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Is this water pump OK to use? - Cayman S 2006

JonBoy2000

Member
Joined
30 Dec 2015
Messages
16
Hi All,
I am currently on the hunt for a replacement water pump for my 2006 Cayman S. I've seen the Meyle water pumps on Design 911 but haven't read such good things about them on other places on the net.

I've found this one on Porsche Shop:
https://www.porscheshop.co.uk/porsc...7-gen1-oe-quality-also-996-engine-m96-03.html

Says it's OEM so in theory should be as good as the Porsche manufactured one should it not?

Any advice is greatly appreciated before I make the drop on a pump!

:D
 
I think Laso are the manufacturers of the genuine pumps, as advised by a local Indy & confirmed on a YouTube video of a water pump change where I spotted the manufacturers name on the casing! I'm thinking of changing mine on my Boxster as a precautionary measure.

I've also read online not to get one with a metal impeller as if the bearings fail later on the impeller machines the inside of the block. Far better in this circumstance to have a sacrificial impeller made of plastic.
 
Bit of an update on the PorscheShop pump I've provided a link to above.
I'd misread the title of it and it's OE not OEM.
That's actually good news, I got in touch with PorscheShop and asked them about it, here is their reply...

"The pump you are looking at that is OE
OE signifies that the product is a genuine product as fitted to the car when new,it is supplied to us by Porsche and comes in their packaging or possibly in the manufactures packaging such as Bosch or Dansk
And comes with full Porsche warranty"

The price seems very reasonable so as long as it's got the plastic impeller and if no one else has any other suggestions I'm going to make the drop on it.
 
Bit of an update on the water pump, your opinions are greatly received!

So after talking to PorscheShop, they confirmed that the OE pump listed is the same as the original spec fitted to the car. They also confirmed that the the impeller was plastic. Therefore I made the drop on one (I also bought a Low Temp kit and Thermostat for my car too, what the hell).

Bad news (well, possibly :dont know:) - The impeller on the 'OE' pump I have received looks to be brass or at very least it is most definitely metal.

That said, the manufacturer is 'Febi Germany' (part number is 45252 8870) and the casting looks very high quality.

What do I do guys, should i send this back and continue the search for a plastic impeller?

I am worried of a failure and more substantial damage to the engine.

Surely if this is an OE part, it should be exactly the same as the original part in every way...??

Your advice is really appreciated on this.
 
Pictures of the new pump:

Here is the pump:
pump-1.jpg

pump-2.jpg

pump-3.jpg


Do you think it will be ok to use?
 
The saga continues.... Somebody please help!
So, I've spoken to the Porsche Shop and they state that they fit this pump to all the Caymans that come in for a service. They also said that the mechanic there had never heard of any issues with the metal impellers on these units being of issue.

The genuine Porsche pump is another £70 and they are willing to exchange the pump but if there is no issues with this one, I could just get on with it.

Can anyone provide some words of wisdom? This pump looks to be good quality. It's Febi so a good brand.
 
Pump will be decent quality - the issue with metal impellers is if the bearing goes the impeller lunches the crankcase where it sits.
 
I suppose it may be technically 'original equipment' specification, however if this is not the same precise part that Porsche would sell today at your local OPC parts desk, then its possible you are not getting the best thing for your car. Given the job it does and where it sits in the car - and assuming I could afford the extra - I'd want the most up to date part possible.

An analogy might be 'literally' original equipment pressure tubes for my turbo: Given the original design was found to be prone to rapid degradation, I'd probably avoid them!
 
Piss poor from Porsche Shop bullshitting you on the OE status of the pump, which it very obviously isn't and which they almost certainly knew when the OP enquired.

I'm happy to use pattern parts for loads of things and don't take it as gospel that the OE part has to be best. But as above, there are perfectly sensible reasons to prefer a plastic impeller. I really don't know how likely it is for the pump to tear up the block, but since I can't really gauge the risk, it's not a risk I would take given the additional cost is £70, not £700 or £7,000.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.
Yeah, in the end I decided that it's not worth the risk so they've replaced the 'OE' one (with the metal impeller) for an original Porsche one.

It arrived this morning so I can verify that this one has a plastic/composite impeller. It came in Porsche branded packaging.

It also is worth noting it seems to weigh a little less than the OE one. I suppose this is because it doesn't have a rather large piece of metal for the impeller.

Couple of important notes here for people getting their car serviced at the Porsche Shop...

The chap on the phone stated that the OE one (the part with the metal impeller) is the part they usually fit when they replace the water pump on customer cars. Therefore, if you are looking to have your car serviced here, i'd be very specific about the parts you want fitted...

They did however state that they weren't aware of any issues with the OE ones. So, perhaps the quality these days is much better than it used to be and perhaps some of the stories on the internet are over inflated. People do tend to ignore noises sometimes and hope that they go away... Who knows really, but i decided not to take a chance.

They are affiliated with Motorsports so one would assume if a part is going to fail, they'll come across reoccurring themes...
Once we'd established that the OE part had a metal impeller and that I wanted to spend the extra on the genuine one, they did send me the replacement pump next day, waive the costs of any return postage and any re-stocking fees. So their customer service isn't too bad although it did take a bit to actually get to a position to replace it.

I've ordered Fuchs Maintain Fricofin LL Long Life Antifreeze coolant and de-ionised water to replace the old stuff (which isn't that old actually).

It's going to be fascinating to see if the water pump in the car is the original one actually.
 
It strikes me that the terminology these days has become meaningless.

'OE' stands for original equipment, does it not? Well, the metal impeller pump is not original equipment. It's a pattern part with a significantly different specification.

It's an industry-wide issue, obviously, not specific to Porsche Shop, but it seems to be pretty silly now.
 
Trust me, it's been an education for me and I used to work in the motor industry! :pc:

I'm positive that it was an honest mistake by Porsche Shop and that they, like me, believed that the impellers would be plastic too because I had a conversation with them prior to ordering to make sure it was.
 

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