So I was driving home the other day and started hearing a strange sound coming from my engine. When I got home I determined it was the upper idler pulley since when I removed the belt and spun it I could hear noise coming from it. I ordered a new one and when installed it and was getting ready to put everything back together I noticed that the pulley for the water pump was actually touching the engine brace that runs along the back of the car. There were even metal shavings noticeable in the area. I tried turning the pulley and it was very hard to turn. I also noticed a small puddle of coolant under the car in the area below the water pump. So... I went online and ordered a new water pump.

My question is, has anyone else experienced this? The pulley making contact with the engine brace? I'm guessing I lucked out and just caught things before they went "boom".

Thanks as always for the help.

 

Also... Do I need to use a sulfate free coolant or one with silicates. The kit I purchased comes with Pentofrost E which according to their website contains silicates.

 

If you are exchanging the water pump yourself, two of the seven bolts are longer than the others and must go back in the same place. I advice you change the thermostat to a lower opening degree while you are doing the job. I don't know anything about silicates. Just use what you bought unless Porsche says otherwise. The whole job is a fiddly PITA job but doable from under the car.
Some posters say its an easy job. I say they are full of bull ****. You will need to use your initiative and extension tools to remove a couple of the 'difficult to get too' bolts on the pump. God luck with the DIY job. Do not over tighten the bolts or you will crush the gasket.

 

Thanks for the help. I love it when the make a couple bolts longer for no reason and you have to make sure you don't mix them up. Any idea what the torque specs are for the bolts?
I've read that you need to use silicate free for our engines or you will see problems down the road. I plan on driving this thing till the wheels fall off, so I want to make sure I do what's right for the long haul.

 

In addition to what Hurdi said make sure all of the water pump impeller blades are still there. Have read it is not a good thing if they are broken off as they can go through the engine finding small places to get stuck possibly causing hot spots.

 

If they are not there, what are my options?

 

Well...IDK but many will say you can flush them out, many will say it requires engine teardown! Many say pieces tend to stick in the cylinder head water passages causing hot spots that can cause head cracks. I'm no expert. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will respond to your possible issue. Don't panic until you know. My WP failed a year ago and all the pieces were still attached, hopefully your's will be the same.

 

torque for water pump bolts 7ft lbs.

 

Thanks for all the help. Getting the water pump out was a MAJOR PITA! I could not get the pump out after removing the bolts and moving the plate. It just wouldn't slip out the bottom (even after removing the thermostat housing). I ended up using a rubber hammer to force it out and then I discovered why it was such a PITA. The pulley had moved off the bearing shaft more than 1/4" so it was too big to slide out (see pic). As you can also see from the picture the face of the pulley had been grinding off since it was making contact with the engine mounting plate which is why it didn't fall off. I guess it was definitely time to replace it. The impeller blades where all there, even though some were a bit crunched from my attempts to remove it. Putting the new pump in was easy compared to taking out the old one. Now I just have to wait for the new thermostat to arrive since I didn't plan on removing that when I started this job so I had to order one on the weekend. I'm hoping to have everything back together this week.

 

Excellent! Glad you got it off. Glad the impeller blades were there. Too bad the pulley came loose. I've not heard anyone talk about that failure mode. Perhaps Mr Hurdi will chime back in as he has been around much longer than I and may have more info.

 

Not a common failure mode at least one I'm aware of.

While I don't doubt the water pump is bad, the leak is proof enough of that, unless you can move the water pump shaft back and forth a good distance I have to believe -- want to believe -- the engine is out position, could be moving about due to bad mounts -- and allowing the water pump to come in contact with the brace.

 

The engine mounts are good, but as you can see in the photo, the pulley shaft is approx. 1/4 (or more) recessed from the face of the pulley. On the new water pump the pulley face is flush with the end of the shaft. What made me notice this was when I put the two units (old and new) next to each other on the floor and noticed that the new one was shorter than the old one. It was then that I noticed that the pulley had started to walk off the shaft.

 

BTW stating the obvious... I would check all of the other tensioners and driven devices plus use a new drive belt.

 

getting parts together to replace my water pump. any good tips on refilling the cooling system?

 

A vacuum lift system is ideal. Since you are planning on driving this car forever this would be a good addition to your tool box. While the factory claims the coolant is lifetime I prefer to replace it every 4 years or so. I have this done at the dealer but it is a DIY job to those so inclined and the vacuum lift is invaluable to helping one get the system refilled with no air pockets and not having to do that laborious and silly run the engine top up coolant repeat a zillion times and then hope all the air pockets are gone.