Nicole

There is a post on a German 928 message board about problems with 928 waterpumps made or rebuilt by "LASO". One that failed supposedly destroyed the engine block.

Is this the same manufacturer that builds or rebuilds the water pumps we get here in the US?

Do we know of any water pump failures?

If so, do we know of failures that caused damage beyond the water pump?

jpitman2

We had a guy in Sydney last year(?) who had his S4 pump&belt done by dealer, and pump siezed after not too long. Porsche basically blew him off his warranty claim, saying it was wrong coolant, or he should have been able to shut it down before valves interfered with pistons, IIRC. Dont quote me until he comes in.
jp 83 Euro S AT

Jessa

The older water pumps used a metal impeller. They are now available with sturdy plastic ones because under some failure conditions the metal impeller can dig into the block. Plasic is strong enough for water pumping, but can't hurt the block.

Some rebuilders may be using the old metal parts.

Susan K Thomas

LASO is not the rebuilder used by Porsche Cars North America to rebuild their water pumps...I do not know who the factory uses over in Germany/Europe. I got a Laso water pump once to check it out and would NOT have sold it to a customer or installed onto anyone's 928.

Have seen failures on both plastic and metal impeller models. Changing of the water pump at each timing belt change interval seems to catch most problems before they occur.

Susan Thomas
DEVEK

Old & New

Susan, considering the reports of problematic rebuilds that have hit this forum lately, it feels like Russian Roulette changing the pump at every belt change. I know the deal - I'm not suggesting that everyone shouldn't change the pump, but it would be a nice gesture and display of product confidence if one of the vendors would put a replacement *plus* money-back guarantee on their pumps. That's where I would then be getting my pumps.

Nicole

Thanks, Susan! It is reassuring to know we get better quaality WPs.

Now, one poster on the German message board also claimed that some OEM parts are those that have not met the quality requirements of Porsche.

I personally have never had a bad experience with OEM parts - neither in Germany, nor the US.

Have you seen noticeable differences between OEM and Porsche parts? If so, on what kind of parts?

In general: When would you recommend using OEM versus Porsche parts?

John..

I got my rebuild from the dealer and it has the plastic impeller. Not the best quality piece by any stretch, but it had been cleaned up and painted to look like a freshly cast unit.

I guess I maybe have 10,000 miles on that pump now without issue.

borland

My water pump shaft seal recently failed after only 300 miles, but about 13 months later. The failure happened so fast, I couldn't even drive the car with coolant leaking so profusely.

So I was quite curious about the water pump design and about who was making the replacement parts that the rebuilder was possibly using. Using a web search, I could only find makers of water pump seals and water pump bearings in China.

Apparently, we have lost our water pump parts manufacturing capability here in the USA. I can only imagine how many millions of cars are on the road today using water pump parts from China?

mark kibort

the plastic ones fail too!!

I lost a the second race day of a weekend as a seemingly fautly thermostat was really a slipping impeller on the shaft. the injected molded part didnt have deep enough knurls on the shaft to handle the forces of high rpm and subsequently, high presure on the rotor blades. it was a slow falure that started from the first race day of the season. after seeing the design, I will never use plastic again!!!! Ive also had the metal pumps fail by leaking through the shaft seal. Im beginning to think that once you have a good pump, keep it in there!!! take care of it with a little antifreeze if you are a racer (dont tell anyone) and maybe barrs stop leak.

mark
porsche 928 race car with metal pump!!!

Dennis K

I had a failure of the plastic impeller too. Similar to Mark's story, it happened at the track, but mine did so suddenly. One lap the water temp was fine, the next it was slightly elevated and about a mile later it had gone through the roof.

Post mortem exam showed that the plastic impeller was spinning on the metal shaft. Luckily there was no other damage caused by the high water temps. The pump lasted 45k miles but had not been changed during the most recent timing belt replacement. The new water pump has a plastic impeller.

Old & New

I have long been an advocate of retaining a good pump instead of routine replacement during timing belt maintenance. It seems that I always get the cold shoulder from the board members with a vested interest, if you know what I mean...

GT Jackson

So, if I am coming up on 65,000 miles with a 17 year old pump that is good from all outside appearance and I don't race, I shouldn't change it?

Richard S

I just removed a 24 year old pump with 107,000 no problem miles, metal impeller. I last changed the timing belt and rollers at 70,000 miles, decided to change the pump this time around.

Rich.

Old & New

Jackson,

It's your call. If it were me, especially given all the hoopla I have read lately about problems with rebuilts (even from the Dealer!), I would probably pull it out and rebuild it myself if it needed it.

Its a tough situation since there is so much labor involved in their replacement, and no one is going to back up these pumps in a meaningful way.

Lizard928

when I had the last service done the only reason I had it dont by a shop is because they backed up there work and if the pump drops then they cover it! or I would have done it myself