Optical TDI

Flat6 recommends every 3 years for a water pump change. Mine is original, so it's a little over 9 years old with about 34k miles on it coming off CPO in mid November.

How difficult is this compared to a suspension swap?

Who has done this as preventative maintenance?

ivangene

James (RF5BPilot) did his as preventative maintenance, my local indy did it for him and was impressed someone thought about it before it needed to be done...people who are thinking ahead of the curve tend to less problems

would this be a DIY or have it done operation - IMO easier than a suspension swap because you only doing one...not 4

ArneeA

Water pump, thermostat/t-stat housing, coolant expansion tank, and hoses should be part of maintenance. "Preventative" or regular.

logray

Buy the Porsche brand, don't go cheap.

Optical TDI

DIY. I asked about the suspension, because that's easy for me, so if the water pump is easier, I'll be in good shape.

ivangene

you'll be fine, its a little tight and bleeding the air is a tad of a PITA but otherwise pretty straight forward...

Dennis C

I had my water pump replaced before it failed. It was starting to leak a little bit, so I suspect that a failure may have been coming soon...

jrgordonsenior

My wrench used a 997 version IIRC as it allegedly has larger vanes. I'll check with him tomorrow to confirm, anyone else gone this route?

Dennis C

Mine was replaced with: 996-106-011-55

philooo

My car has the original water pump as well, 35k miles but 8 years old now...

I might be tempted by a preventive DIY as well. I don't remember seing any DIY page about this. any links to share about the process. Suspension swap is also within my skills, not sure about the water pump yet

logray

Go to renntech.org, great H20 pump DIY there. And a million other great DIYs there you don't have to dig for.

philooo

link: http://p-car.com/996/diy/waterpump/

look pretty straight forward, I just have a hard visualizing the water pump coming out of this narrow space behind the engine I assume the water pump itself must be a very thin and flat piece of hardware.

Barn996

Hey Phil, google water pump replacement for Porsche 996, shows a guy doing it on his driveway.

Ubermensch

This is a pretty easy DIY. I swapped the thermostat at the same time, and that seemed to make a little more clearance to get the pump out. It's a close fit, but it will come out without much trouble. I found it much easier to get out than the damn alternator...

Ericginpa

I've watched this a couple of times,prob gonna do mine also before winter.