Hello guys,

During one of our engine inspections, we noticed the water pump propeller blades were broken, blades were made of "plastic" material.

After some quick research, we found that water pump is upgraded by Porsche and new pump has "metal" propellers.

I highly suggest to change this part as soon as you have a chance.

New part number: 997 106 011 71

Here is a picture of the upgraded pump;

Cheers,
Emre

 

so what years were "plastic" and what were metal w/ the new part?

 

I've heard this happening to 996 turbos as well. Safe to assume previous generations were also plastic?

 

This is interesting that Porsche now switched to metal impellers on the TTs. For my 928 it is recommended to "upgrade" any metal impeller water pump to plastic because in case of failure the metal debris will eat into the aluminum engine block like a hot knife into butter and causing major damage. Sort of a lesser of two evils...chasing the reason for an overheating engine vs. a badly damaged engine block.

 

I don't know exactly which years are plastic but all the cars i saw here (07 and 08 models) were plastic type.

It's better for everybody to check theirs during a service look up.

 

Thanks for the info!

Replaced mine due to bearing failure 4 months ago. I would assume that all new pumps have metal prop blades.

 

Porsche still lists that part number as having composite blades, there are whitebox OE manufacturers that do make that P/N with metal blades.

 

should i replace ? 997.2TT 2009 Oct build but a 2010model.

 

yes if the water pump fails then one should consider the options but posting a subject with "beware - water pump failure" is silly. It's not like the 997 TT has an epidemic of water pump failures.

sharing information is always appreciated but the fear mongering is a bit over the top don't you think?

 

Agree with aa909, a few isolated cases is not an epidemic.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

An unfortunately timely old thread for me. I just pulled onto the highway in 3rd gear and decided to do a datalog on the Cobb so I floored it to redline. After shifting to 4th and driving a little further I noticed the "low coolant" light on. I visually check it weekly or so and did notice that over the months it was down a little. I should have put two and two together that maybe the water pump was failing but didn't. I've had my coolant lines pinned already - I do understand that they may leak.

Anyway, the other stupid thing I did was continue driving home. As I got close to home the thermostat started to move higher and I could see white smoke in the rear and the car displayed "engine temperature too high" so I then immediately turned off the car.

%@$^^ I can't believe how stupid I am! I guess I'll miss the annual track day this weekend. I was already planning on replacing the water pump next spring (it's original 2007) but now I'll obviously have to replace it.

This thread suggested that the metal impeller is the latest one but according to everything I can find it's the composite impeller that is the latest version.

Fingers crossed it's just the water pump and no damage....

 

Good luck with it. I made a DIY and posted here if that may help with the change.

HERE is the link.

DC

 

Can anyone confirm if it's better to have the 'plastic' impeller or the metal?

 

I am not sure man. I know they went to metal at some point, but those break as well since its a low pressure cast piece. The latest version is back to composite again.