PCinDC

Hello all,
I have a spare water pump in my parts bin and I would like to test it to see if it is usable (if thats even possible). The wheels spins with a little force applied to it, but I'm not sure if that is a good indicator of whether or not it's usable.

Does anyone sell a water pump rebuild kit?

Thanks in advance!

L8 APEKS

Same question...need to check the 115k pump from the S to see if it's in good shape to re-use. Thanks!

89magic98

Zims (www.allzim.com) sells rebuilt pumps for $79.99.

Might not be worth the time/effort to try doing it yourself.

W88951

It is not worth $80 to risk using an old water pump. On other cars that don't run the water pump off the timing belt and are not interfernce engines I may risk it, but not on a 944. Are bent vales and dented pistons worth saving the money now?

PCinDC

I've heard from a number of sources to avoid rebuilt waterpumps for that very reason - you can never be sure if the rebuild was done properly, and the cost of a failure is extreme. At least if I did the rebuild myself I would know that it was done properly.

I'm just wondering, since I have this unit sitting here, if theres a way I can test it before using it.

Thanks for the tips so far

seb928s

Check for play the pully. Nothing really you can do. Do you know the spec on the pump? Also rebuilt pumps fail sooner that's while I'm going to change out to a new pump after this one fails. A well known shop here in town that I asked the owner of said they use the pump until it starts to leak then replace or at every other timing belt change so around 60-90k depending on how you change the timing belts but I bet you can get around 90k on a pump that's if you drive the car the whole time and not let it sit around over the years.

karlfrevans

A well known shop here in town that I asked the owner of said they use the pump until it starts to leak


Is waiting for a leak safe? That's what I was planning to do with my water pump. I flush the coolant every 2 years and drive my car at least once per week. I still have the original pump in my car. Can I wait until it starts to leak?

Techno Duck

Karl, how many mile does the car have? I had the original pump on my 924S as of August of 2003...alot of play in the pulley. I would consider changing it every single time i changed the belts. The extra $200-300 for the waterpump in my opinion is worth it considering it gives me the peace of mind that it wont crap out on me.

PCinDC

See thats the thing, my current waterpump is leaking. Before you crucify me, the car is on jackstands at the moment and not being driven.
But thats the reason I want to test it, since I have this one here, I need to replace the one on the car and if I don't have to, why bother spending the money if this one is good?

There is no play in the shaft, is there any other kind of indicator?

Thanks everyone

seb928s

karlfrevans

Here is what they do during the timing belt change and rollers (every other timing belt change) check the pump for play if there is play replace it during the change. Also tell the owner the pump is fine or bad then they say we can replace it now or later when it does leak. A lot of people just change them out before they start leaking when they do timing belts. If you don't mind doing the belts more then you can use the pump. Why replace something that still has life on it. Remember once it starts leaking stop driving and do the water pump plus belts.

L8 APEKS

This may be a silly question...but aren't there aftermarket water pumps available for our cars?!

I mean...I've used aftermarket pumps before and never had a problem. Not to mention, if the Porsche pump is likely to fail before 100k miles like some people are suggesting...then it's not that great of a pump to begin with IMHO. I've had other cars go 200k miles on the stock pumps!

I dunno...I'll see how the OEM one looks, but if it's bad, I'll probably go aftermarket.

seb928s

Hmm aftermarket what do you mean? There are places that rebuild pumps and sell them. I think it's only the one type pump we can get it's all the same just one is rebuilt and the other is new.

ahofam123

I'm wondering who has ever had a waterpump seize on them and break the belts? I have replaced waterpumps that have leaked, but have never seen one to seize. While I agree that replacing a waterpump that leaks or has bad bearings is definitely a good idea, I think that replacing the w.p. every 30,000 is a bit excessive.
Paul, if you are sure that the spare w.p. doesn't leak, and if it doesn't have too much lateral play in the bearings, I would go ahead and reuse it. However, if the spare w.p. has an unknown history, I would go ahead and get a new one. The last thing that you want is to finish the job only to find that the spare w.p. leaks.

seb928s

A water pump will seize up due to age like if the car hasn't be driven a lot and has only 30k on the pump it could seize. I have only seen this happen once the car was well maintained and the pump had only 37k on it but it was the orignal pump it seized up but it was on a hot day so the temp got up fast and the owner shut it off and had it towed to the shop belt was in wearing down since it had seized. If it wasn't on a hot summer day the owner would have had the belt snap the belt and would have had to replace the valves. This was on an 86na. I think it's a good reason not to reuse a used pump that has been sitting on the shelf for sometime.

Granite 944

I've got a seized waterpump in the garage right now, with the engine it grenaded! It came from my '85, car had approx. 140k miles on it, it is the updated style pump,so I don't think it was the original, but I don't know if it was a rebuild or not. I really don't know........but I do like sleeping at night after a pump/belt replacement. And I'm about to do the belts on another car I just got, and planning on not changing the pump, and I KNOW its a rebuilt, older style pump. Sleepless nights coming???