pumps have been around for long enough for a good design to be de rigor. I suspect that the bean counters Gunter und Hans got together a figured they could save a few pfennig by using a plastic part where the designer had specified aluminum. So, change out at 50K seems to work most of the time on 987.1s. Works for me. thanks.

My 2006 Porsche Cayman S with 74,500 miles water pump failed today. Had it towed to a shop for confirmation on Monday morning. Luckily I was in a good location when it let go.

Possibly about normal. My 08 S had around 80-85,000 miles on it when the pump puked. Pulled in my driveway and it dumped big time.

the bearing in mine started to fail and was making a dreadful noise on the 9A1 engine at around 100k kms. 9A1 100,000 Kms (60k miles) Water Pump, Belts and... it has been a few months of hunting down increasingly worrying sounds coming from various parts of the car. some intermittent, some there in the form of pulsing, tapping or grinding. thankfully with a good tech from a local indy, managed to get the source of the sounds traced to the water pump... www.planet-9.com

23,750 WP failed. Now at 40K on car...16,250 on replacement OEM pump. Just hope it lasts at least double the original. If i get 50K on replacement pump (not car) i will change out soon after. Flew in H3/H60 Helo's in the USN and preventative / scheduled maintenance before a failure Rules. Not good if the Big Fan stops spinning!!

Have 145000km. Did not change anything. Only oil every 15000.km. And last year I started racing hillclim races with it. Will change oil on 10000km from now on. Cayman is from 2006. I'm a second owner. Only thing changed besides lots of brakes are coils of spark plugs .

There would be no confusion If porsche wouldn't have made this stupid water pump reliable, stupid engineers at porsche couldn't understand these parts brake ?