348 Water Pump

The guy is good. I am getting one for my next 30k this coming winter. I would rather be safe than sorry as trust me its better to spend $200 with the engine out than have it lock up and lose and engine.

 

I think I would change it now because of the age it is. You can't remove the water pump on a 348 w/o removing the engine. Good preventive maintanence and as John says above, 200 is cheap even 700 for a new one is cheap compared to removing the engine just to fix the water pump or worse yet having the bearings fail while driving which can lead to cam belt failure since the pump runs off of the timing belt. Regards Vern

 

While I agree $200 is good (and I'm tempted to put one in my own car), the question really is this:

Is the $500 incremental savings worth the potential re-pulling of the engine if it fails? I'm not suggesting the Ferrari one is bulletproof (far from it), but if it comes in a yellow box and is installed by an FNA dealer, is there some "safety" in that?

Nonetheless, I want the $200 one too!! I think ND put one in his car, and I'd love to hear some long-term impressions.

 

FWIW I put a new one from Daniel at Ricambi America in my car when I did the 30K in Jan. I did sell my old one for $100 on ebay so I only spent $400 more over rebuilt a small percentage on a 7K service

 

Do you know anything about the 348 C water pump? According to '96 regulations it was to have metal fins instead of plastic. Is that true? Do the new ones have metal fins? Do the standard ones have plastic? Were the bearings upgraded as well?

Richard

 

600 miles and all's well (so far). Perfect cooling.

The guy selling them is up in the NE, but it's his dad who does the rebuilding down South in Mississippi or Louisiana.

For whatever it's worth, he **claims** to use better bearings and seals than Ferrari OEM.

I've got no leaks.

I'm the 348 guinnea pig on this one, I guess...but SURELY it is better to go with this $199 rebuilt one than to keep using the old OEM one.

And anyway if you are changing these out every 3 years with belt service, the risk seems pretty manage-able.

But hey, I've blown an engine before and I'll likely do it again. Life goes on. If it was that big of a deal I wouldn't be driving these beautiful beasts in the first place!

 

I agree with you Bill that there are advantages in using OEM and that sleeping better is important.

We'll have to wait to see if my rebuilt waterpump makes it 3 years to the next belt change. The 348 Brotherhood wins from that data either way, at least.

 

Just pondering over this decision too, with a major coming up.

Looking at the prices, I notice that Daniel's $700 is now $1500! Has the material changed from Gold to Platinum?

The guy on eBay is still doing his - now $300 instead of $200.

That's some pretty neat inflation in one year, huh?

 

People gotta eat right?

 

Yeah, but they could cut down on the truffels!

 

Lol!

 

I've had my 348 for 3 years, and I installed my rebuilt waterpump some 2 years and 16,000 miles ago. This car is my daily driver and drift car (I have a small track).

My rebuilt waterpump is doing just fine, as expected. No leaks. No bearing noises. No cooling problems.

I bought mine through the guy on eBay for $200, but now I know that he just buys them from the guy in Mississippi. Might as well cut out the middleman.

Anyway, there has been a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) posted about these waterpumps, needlessly. The Ferrari belt design on 348s means that the untoothed, smooth back side of our timing belt drives the waterpump, while the front toothed side of the timing belt is driven by the engine crank pulley (which in turn drives the 4 overhead cams).

This design is clever because it means that a seized waterpump won't grab the teeth on the timing belt. So a failed waterpump will cause a noticeable cooling problem long before the smooth back side of our timing belt is worn away by a seized pump. This reduces the "worst case" scenario to one that can be mitigated by an observant driver.

 

Go with the guy from Mississippi. $150 with core exchange and shipping. I did mine last spring, so I can't coment on longevitiy, but sure looked new.

 

Listen to your very experienced mechanic - he's talking sense.

 

Do I just ring up Mississippi and ask for the Water Pump Guy?

 

I'm planning on going with Mr. Miss too so if you find him let us know.

 

You could use the search feature above.

I'm a nice guy and did the search for you! His name is Dick Jordan.

The Jordan Company
7105 Fountainbleau Road
Ocean Springs MS 39564
(228) 872-0855

 

Thanks! (I did search, but only found another thread where someone was asking you to post the name and address )

 

Not too sure that it is actually a better bearing.

I purchased the water pump off ebay, but in the end decided to pay extra and got an OEM one and fitted that one for ease of mind.

I then gave the ebay water pump to someone I know who is very knowledgable in this kind of stuff and has taken apart a few OEM 348 water pumps.

According to him, the bearing in the rebuilt waterpump is the same as the OEM one. Can't confirm if teh seals are better or worse though.

Personally, I now would'nt have a problem putting the ebay one in, although I've sold it on now.

The old one is over 13 years old and still works ok as well.