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THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHWater Pump After 27 Days of Ownership
Leading reported evidence
Replace cap and reservoir
Performed · outcome unconfirmed
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
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0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
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Leading evidence: 'Replace cap and reservoir' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Check receipt' (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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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
This car has had the coolant tank replaced previously as well.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
The car ran perfectly up to 150 for a couple of runs - but on the way home, doing about 75 on the freeway, I developed a steam/vapor trail from water that was dribbling out around the impeller shaft.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
I used a new fiber gasket that came with the water pump.
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Suggestion
The main reason for replacing the pump as a PM is to prevent propeller breakdown that can block the coolant passage, which leads to overheat and cracked head.
Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
The car ran perfectly up to 150 for a couple of runs - but on the way home, doing about 75 on the freeway, I developed a steam/vapor trail from water that was dribbling out around the impeller shaft.
Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
31 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
Rennlist: 1 discussions
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Generation: 20261027T060112Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
So, less than a month after buying my 996 she's on the ramps waiting on a water pump to arrive.
Ironically enough it was on the way back from my first PCA Cars and Coffee. Clearly she doesn't like socializing. I think maybe she heard me saying nice things about the other cars and has a bit of a jealousy problem...
What I was surprised by is that I never saw any drips leading up to this. A few blocks from the house I saw steam coming out of the engine bay. Temps were fine, so I drove the few blocks home. It was a full on leak from the water pump when I parked at the house to inspect it. It was almost a steady stream.
The bright side is you don't need to ponder whether and when you need to replace it as a PM. Also a good time to replace the serpentine belt.
Keep an eye on the coolant cap and coolant reservoir as they are very common failure items.
You know, it's funny, I explained to my wife that now I don't have to worry about the water pump anymore. She didn't really understand that line of reasoning!
The cap and reservoir were replaced by the PO. I've got receipts for that. The belt looks and feels really fresh. I think I'll skip it now as there isn't any real difficulty in doing it and it checks out OK. It's so easy to do I don't think it's really a "while you're there" type of deal like doing IMS & RMS during a clutch replacement. I'll give it a thorough inspection while I've got it off though since I don't have a receipt showing it has been replaced.
To most women, cars only need gas and oil changes. Very difficult to explain the concept of PM
Agree the belt is easy to replace. I was just thinking if it was not replaced before, it's also a good time to replace it as you can get stranded if it fails.
I took my 996 out to the desert not long after I bought it to do some high-speed runs. The car ran perfectly up to 150 for a couple of runs - but on the way home, doing about 75 on the freeway, I developed a steam/vapor trail from water that was dribbling out around the impeller shaft.
This seems to be how the 996 welcomes itself to a new garage.
Mine went exactly 16 days after my purchase. Was doing the IMS and noticed a small leak. Sure enough the impeller was abraded by the block. Only a matter of time before a blade chunked. Mine failed at about 32,000 miles. It was a 2002 garage queen.
OK cool I'm at 60k and don't have dealer replacing it so might start looking into as a precaution. Any info on where you purchased it? I know I can probably get on suncoast or various sites but what option did you go through?
I'll probably incur the wrath of many on the forum, but I'm not a subscriber to the OEM parts only theory of auto repair. Let's face it, the OEM water pump is not that great obviously.
RockAuto carries various pumps for it ranging from $352.99 to $63.79. I bought the Gates pump. We'll see how it goes.
I'm not Pro OEM either but I've found out over the years that OEM generally uses the best plastics(headlight lenses, impellers, clamps, hoses, connectors, fasteners, etc) over most aftermarket OE reproductions. Some applications are more critical than others obviously...
Agree with Alpy about high quality OE parts. For critical stuff I stay with OE parts and for the rest I get OEM (the manufacturers that manufacture the parts for Porsch if available such as Bosch O2 sensors, MAF, spark plugs, alternator, starter, MANN air filters, etc. Another rule is if the price delta is small, will stay with OE also (e.g., oil filter).
To me, water pump is critical
Are you sure you still want to stick with the aftermarket pump?
The main reason for replacing the pump as a PM is to prevent propeller breakdown that can block the coolant passage, which leads to overheat and cracked head.
The reason for replacing my pump is that the shaft bearing failed and the impeller mostly disintegrated with 59k miles on the car.
It's a crap shoot. The old pump was a Porsche pump. So it either failed at 59k miles, or less if it was a replacement. The blades were all gone, presumably from when the shaft bearing failed. I flushed it and the coolant had quite a bit of tiny impeller particles in it. Metal impellers can gouge the block, plastic ones can clog it.
At this point I honestly see it as a Coke vs. Pepsi debate. They all have down sides. None of them seem to be well made. Factory pumps fail and aftermarket pumps fail.
I'm just going to consider water pumps a 40k mile preventative maintenance replacement item in this car.
This is interesting indeed. I wonder if the PO had low amount of coolant or had some other issues that led to this? All I can say is stay away from the "URO" brand when it comes to any cooling related components. That manufacturer uses the cheapest plastics and rubber.
Indeed. I changed out mine MY03 at around 60k/10yrs as a PM and it looked pristine. No leaking or wobbling in the shaft, just some scratchiness on the bearing. My coolant was replaced before though due to coolant tank replacement so maybe that helped preserving the pump better.
This car has had the coolant tank replaced previously as well. I suspect that the impeller was destroyed as a result of the bearing failure on the way home a few days ago.
Man, I love your rims. What are they? The spoiler looks great too! I too had my water pump go out after having my car a week. Lucky for me, it was less then 2 miles from the house and another mile to my indy. I had just picked the car up in PA and drove it like I stole it Georgia at the time.
If you meant my car, thanks bernardbarbour!
They are Avant Garde wheels. I'll check the receipt for the exact model. They have several models that are very similar looking so I can't tell by looking online!
That's the factory Aerokit Cup front bumper for MY99-01. The Aerokit looks just like the GT3. For MY99-01 it looks like the early GT3 and for MY02 and newer it looks like the new MY04 GT3.
