Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

997 Water Pump/Thermostat Question

v6matt

Well-known member
Joined
10 Oct 2018
Messages
100
A new 997 owner here,

My water pump has some slight play in it, so I want to get it changed before it siezes on me.

1) It seems the original manufacturer of this is Pierburg, do people use other pumps from other well known manufacturers? Like SKF or Meyle e.t.c. It feels like they have put a Porsche tax on this as they are the OEM, is it genuinely better or do people use other brands?

2) Is the 'oem' pump from ECP actually a Pierburg or just another OEM manufacturer (they are certainly charging pierburg type pricing)

3) Does the coolant need to be replaced in full. Either way, what replacement/top up coolant is recommended

4) It seems that a low temp thermostat is recommended ? Which one?

Thanks
 
My water pump just went the other day. Pulled up at home and was buzzing n grinding away.

The oem pumps have plastic impellers and they just give up

The replacement one has metal blades and car running well now. It was from ecp but Porsche so sth £150

Coolant was drained and then replaced

Check the belt as well as the other pulleys. The idle tensioner has a habit of going
 
NLW73 said:
My water pump just went the other day. Pulled up at home and was buzzing n grinding away.

The oem pumps have plastic impellers and they just give up

The replacement one has metal blades and car running well now. It was from ecp but Porsche so sth £150

Coolant was drained and then replaced

Check the belt as well as the other pulleys. The idle tensioner has a habit of going

Thanks but also part of my source of confusion!

Was your ECP part Porsche branded/boxed? If so, I thought that was a Pierburg and ceramic.

Seemingly the Pierburg (OEM) parts use a ceramic blade, and the other OEM brands like Graf/Febi e.t.c use brass i.e metal.

Contrary to my understanding from owning italian cars, some folk were saying that the metal one is a bad idea because when if it develops play it can then start to eat into the housing.

Hence a new level of confusion/thought on a simple water pump !

I want to put quality into this car, and if Pierburg is class leading quality/clearly above over known OEM, then happy to pay for it but little is clear :/
 
Hi v6matt, I do think your getting yourself into a bit of a 'tizz' about this pump situation and over thinking the problem.
As I mentioned on the other thread I changed my pump and the one I replaced it with was identical and it was a Pierburg bought from Autodoc. Same manufacturers marks/stamps/colour/material everything.
The impeller on both pumps was made from resin, not metal. It's not the impeller that goes it's the bearing, so the impeller material is irrelevant as that's not the weak point. They normally start with a steady drip and then eventually pack up and seize.
When you get the pump off you will be surprised how simple it is, it is literally a small impeller on a shaft which goes into the water pump opening in the block, several bolts and a gasket and that's it, really is simple. The hard part is getting the ruddy thing out!
As I also mentioned buying from OPC will incur a hefty wedge of Porsche tax, I saved £300 going to Autodoc for the Pierburg pump, which by the way I didn't specify this make it's just what came, it was only when I removed it that it all became apparent.
Rest assured that unless your keeping the car into the next decade change it and it won't bother you again. They seem to last for about 10 years.
Radiators originals are Behr/Hella as are replacements
Coil packs are Beru as are replacements.
 
easternjets said:
Hi v6matt, I do think your getting yourself into a bit of a 'tizz' about this pump situation and over thinking the problem.
As I mentioned on the other thread I changed my pump and the one I replaced it with was identical and it was a Pierburg bought from Autodoc. Same manufacturers marks/stamps/colour/material everything.
The impeller on both pumps was made from resin, not metal. It's not the impeller that goes it's the bearing, so the impeller material is irrelevant as that's not the weak point. They normally start with a steady drip and then eventually pack up and seize.
When you get the pump off you will be surprised how simple it is, it is literally a small impeller on a shaft which goes into the water pump opening in the block, several bolts and a gasket and that's it, really is simple. The hard part is getting the ruddy thing out!
As I also mentioned buying from OPC will incur a hefty wedge of Porsche tax, I saved £300 going to Autodoc for the Pierburg pump, which by the way I didn't specify this make it's just what came, it was only when I removed it that it all became apparent.
Rest assured that unless your keeping the car into the next decade change it and it won't bother you again. They seem to last for about 10 years.
Radiators originals are Behr/Hella as are replacements
Coil packs are Beru as are replacements.

Indeed, going to give up trying to work out the differences and have just ordered the Pierburg.

I got in touch with ECP about their OEM part, but that is a Geba and not Pierburg as some have stated.

A new low temp thermo is also on the way, along with 6 fresh Beru coil packs. Lovely job.
 
Just to give you another sleepless night, kidding, check around the inside of your front bumper shroud. Check to see if you can see, with a torch, how much crud is rammed in the side inlets where the condensors are for the aircon.
I found so much stuff in there I took the bumper shroud off and cleaned it all out, the rubbish that came out was incredible.
You can then make grills or buy Zunsport grills to keep the stuff out. If your making grills get a few disposable barbies, remove the mesh on the top, cut to shape and tie wrap them on the inside of the shroud before replacing.
Shroud looks a big job to do but is actually pretty straight forward, there's a step by step guide on a few web sites, takes about an hour off and back on.
 
+1 for Pierburg from Autodoc as mentioned above.

A metal impeller is the one NOT to go for.
 
easternjets said:
Just to give you another sleepless night, kidding, check around the inside of your front bumper shroud. Check to see if you can see, with a torch, how much crud is rammed in the side inlets where the condensors are for the aircon.
I found so much stuff in there I took the bumper shroud off and cleaned it all out, the rubbish that came out was incredible.
You can then make grills or buy Zunsport grills to keep the stuff out. If your making grills get a few disposable barbies, remove the mesh on the top, cut to shape and tie wrap them on the inside of the shroud before replacing.
Shroud looks a big job to do but is actually pretty straight forward, there's a step by step guide on a few web sites, takes about an hour off and back on.

+1 on make your own if you're a DIY type, you can make them much more unobtrusive than the £200 Zunsport ones using mesh off ebay. I used black aluminium mesh because it's easy to cut and bend to shape and should last a long time.
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,350
Messages
1,439,403
Members
48,705
Latest member
Scratch
Back
Top