996tt Water pump failure

Hi all, After a short drive yesterday, and arriving home, a mechanical bearing type noise started from the rear of the car. A few drops of fluid started to apprear on the floor, so I removed everything that was easily removed to get a better look. You'll see from the photo's the location, and it seems the water pumps is/has failed, and on it's way out. Looking around at the water pump and it's associated casing it looks as though it may drop down, but some of the hose connections look out of reach unless the engine was dropped. Has anyone any experience with this on a DIY level, or it is better for OPC or indie due to being an engine out job etc. If an OPC or indie job, anyone any experience with costs etc ?

Seems to be the season for this at the moment! My car is in Porsche Rouen at the moment with exactly the same problem! My advice, get it done now, rather than have it dump 20-odd litres of coolant and leave you stranded somewhere remote in a foreign country (without breakdown cover!) :hand:

Hi Wattie, thks, yes planning not to do anymore miles until sorted. Luckily enough I've caught it at my house, no major fluid loss etc, if OPC the way to go will trailer in also. If you don't mind, when you've got your car back, if you could let me know with cost and time etc would be most interested, why are you getting your car back ? Ideally I'd really like to do myself, as I also have the exhaust corroded bolts I was going to attend to, I'm not really up for an engine out job, but if it's not an egine out job I'll do it myself. I'll see if anyone else comes back with any info before I start phoning OPC's and indie's etc, I'm in no rush.

It isn't an engine out job apparently, but you do have to remove the rear PU, exhaust and a few other bits and pieces. The part is £265+VAT from Porsche and there were 9 in stock at Reading on Friday afternoon! The job takes 4.9 hours at an OPC (thanks, Richard H for that info). I know this as Porsche Rouen took over 3 days to find out that the "very rare and unique part" is not available and is "on back-order" in both France and Germany" (yeah, right....) c: Took me all of 5 minutes and one phone call to locate 9 of them in the UK... In less than 24hours I could have got on the Eurostar, collected one from an OPC in the UK and got it back to Rouen for them to fit. I reckon you could probably do this yourself if you are reasonable adept with a spanner. Apparently the impellor is made of plastic and the slightest bearing wear causes it to hit the casing and self-destruct (hence my sudden and dramatic loss of coolant on the A16 last week, on my back from Le Mans.)

If you want a copy of the instructions, drop me a PM with your email address.

Thks guys, all really helful. Wattie, sorry to hear your garage hasn't been as efficient as you in the parts find, but also what does PU stand for ? Richard, I've pm'd you, many thanks for the offer, looking forward to some reading. Also been looking at my exhaust bolts (gulp) will follow all the advice on the posts, all very informative.

Does anyone have experience with re-filling the cooling system after being fully drained ? Reading the manual, it refers to a Porsche tester for re-filling bleeding process. Are there any other fill points apart from the expansion tank ? Are there any other high spot bleed points aparts from the expansion tank. I may be over simplfying, but was considering perfoming as I've done with other cars, i.e. keep filling the expansion tank until the radiator fans kick in, and repeat the procees a few times to remove any airlocks. Also, is it a special fluid in the system, or normal antifreeze etc. Haven't started anything yet, just going through the thought process as the moment.