For anyone doing the belt and pump

[martziniuk]

Ive had my cambelt and waterpump done today and was advised NOT to fit a metal impellar water pump as the bearings have a tendancy to go ond seize the pump, snapping the cambelt.At least if the plastic one goes all that will happen is that the engine will overheat,but at least you get some warning. I was shown the origional plastic impellared pump which had done at least 70 k and it was perfect, so they do last if you get the OE.The car actually feels much smoother now and quieter ( it may be because i had a new cat pipe fitted at the same time) but many thanks to RK Engineering in St Agnes for doing such a tidy job. All in

[ady]

getting worried now the car has done 176k ive never changed the pump and ive done 60k of that. its a diesel on a 2001 plate

[Lex Dysia]

I think it's mainly the petrol engined pumps that are effected due to the heat when running

[ocdavia]

The bearings have a chance of failing in either of the pumps, but if they go with a metal impellar,the impellar will jam up against the housing and break the belt, but if they go in the plastic one, yes the bits will get into the system, but you wont snap the belt .I think though maybe its down to personal preferance,but its odd that they do not do a metal one from vw/skoda.

[Kylethompson30]

Ive had my cambelt and waterpump done today and was advised NOT to fit a metal impellar water pump as the bearings have a tendancy to go ond seize the pump, snapping the cambelt.At least if the plastic one goes all that will happen is that the engine will overheat,but at least you get some warning. I was shown the origional plastic impellared pump which had done at least 70 k and it was perfect, so they do last if you get the OE.The car actually feels much smoother now and quieter ( it may be because i had a new cat pipe fitted at the same time) but many thanks to RK Engineering in St Agnes for doing such a tidy job. All in

[martziniuk]

The bearings have a chance of failing in either of the pumps, but if they go with a metal impellar,the impellar will jam up against the housing and break the belt, but if they go in the plastic one, yes the bits will get into the system, but you wont snap the belt .I think though maybe its down to personal preferance,but its odd that they do not do a metal one from vw/skoda.

Try telling this to the previous owner of my car. I have the bill for

[RobClubley]

:eek:

[OCTAVIA2008]

Im now totally confused as to which pump to fit!!

I am in posesion of the brass impellar type which looks well made but I have read the previous points about bearing failure.

I believe that the bearings could fail on either the plastic or metal pumps and the impellar would make no difference, but I see the point about if the bearing does fail the metal impellar could jam where the plastic one would destroy itself.

As I have been studying this issue at length on this forum I can say I am not aware of any issues with bearing failure at all on these pumps!!!! where as the impellars seem to be letting us down!!

What should I do ????? lets vote thumbs up who has metal impellar and thumbs down who has stuck with plastic:thumbup::thumbdwn:

[RobClubley]

I'll be going for a metal one when I do mine this year.

[martziniuk]

The plastic ones have been revised by vag many times since first production so i would hope they have fixed the problem by now.

[mathepac]

I've been following this (and related threads) with great interest and have some information from "those who claim to know".

1) Replacement OE water pumps have been known to fail sooner than the originals. The conjecture is that they have damaged (dropped) prior to fitting and the plastic impeller cracked.

2) VAG have released a new generation of replacement water-pumps with metal impellers for Audis and petrol Octavias

3) Two independent VAG specialists I approached won't fit metal impellered water-pumps, in fact one will only use OEM parts as in his experience, bearing failure on 3rd party pumps has been an expensive problem in the past.

I cannot vouch for the veracity of the above statements, I'm just repeating what I was told. Is this how rumours start?

[OCTAVIA2008]

I NOW HAVE ONE FIRSTLINE METAL IMPELLAR PUMP AND ONE PLASTIC IMPELLAR AIRTEX PUMP - WHICH ONE WILL I FIT???????:confused:

[David 8]

WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING !!!!!!

Take your pick, I used a brass one

I ain't heard of the bearing going but mine was was tighter than the replacment.

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM SHOUTING NEXT TIME NO-ONE ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION AS QUICK AS YOU WOULD LIKE THEM TOO, IT'S RUDE TO SHOUT

[OCTAVIA2008]

Sorry desperate for feedback as I want to make the right choice, will be fitting on monday

[DGW]

1) Replacement OE water pumps have been known to fail sooner than the originals.

Where did you read that? My 1.8T's original water pump suffered plastic impeller failure but I have no reason to believe that the modified plastic impeller pump replacement from Skoda will suffer the same problem. And Skoda parts now come with a 2 year warranty which, IMO, is worth having.

[Tech1e]

All this talk of plastic impellor and metal impellor bearings is kinda avoiding the very obvious fact that regardless of which one you have, if the bearing fails you belt comes off and kisses the engine good bye. Its not going to overheat, its not going to be running.

[David 8]

Sorry desperate for feedback as I want to make the right choice, will be fitting on monday

I only went brass after seeing the broken plastic ones, and as you see at the top of this thread mine was on it's way out when I changed it at 55k. I ain't heard of any brass ones bearings failing.

As Lummox says either one will will kill your car if the bearing goes so it's the plastic problem which is more likely to bother me.

Go brass and don't panic:)

[RobClubley]

:iagree: