My original water pump is working fine right now, but I would like to know ahead of time what the best aftermarket pump is.

 

Right now I am looking at this one http://www.cardone.com/Products/Product-Detail?productId=5573512&p=rock

 

Or possibly this BOSCH pump http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=978237&cc=1268344&jnid=406&jpid=4

 

To those of you who have experience with aftermarket H2O pumps, is there anything I should be looking out for when and if i replace mine? Any brands that you would suggest?

I would get the one from Rockauto myself. I like the cast impeller over the stamped one.

I will never deal with Rockauto.

 

I have the stock one in my ea81 trike. It has to push the coolant through and around the engine then to the front of the trike about 8 feet away, through the ALFA 33 radiator, back to the engine. Also a small separate heater radiator off the heater tubes. Handles it fine. So why go from stock to aftermarket?

Cast impeller version. Try NAPAs better / best brand. Im not sure if they havd them for your engine though . I've bought them for EA82s there.

NAPA's brand or GMB which are sold by many other places.  These are fine for your application.

I will never deal with Rockauto.

 

I have the stock one in my ea81 trike. It has to push the coolant through and around the engine then to the front of the trike about 8 feet away, through the ALFA 33 radiator, back to the engine. Also a small separate heater radiator off the heater tubes. Handles it fine. So why go from stock to aftermarket?

Just cause my stock is getting old and im not sure how much longer it has before it poops out. When it does i want to be ready and know exacly what i want before i need it. I personally love rockauto. Im sure you have very good reasons for disliking them but so far i have no reason to dislike them as their service for me has been excellent.

The Rock Auto Bosch pump has a precision pressed impeller.   That sounds fancy, but it means that is a stamped impeller.    Which is not what you want when it comes to your cooling system.

Check out the Aisin brand.  It has a precision diecast impeller.   It's only $7 more.

Before you order from RA, look at what hoses you might need.   Heater hose, bypass hose, upper/lower rad, there's another one out of the water pump.... don't recall what they call it.

  Then put the water pump into your cart ... and check out if the hoses ship from the same warehouse.   There will be a weird looking 'truck' icon next to items (parts) that ship from same warehouse.   Will save you tons on shipping.

  Get your hoses....  thermoswitch, maybe?

Sapper, that's fine about Rockauto.  I ordered a MAF for my then SPFI ea81. Got a MAF off a Nissan that looked near identical but couldn't install it until I got my engine back. When I did I realised it was the wrong part but the 30 days had elapsed. No go for refund/exchange.

 

Its ok to have a 30 day period but if the wrong part was sent in the first place then that should be different. Rant over. Cheers.

i will never by any bosch products ever again they never last

i will never by any bosch products ever again they never last

Thanks for the input. I dont have any experience with them so it is good to get a second opinion. Could you elebrate a little though? I.e. what products from Bosch have you bought and in what way did they fail?

  

Sapper, that's fine about Rockauto.  I ordered a MAF for my then SPFI ea81. Got a MAF off a Nissan that looked near identical but couldn't install it until I got my engine back. When I did I realised it was the wrong part but the 30 days had elapsed. No go for refund/exchange.

 

Its ok to have a 30 day period but if the wrong part was sent in the first place then that should be different. Rant over. Cheers.

Haha its all good we all need to rant sometimes and i can understand why you woukd be frustrated after an experience like that

When you do the hoses just order the upper, lower, and the one by the water pump. Everything else can be made to fit by the foot at the auto parts store.

So why go from stock to aftermarket?

Because the pumps do go bad after having so many miles on them. I have replaced 2 of them before because they were weeping from the weep hole so you know they're bad.

Edited July 15, 201510 yr by turbosubarubrat

Yes, you can replace the 2 heater hoses with 5/8"  (I believe)  and the bypass with 1/4"  found at any parts store.

Just be sure to allow plenty of length to make your bends with not too tight a radius.

The one listed on rockauto is one with a cast impeller.

 

The impeller and drive hub are precision pressed onto the shaft.

 

That doesn't imply that either piece is stamped steel, just how the parts are assembled.

 

I have bought those pumps from rockauto and they do have cast impellers.

Sapper, that's fine about Rockauto. I ordered a MAF for my then SPFI ea81. Got a MAF off a Nissan that looked near identical but couldn't install it until I got my engine back. When I did I realised it was the wrong part but the 30 days had elapsed. No go for refund/exchange.

 

Its ok to have a 30 day period but if the wrong part was sent in the first place then that should be different. Rant over. Cheers.

You should have called their customer service I bet they would have worked with you given your location.

Yeh, went through all possible channels. Many emails. Still the same answer. - the 30 day limit .   The MAF in question landed in Oz was $400 so about $450 US at the time.

 

It was easy for anyone to get them mixed up. The MAF housing of the Nissan is only slightly larger. The part number is identical (Hitachi) but there is a number 3 in a secluded spot on the Nissan and not on the Subaru. fine, but its still the wrong part. Eventually I tried it on my spfi and nope- no go. so it ended up a door chock. Hence no rockauto for me.  Its ok, I've move on. Life is full of learning.

I notice the EA81 lists a different water pump than the EA81T.  

 

Anyone know what the physical differences are???

 

Please only respond if you have held both in your hands.   Speculation does not gather knowledge.

I notice the EA81 lists a different water pump than the EA81T.  

 

Anyone know what the physical differences are???

 

Please only respond if you have held both in your hands.   Speculation does not gather knowledge.

I've done both. Difference is most ea81's have a single pulley while all ea81t's had a dual pulley. They also had a difference between the shaft sizes so you couldn't just put on a dual pulley onto a single pulley pump. http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/search.oap?keyword=water+pump&year=1983&make=Subaru&model=GL&vi=1268322

Edited September 16, 201510 yr by turbosubarubrat

I would assume the dual pulley just means an EA 81 engined model fitted standard with power steering, Now we do know other MY models such as the touring wagon had power steering and hence dual pulleys but a different power steer pump setup and location.

However we do know they should be interchangeable as a member on here did offer a kit to replace the stock EA 81 type PS pump with an EA 82 Pump which involved relocating the Alternator in effect duplicating the factory EA 81 T setup which involved using the Touring wagon Water pump.

Definately go for a pump with cast Impeller, Stamped is rubbish

 

Factories often try to use as many parts as possible on different models and often the same part will have different numbers simply because of a different pricing structure on a different model whereby they assume they can extract a higher price for the same part.

 

A good example would be the lower front balljoint from Nissan for a 610 (180B in Australia) and a 240~ 260 Z in both the States and Australia, Genuine price at the time in Australia 180 B $42.67  240 z $167.88

 

Just as the Subaru SVX ran the 5x114.2 Hub setup and the STI as well I will guarantee if as I suspect the parts are the same the Impressa will have STI tax compared to the SVX.

Edited September 16, 201510 yr by coxy