heinrich

Not saying it may not have been my fault Greg ... but that is what I found

ROG100

I have to say that the factory 9201 is a PITA to use and I get results all over the place with no consistancy at all. Never trusted it since I bought it. The Kempf tool is easy to use and very accurate in my book as long as you set it to the tight side of the notch.
I guess we are doing something wrong with the factory tool. The instructions are useless and as I said the results never the same. Set it with the bar and use it and then when you check the same tension the second time its changed for no reason. Too many variables for my liking.
Now with the PKensioner they are all redundant anyway 8>)

VehiGAZ

This was the choice my mechanic recommended to me last week, as well.

I pitched my "why replace a tried-and-true water pump with one of unknown quality and reliability?" argument to him, but he said that the belt can "score" the WP pulley, and if you don't replace it, the notches in the pulley can prematurely wear out the new belt, and that's the reason to replace the WP when replacing the water pump.

Stromius

re pulley scoring..here is my generation 1 Laso. Not much there I also included the rusty impeller (metal..obvious). No scoring on what I estimate is a 40-50k WP. The PO hadn't used G05 coolant and not changed it much (see RW post).

marton

My Porsche water pump failed after 2 years with a seized bearing, job was done by a Porsche specialist. I suspect the belt was too tight but no way to check it after the problem occurred.

The next pump was a rebuild from 928intl which I fitted myself using the sound/tone belt "banging" method on my pre 85 928s. After 2.5 years running OK.

With such a small % of failures and the difficulty to check what went wrong after a failure I suspect we are all guessing. Of course guesses by professionals should be given more weight.

Marton

JHowell37

I'm coming up on a belt replacement. So far, my Laso pump has served me well. If the new one is improved, I'll likely get a new Laso.

Bill Ball

OK, is this a fair summary the current water pump options? Not wanting to debate relative merit anymore, just summarize options.

New Porsche with plastic impeller. Should be available through our favorite 928 vendors or Porsche direct for $700+.

New Laso with metal impeller from our favorite 928 vendors for $230 (sale) to $285.

Rebuilt Porsche pump (Porsche casting rebuilt be 3rd party) which might have metal or plastic impeller. 928 Specialists appears to be the only 928 vendor currently selling them. $115 + core. 928 Intl used to sell these almost exclusively but I do not see them listed anymore. This is what I have always used w/o problems.

worf928

928 Specialists' rebuilds only come with a plastic impeller.

heinrich

Then that is where I will be buying my next pump.

danglerb

I believe someone recently purchased from Sunset Porsche closer to $550?

Not much I am sure about on WP, except I know I want a plastic impeller.

Since the belt doesn't slide on the WP, why should it cause any wear? Also nobody I have heard about has reported timing belt edge eaten by WP pulley grooves.

Rob Edwards

Mike-

I paid $597 at Sunset for a factory pump with plastic impeller in June.

worf928

The price of a NEW Porsche water pump seems to vary across time as well as vendor.

Mongo

I've read so much about these failures I've decided to put my idea out into space here. With metal impellers machining the block when they fail, why can't someone just spotweld the impeller onto the shaft so it never spins off? The weld can easily be ground off during the rebuild process.

Bill Ball

When I bought them in the past, not from 928 Specialists, they randomly came metal or plastic.

Bill Ball

That or pinning has been proposed. Only issue is I suspect you would be out $200 core value next time even if you ground the weld off. Also, Dave C reports the 928 Specialist's rebuit unit is plastic only now. 928 Intl no longer lists rebuilt units at all.