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YOUR RESEARCHWhen to replace water pump?
Reported or suspected cause
original pump and had been in there
Reported cause
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1
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0
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0
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Reported cause
It was the original pump and had been in there for 16 years/60k miles.
Leading evidence: 'original pump and had been in there' (1 discussions report identifying this cause; no attributable repair resolution). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'original pump and had been in there' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Check oiler filter there was no debris in either location' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Check oiler filter there was no debris in either location
Performed · outcome unconfirmed
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
The good news is that when I pulled the sump and checked the oiler filter there was no debris in either location.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
The pump definitely looked older than it was (actually installed 10/2015), but the car was driven 25k mi in all manner of conditions.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
Problem was, I had no idea when it was installed - now I know, and I have a baseline from which to judge future work.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
I replaced my 16 year old pump with 40K miles and it felt new, but it's not, it's just closer to failure.
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Looking at the water pump threads I do not find what to use, e.g. miles or time, to determine when to perform a maintenance replacement of the WP. Engine has 48 K miles over 7 years. Appreciate any input.
Thanks
Number 9 of the 69 modes of failure.
Many threads on the poorly designed 996.
One school of thought. replace every potential part that might fail before they fail.
Two. Other than IMS drive your car.
Please dont ask what oil you should use or how often it should be replaced.
My answer: Before it fails.
I replaced my 16 year old pump with 40K miles and it felt new, but it's not, it's just closer to failure. You want to replace it BEFORE it fails. 48K miles over 7 years.....it would be conservative, but not out of the question, to replace it in the near future. I would suggest timing it with other maintenance. If you have the original coolant expansion tank, I would replace it at the same time along with the cap.
I read an article in Excellence suggesting annual WP change. Same article recommended every six month oil change.
Article sponsored by a part supplier. Go figure.
Why so much 996 bashing?
I have personally owned 11 cars, bought them new for myself and family, and held them each for more than 5 years, a few over 100,000 miles. I have also driven other cars, inherited from parents and uncles, during my youth when I couldn't afford new cars. There is no such thing as a "catastrophic" water pump failure. They will all squeal, grunt, gurgle, or otherwise make funny noises to let you know they need to be changed. At worst, the car will overheat and you'll need to be towed, but that is rare. I have a 2005 Boxster S, admittedly low mileage at 33,000 miles, original water pump. I just traded in my 2002 996 C4S, 66,000 miles, original water pump. Aside from spark plugs and recently the ignition packs, everything else in the engine is original, 15 years old. Nothing has failed.
So, to the OP, just drive the car. It's a Porsche. They are close to bulletproof.
LOL! I guess when you own a Porsche, you're like an overprotective aunt. "It's nippy, you must wear earmuffs, parka jacket, mittens, scarf, and might as well take that blanket and wrap yourself in it" funny.
Replace it with an Electric Water Pump and have ultimate control over engine temps, even after engine off - avoiding heat soak...
http://daviescraig.com.au/category/e...ater-pumps-ewp
Mine newly acquired 996.2 C2 manual at 40,000mi is now in having IMS done (preventatively and peace of mind), at same time fitting new DMF (it's clunking) - and I said, oh btw, please fit a new water pump - seems wise. Overcautious??
My 99 has had nothing replaced from stock. No IMSB, no RMS, no AOS, no water pump, etc.
My wife's 2-yr-old Audi Q5 with 20,000 miles had a wheel bearing go out while we were on vacation. The dealer suggested that we have the other 3 replaced because "these bearings are crap." I bet I won't have another bearing go out for 50k miles, and I bet the remaining 2 won't fail over the lifetime of the car.
This simple fact of the matter is that only a handful of parts will fail out of 100. Knowing which handful is not something we can know or will know.
I just replaced the water pump and thermostat on my newly acquired 99. It wasn't that hard to do and now I know it's done! The water pump that was in there was not the original. I don't know how many miles were on the ump; however, it already had a little wobble to it.
The car has ZERO records so I'm doing preventative stuff. The good news is that when I pulled the sump and checked the oiler filter there was no debris in either location. The bad news is that I don't know what previous work was done.
The car was cheap enough I was willing to take the risk .
