FredR

Sounds as though the OP got away lightly all things considered. The debate about rebuilt versus new has intrigued since first I read about such. From my perspective a casing does not wear out- the seal/bearing combo does and any notion that you cannot replace a bearing is a bit like saying you cannot put a bearing in there to start with- i.e. mechanical nonsense.

As to what is fact and what is fiction in this matter remains to be seen and I defer to those best placed to know. What I can say for sure is that any repair will only be as good as the chap doing the work and the procedure/parts he uses.

I replaced my S4 water pump earlier this year after the impeller "fell off". This failure happened to my first first Porsche factory replacement pump [installed not that long after I joined the fraternity back in 1998] and it failed just before I totalled my late S4 in 2005[?]. I replaced that pump with a Devek rebuilt pump [no idea where they sourced theirs from] and this lasted about 9 years in total and some 50k+ km until it failed last April. I had a spare pump of unknown provenence but chose to fit a new Laso from Roger.

I would not hesitate to use a rebuilt item if I knew it was done by someone with a track record of good results but I did not have that confidence/info and played [hopefully] safe. I am sceptical about the legend that says you should not use a pump that been used previously used on a new belt, my engineering background suggests that is a crock but needless to say it is important that the pump is in good nick and I suspect time exposed to this harsh environment is probably just as important a consideration [if not more so] than the mileage covered. As Doc Brown says once the seal goes the bearing is gonig to be toast in no time.

Not sure what the good Doc would say but I reckon one should change the hoses and TB every 5 years irrespective of mileage and max out the water pump at 10 years if you are fortunate enough to survive that long. If the pump has seen 40k plus miles [60k km] in five years then change it when you do the timing belt [minimal extra work- 30 minutes extra to remove/replace the pump?].

I reckon time and not mileage did for my last [rebuilt] pump.

Regards

Fred

Jetdriver69

From everyone's input that know way more about WP problems that I ever will, it sounds like failure had more to do with a seal failure than anything else.

I guess I did get off easy considering only one bolt hole was bad, no bolts sheared off and the failure occurred so close to home.

Thanks for everyone' comments, now off to fix this thang....