Well, today I'm driving home from work, I pull into the garage to park the car and I see steam rolling out of the right side vent. I look at the temp gauge and it's where it normally is, I shut the car off. I poped it on my lift and pulled the bottom plastic skid plate off and everything's covered with antifreeze so I pop off the top and front engine covers for a closer look. Sure looks like a faulty seal on the water pump shaft. I could sit there and watch the drips form right off the bottom of the pullley so that tells me it is probably leaking from behind the pulley. (ala shaft seal)

Any suggestions ? I called pellican parts and they are asking around 228ish, have not yet called my local dealer(yikes)

Is a water pump replacement difficult ? Just looking at it, it appears to be a streight forward job.(just in limited space) 1.Remove serpentine belt 2.remove half dozen bolts on water pump face 3.remove pump 4.clean gasket surface 5,install new gasket + sealer 6.install new pump 7.Install new belt 8.fill coolant 9. start engine to bleed out air(not exactly sure where the bleed screw is) Is this correct or am I missing something ?

Anyone know the torque for the water pump bolts ?

Any of you guys replaced your own water pump ? (suggestions, warnings ?)

I may try filling the coolant system with fresh green stuff and starting the car with the engine covers off to see if I can easily see any other leaking areas.

I do have an aftermarket warranty on the car but I can only imagine what billy bob shop they will want me to go to. I doubt they will pay the rates the local p dealer charges but I'm going to call them anyway to see what they say. I'd almost rather work on it myself then let some shop have their way with it. After two RMS replacements, I'm a little p-dealer shy...

Tom
Columbus, Ohio
2000 guards red boxster, 45k on the odo and no where to go

 

Here's a few snaps of the damage.

Tom

 

I asked a mechanic at my dealer and he said just remove the bolts. He also said the impeller is plastic and that is usually what fails, but your seal went out.

The yellow line in the the air bleed. You lift it up and rev up the car.

 

Maybe you can call your warranty company, have an inspection done by their shop, then ask them to waive the deductable and pay for just the parts and do it yourself.

 

I spoke with the warrantly company today and it is not good....
They pay up to a maximum of $65.00/hr labor rate. They woun't buy parts and let me replace them, I asked that....

I called one of the two local porsche dealers here in Columbus and they quoted me a labor rate of 108.00/hr and almost twice the cost of the water pump(over pellican's price).

I can't see paying the labor difference of 40 bucks to let someone perform a job that I feel I can handle. if it was a one hour job that would be one thing, but I have a feeling the shp will say 4 or 5 hours....

I've got one more place to try and if thier rate is out of the range, I think that I will try to call the warranty company and get my money refunded and use that $ to buy the pump and fix it myself.

I guess only 'factory' warranty's are worth a hoot.

Tom
Columbus, Oh

 

In Silicon Valley my dealer is $135 per hour. Your warranty would not be much use here.

I think some dealers will do the work at the rate paid the the warranty company. You might ask your dealer. For a water pump any independent that has worked on Boxsters/996 should be able to unbolt a water pump.

 

Today I pulled off the serpentine belt and was able to wobble the water pump pulley in all directions . As I wobbled it, the antifreeze came gushing out. (nice) So I feel pretty confident that is all that is wrong with the cooling system.

Maybe I can call another dealer on Monday and see what they will do. If they wouln't help, I'll just buy the pump and do it myself. I almost think it would be easier. (I'd need to have the car towed to a shop since it is in my garage.)

Anyone have a preference on the type and brand of antifreeze to use ? It appears to have plain old green looking stuff in there(well, it's in a drip pan now but...) now. I was thinking just your off the shelf prestone green stuff, but not the orange or red extended life stuff.

Tom

 

Tom, I just replace my pump a week ago. It was a little tricky to remove some of the bolts but not a hard job for DIY project. By reading your post you are half way already, just order the pump and have fun with the project.

I bought the pump at the porsche dealer and I paid around $270. However, i just saw an add from "Excellent" magazine sell it for $200 and they give you the thermostat for free. The thermostat costs me $45.

It should not be that hard.

-- Note you need to pay close attention to the bolts while removing them. They are different in sizes and you need to know which one goes to which connection of the pump. It should be 7 bolts.

Cheers,

-Nat

 

If you do not want to buy the coolant from Porsche.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...&st=0&p=18113&

 

Well, I took my car to a local guy(40 miles away) who has a small shop at his house. He specializes in high end imports and he came reccommended by some friends in the local porsche community. I went this route over doing the work myself because his labor rate was not as much as the p-dealer so I will only be out for the 50 buck warranty deductible.(hopefully)

Coolest thing was checking out all the porsche's he had at his shop.(several 911's and 944's)

Hopefully I'll get the car back in a day or two and then I think I'll clean off the motor(using just water, no solvents), do the desnorkel trick, replace the air filter, check power steering level, and change the serpentine belt too.

Tom

 

2001 - Just replaced mine @ 57,500

 

The water pump is basically a service item, every 60K or 7 - 8 years or so.
Only use the genuine Porsche factory pump.
Check the coolant cap and expansion tank during the repair.