notaguru

http://tinyurl.com/pke769o

This no-brand pump is $65 SHIPPED, which is much more than I've ever paid for water pumps on ordinary cars over the decades. Yet that's a fifth of the price for a 928 pump from most suppliers.

What am I missing?

Fogey1

Search is your friend. Lotso stuff on water pumps. Failures kill 32V motors.
OTOH, the 83 has a non-interference engine.
OTOOH, it's still a job to do over if it fails.
OTOOOH, a block eaten by a loose impeller is still trashed.
In the final analysis, it's your car, your $$ and your place on the meta-data sheet.

I just noticed "since 1956." You are older than me if you were driving then. I stand corrected, though I really miss my own 356's, a B Roadster and Convertible D, inter alia. ;-) I credit the former with giving me the skills to keep me from throwing away an M151A1, clutchless and hustling through the Hai Van Pass, unescorted in 1969. A fun drive.

MainePorsche

First off, I would never use this for it has a metal impeller. That thing fails and the channels on the front of your block can be ruined. Even if I had a non interference engine and the impeller was non metal, I'd still not take this one. Roger and Mark know that the units they sell are from fabricators known to them and can be trusted. This piece is not a light fixture. Failure can result in catastrophe. I remember a few years back here there were some bogus tie rods from China. Imagine having one of those failing at speed.

linderpat

What you will be missing is an engine. A cheap Chinese POS like that will eat your engine first, then tell you it has failed.
These cars aren't Yugos. Buy junk to maintain them with, and the car will not last long. There is much written about the water pump and what it can do to the front of the block. Do the reading and then decide.
Lastly, the 928 (like any other super car or exotic) is not an ordinary car, so do not expect to pay "ordinary car" prices for critical parts.

ltoolio

Hold on, guys. You are missing an important consideration. It's marketed as:

High Qualiry

How could it be bad?

**Edit** Reading some negative reviews of his, and one actually mentions engine failure. No es bueno.

Kevin in Atlanta

At that price it would be interesting to dissect it and see what parts they used.

dr bob

Summary: there is some extended history of bearing cartridge migration, impeller migration and seal failure on some of the no-name and knock-off pumps. Failure mode is belt failure and subsequent valve and head damage when the cartridge moves forward or backward. Backward or impeller migration adds block damage in the pump scroll. Any of those can make an ungine into an expensive doorstop.

The current guidance is to find a known-quality pump if you can. Our vendors have worked with some of the better manufacturers to mitigate those quality risks. Considering how often the pumps need to be replaced, the difference in cost is very cheap insurance IMHO. Use your best judgement.

-----

We see too many cars come to market with shortcut cures to maintenance issues. There are seldom "just this one" shortcut taken. New owners especially can be slow to learn that they working on a car that originally cost at least 4x what an average car cost when new parts and service costs are proportional to that, with no real relationship to the great deal you got when you bought it used Knowledgable buyers look for signs of such things, since the subsequent costs of ownership can go up quickly as all the shortcuts are fixed. Keep this in mind as you work on the car, and might be tempted to go down that path. Bottom line is that I hate do the same repair twice, hate to get stranded somewhere for stupid stuff, etc. so do it on e, do it right, do it like you mean it.

docmirror

Last Nov, on my way to 3rd coast I suffered a water pump failure at about 90mph. The engine temp started to rise and the timing warning lamp lit. I bumped it into N, let the engine slow to idle and shut it off immediately coasting to a side road.

I saved the engine with no other damage at all but the water pump cartridge had failed and seized on the shaft, scuffing a lot of rubber off the back of the belt. The belt was checked before the trip and was in perfect shape. When removed, the impeller looked exactly like the one in this ad picture.

Never again.

davek9

Cheep and Porsche (even a 928) should not be used in the same sentence, remember you get what you pay for most of the time.

The WP on a 928 is a big job even on a 16v car if done correctly and its an integral part of the engine function, this in not an old school Chevy of Ford v8 where the water pump just functions to pump water as on a 928 it supports the Tension of the multi-cam 6 foot belt!

This is exactly why I keep all receipts on the Quality aftermarket and OEM parts I install on my cars as it takes the guess work off the table down the road.

IMO don't seek out cheep knock off parts to replace the ones that have held up and or lasted over 20 years.

Dave K

Edit: When speaking w/ Docmirror (above post) about purchasing his '88, he mentioned a Full T-Belt job was recently done, the first thing I asked was what brand WP was installed.
Can't wait to see the car here in MI Doc

Jetdriver69

I reused a perfectly fine looking OEM WP after an engine rebuild to try and save a little money. The WP had less than 4000 miles on it.

Less than 6 months later, the pump seized and I had to call Roger after all. About 10 man hours later, I had a new LASO pump and TB installed.

Just buy the right parts and do it right the first time. It tends to be must easier in the end...

yardpro

Cheap repairs like this is what turns a lot of 928's into ones that are only $10k away from being a $5k car....

19psi

52 have sold. Think about that next time you buy a 928 with a recent timing belt/water pump change.

mark kibort

Funny this thread just popped up..... i just started my car after the final race of the season. .... leaking water..... water pump making funny howling noise......
actually is a good thing, as the timing belt is 8 seasons old now , so its an excuse to change it.

now,where do we all buy water pumps now? how much are the new Lasos now?

James Bailey

Not sure if I should laugh or cry at this.....

mark kibort

its tough to replace something on a car that doent follow the normal "norm" use times. 8 racing seasons, new engine back in 2008, but i dont think more than 20-30k miles .. the belt looks good, keeping tension well, but is it a time element or a number of engine revolutions over time?