IMB951

yep, found a nice little green puddle under there after taking the car for a spin after putting my new exhaust system back together. I'm pretty upset about this because I did all the work myself to replace it even though there was nothing wrong with it at the time of replacement. I was doing belts/rollers/seals as well. I'm just so pissed right now that I have to do it allllll over again. To make it worse this car is my daily driver and has never given me any big problems until now. As of right now I'm going to plan on tearing it apart over my Christmas break, but I don't know if that would be waiting too long...
I just can't understand why a new waterpump would leak after 4 months!!!! I did everything perfectly!!!

Anyone have a new late n/a waterpump lying around?

GlenL

No extra pump here.

Have you found where it is leaking? Might just take a little tightening if it's through the gasket. If it is the bearing seal, then it's trouble.

Chris_924s

Check if the weep hole is wet.. if so- order another water pump. It may be a a bolt or 2 working itself loose as previously mentioned. drive it till the fans kick on and take a good look.

IMB951

thanks Glen, and Chris. What is the weep hole? I'll have to tear the car down anyway but I'll see if any bolts are loose at first and that would be great, but before I tear it down I have got to get a waterpump anyway just in case... If everything goes well then I can just tighten it up and sell the new pump...

yoyoguy2

these pumps are crap, i had one with a bad bearing right out of the box, made a ridiculous high pitched whine all the time. whoever actually manufactures these things (new dealer parts even) has no quality control at all.

ODUporschegurl

the water pumps are poor. i got one put on by the best mechanic around(daddy) and it leaked and had to be replaced soon afterwards. dad said that alot of them leak even after being replaced due to poor workmanship on the part.

icat

The rebuilt pumps have a very poor reputation for quality. However, it is somewhat uncommon for a new unit from Porsche to go bad so quick (in contrast to rebuilt pumps which seldom last). Was this a "new" pump or a rebuilt pump?
If this was indeed a rebuilt pump, then my suggestion would be to source a new unit from Porsche and install it. No sense in repeating a previous error. If this was a new unit from Porsche, then take it back to the dealer and do a little screaming. The pumps are more expensive from Porsche for a reason - they are not suppose to go bad.

Granite 944

If you put the wp on with a dry gasket (no sealant) on it, it could very well be leaking thru that gasket. The gasket I got with my brand new $200.00 pump, was a very thin one, I'd considered using sealant.....I didn't.......now its leaking. There is nothing wrong with my pump. When I pressurize the system up using my coolant pressure tester, I can see exactly where its coming from, right about 8-9 oclock as your facing the engine, coming from wp gasket. Maybe you too? First time I've ever put a wp gasket on without some sort of sealant on it.......never again.

Scuba Steve

Be sure to check other sources of leakage - hoses and the oil cooler seal.

Alpine951

The weep hole is a hole that is usually in the bottom of the housing that water and coolant weeps out of when the bearing lets loose.

austin944

My rebuilt pump was leaking around the gasket not too long after installation. It was coming from the top of the waterpump so it wasn't the bearing. I had applied sealant to the surfaces. I think I waited a month before replacing it.

F18Rep

I had the same problem with a leaking gasket. Fixed with new gasket and liberal amount of sealant. The tendancy is to tweak those tiny bolts to compensate and then IT happens - a broken steel stud in an aluminum block (aka a nightmare).

It might sound crazy but if I were going to do it over, I think I'ld try to find a way to pressurize the coolant system right after the pump is mounted but before I "do" the belts - just to be sure I didn't have a leak.

[hmmm, I wonder if McMaster-Carr has grade 8 or better metric studs]...Bruce

Granite 944

I'm thinking of making my own gasket for the next time. I have a used one that wasn't on the car for long, and pretty intact, it measures a thickness of .025". Figuring for compression of gasket, probably originally about .035-.040" thick. I'm thinking about making one from .060 (or thereabouts). I know there is a limit to what one should use, since it will position the belt pulleys further forward. Anyone know the stock gasket thickness? Anyone make one of their own of thicker material? Yeah, 6 ft llbs of torque for those bolts isn't much.

Mongo

I had the SAME issue with a rebuilt pump put into my old 84. After 400-500 miles it started leaking on me too! I took the car back to my mechanic where he ordered me another rebuilt replacement. Some of the rebuilt/exchanges are assembled half-*** and the bearings tend to prematurely fail causing pumps to seize or leak.

Headhunter

I had the same problem after installing a rebuilt pump (and I used a pretty liberal amount of gasket sealant). 6-ft lbs seemed a little light (factory specs) so I just put another few turns on each nut. Then I pressure tested the system - no leaks. Problem solved.