I replaced the H2O pump in my '00 C4 at prox 125k miles.......(think 3-4 years ago) bearing failure. the noise scared the hell out of me. I trailered it 150 miles to my indy. thought is was IMS. That phone call from Jer was a god send!
Alternator crapped out the previous year....... I was on my way to the shop that day, ironically!
Couple years later I did the IMS, (that was last year). She has 146k on the clock and purrs........ Love the car. Bought it brand new.
I just did an AC rebuild, motor mounts, front brakes, rear shocks and various other bits. third set of shocks including originals, 4th set of brakes, second set of rotors. I hope to drive this car until I can no longer drive..........
Jake Raby/FSI recommends to change the WP every three years...I just did mine while my engine was out, but it was fine. Problem was, I had no idea when it was installed - now I know, and I have a baseline from which to judge future work.
Just changed mine out along with low temp Tstat because I was in there to replace the leaking expansion tank. Original pump in perfect condition. 2002 C2 62k miles. Like others have said, now I know it's condition.
What are the thoughts on the metal impeller water pump vs. replacing with the stock composite impeller? Seems like there would not be a downside to getting rid of the plastic impeller?
This pump just came out of my 996.2. It had only been on the car about 2 years. I was expecting at least another year out of it. Luckily it started leaking which raised a flag and so it was pulled. When in doubt, change it out.
See, this is why I think it's silly to just proactively replace items. Some folks have a failure within weeks or months, while others have pumps that last 15 years and are "like new" when they come out.
If it's a bad design, then it will fail, and fail again. If there's some reason that a defective part will fail, there is no good way to find out if you have a bad part or not.
I replaced mine last year. It was the original pump and had been in there for 16 years/60k miles. It looked perfect when it came out. When I spun it you could hear a very slight noise that I didn't hear with the new unit. The fins were completely intact.
Dean - That's an awful lot of corrosion and damage for a two year old pump. I would venture to guess that it wasn't seated properly. It also looks like sealant was used. Get the proper OEM metal gasket and don't use sealant.
Nope, no sealant was used, the gasket is what was leaking. What you are seeing is dried coolant as a result of the leak (ignore the shop-crud on the impeller etc). It was a very small leak from the top and eventually pooled in the gap at the bottom of the pump as you can see at the top of the pic.
It's possible that it wasn't seated correctly which didn't manifest itself until the last few weeks. However the cooling ability of the pump in traffic seemed slightly diminished as early as last fall, far before any external leak. I think the two problems are unrelated. The pump definitely looked older than it was (actually installed 10/2015), but the car was driven 25k mi in all manner of conditions. Guess it goes to show that impeller lifespan is quite unpredictable.
That pump is a mess for a 2year 25k mile unit. I can't see how the wheel blades could be damaged like that without the bearing failing and allowing too much shaft movement and grinding the paddles against the block.
What brand was this pump and how was the bearing?
Either this pump is poor quality or perhaps road salt got into the bearing and caused rapid failure, leading to shaft wobble and impeller damage.
I hope you find all the pieces of the impeller before you go slapping a new pump on there. If not, you could be in for a much more expensive surprise (cracked head/intermix)... Good Luck
Well, he should try to get the pieces out, and most are hopefully caught in the t-stat area, and I would try to back-flush (reverse flow) to get it all out.
But I wouldn't lose sleep over any remaining items that are stuck in there.
Salty roads are the only conditions this car doesn't see. When salt is down, I metro.
This was a Pierburg pump, I was under the impression they were an oem supplier of these pumps but could be wrong. Bearing was good, smooth and no wobble �\_(ツ)_/�
The impeller blades clearly made contact with something to break like that (in addition to the broken blade there are several others that are gouged and abraded)... If the bearing is good, how did the blades get broken ? Is there a nut or a bolt floating around in your water pump? Something is out of whack here...
Look up "cavitation" and how it can destroy an impeller due to shock waves. Combine that with the knowledge that water pumps on these cars seem to have more common failures due to a poor design or another fault in the system, and I could surmise that no debris is a possible outcome as well.
Cavitation wouldn't damage a few impeller blades and leave the others ok, also wouldn't leave scrape marks all over the plastic.
The damage to this 2yr low mileage water pump is very odd.
