mx5cartalk.com

Hey Guys,
My water pump has started weeping and I have been shopping around for prices on a pump and timing belt.
Is there any reason not to go aftermarket for the water pump and timing belt?

I have called a mate in the spare parts industry and have been quoted under $80 inc GST for the pump and belt.
Got to love having mates in the industry.

I have noticed everyone says to do the crank front seal at the same time. Is this a known problem or just a precautionary move?

btw the car is a 94 1.8 clubman.
thanks
Jake

Often enough asked question.

The Mada genuine pump is machined to closer tolerances and is suggested to be a better unit than aftermarket. On a previous Dodgy Day, myself and Rogue changed pumps. Mine was genuine and is fine. His was non-genuine and leaked. This could have been co-incidence, but my opinion is if you are going to do a relatively major (read time consuming) job then do it right so you don't have to go back and fix other stuff down the track.

Bearing that in mind, whilst you have the entire front off the engine you would be wise to change all of the following.

Timing Belt
Water Pump and gasket
2 x cam seals
1 x crank seal
Timing belt tensioner and spring
Timing belt idler pulley

That's what I did.
If you need to get these parts cheap then look for MX5 Parts UK. I paid somewhere around $350.00 or so for all of the above with some other goodies and bling as well.


Jules

I coresponded with Rogue a few weeks after the dodgy day as I was interested to see how he went getting a replacement pump from MX5PARTS UK

Turns out the pump wasn't faulty he had scrunched the gasket when installing it. Put a new gasket in and all is ok. So the non genuine is ok.

That said I will be getting the Genuine from MX5PARTS UK as its only about $20 more than the non genuine, well worth it in my opinion.

Is it $80 for both the pump and cambelt ?

Dodgy day for Kam!!!


Jules

Yeah, the $80 is for both the belt and the water pump.
Actually works out a bit cheaper than that.
Pump is about $45, belt is about $20.

Has anyone actually had an OE and an aftermarket pump apart to check the tolerances?

I will probably go aftermarket at this stage as hopefull I should have a new motor ready to go in in 6 months or so.

Thanks
Jake

Damn that's cheap.

Trade price from Mazda dealer through the MX5 Club I was quoted
$66.57 + gst for the Belt
$121.79 + gst for the Pump

MX5PARTS.UK are
$37.13 for the Belt
$95.81 for the Pump
plus a bit for shipping.

I am in the spare parts game and can tell you that most of the time a good quality aftermarket jobby will be better than an oem. That is to say they \"exceed oem specs\" especially when you are talking items such as timing belts and idlers/tensioners.

If your friend has quoted you $45 on a pump then I would suggest it would be a poor quality aftermarket, which should still be considered equivalent to oem but I would go oem over cheap. Rather than going for a cheapo(powermax, silverline or alike) which are all usually made in 2nd world countries by overworked and underpaid workers, I would suggest you get a good quality brand such as gmb which are made in japan to a very high quality std. Also when buying parts consider the warranty they carry, the latter pump as well as the oem are going to carry a much better warranty should anything happen to go wrong.

The same with the belt, go for a good quality kit such gates which are supposed to be better quality than most oem and also come with very good quality idler and tensioner usually for the VKMA92101s kit (at a guess off the top of my head ) you will get a pair of SKF which is a very highly regarded brand. Depending on the k's I would suggest fitting the whole kit as opposed to just a belt. Many mechanics will suggest that if you are changing a belt to to the idler and tensioner too, no matter what.

Geez I can rambly can't I.

Anyhow I would install parts in this order
1st preference: Quality aftermarket
2nd: OEM
Last: Cheapo aftermarket