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Water pump Gates or OEM FORD
I love my ‘24 Big Bend. Bought it off the lot with 28 miles and has been my daily driver for 2 years. Racked up 50K miles pretty fast and I get oil changes every 5K. One had one issue and needed my Water Pump replaced after leaking all my coolant and wasn’t getting heat. Was covered under warranty and didn’t have to pay anything.
Pros: daily driver, covered warranty
Cons: water pump replaced, coolant leak
Vehicle:
Ford Bronco
Mileage: 80467 km
'22 OBX has treated me well enough aside from the recalls and water pump. A beast in my rural Canadian snow, and feel like a tank on the road.
Pros: beast in snow, feels like tank
Cons: recalls, water pump
Vehicle:
Ford Bronco
Fortunately the factory Ford pumps aren't terribly expensive. M-8501-M50A is the Ford racing part number, includes: pump, pulley, bolts.
Pros: factory Ford pumps, not expensive
Vehicle:
Ford
Part number: M-8501-M50A
I am budgeting in a water pump job too.
Vehicle:
Ford
I had a 2017 GT… here are common issues that I also ended up having:
Water pump went out at 60k
AC started to struggle, especially on hot days, around 70k miles
Cons: water pump failure, AC issues
Vehicle:
Ford Mustang
Mileage: 60000 km
During COVID, that water pump was on backorder from Ford so I used one from Gates. I guess Gates had a bad batch and 2 of their's failed in the span of less than a year.
Cons: bad batch, failed quickly
The only one to really avoid out of the 5 choices on Rockauto is the Gates, because of the cheap stamped impeller. Personally, I would not go with an aluminum pump body in this application, but that's just my opinion after working on vehicles for a living for 45+ years.
Cons: cheap stamped impeller
I used a Gates pump the first time and it leaked. I uninstalled it, cleaned everything up, regreased all the seals, and reinstalled it it... still leaked. Turns out the Gates water pumps for the ecodiesel are just garbage.
Cons: leaked repeatedly, poor quality
I have Gates start leaking within 10k of installation.
Cons: leaking, short lifespan
Mileage: 10000 km
I also had the Gates pump leak within 6 months. The input shaft seal was leaking. Gates used to be a great brand but these pumps are garbage.
Cons: leaking input shaft seal, short lifespan, poor quality
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Comparisons
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Which water pump to choose — Gates or OEM FORD?
If choosing water pump across many manufacturers, check the part ranking. If your choice is down to two brands, the PartReview part comparisons help.
We compare water pump across these categories:
- PR Score.
- Overall ranking.
- Vote balance.
- Average rating.
- Number of reviews.
- Feature ratings.
- Car owners’ choice.
Which water pump are better — OEM FORD or Gates?
In March 2026 on PartReview, water pump OEM FORD and Gates were roughly equal.
- Gates received a PR Score of 32 out of 100, and OEM FORD scored 30 points.
- Gates ranked 12 in the overall ranking, and OEM FORD ranked 10.
- The average rating is higher for Gates (2.1) than for OEM FORD (2).
-
Water pump Gates have better feature ratings than OEM FORD:
- Noise - owners believe, that this property for OEM FORD is better than Gates.
- Leaks - drivers claim, that this property for Gates is outperforms OEM FORD.
- Overheating - reviews suggest, that this property for OEM FORD is preferred to Gates.
Which water pump are more popular — Gates or OEM FORD?
Water pump Gates and OEM FORD were equally popular according to data in March 2026.
By vote balance, water pump OEM FORD surpassed Gates:
- For Gates, the ratio of positive (62) to negative (128) votes is -66 votes.
- For OEM FORD, the ratio of positive (29) to negative (65) votes is -36 votes.
By number of reviews, water pump Gates surpassed OEM FORD:
- For water pump Gates there are 61 review: 16 positive, 7 neutral, 38 negative.
- For water pump OEM FORD there are 30 reviews: 7 positive, 4 neutral, 19 negative.
Which water pump do car owners prefer — Gates or OEM FORD?
In March 2026, according to PartReview, water pump Gates and OEM FORD have not taken top places in car-specific ratings. You can help by adding your review about these manufacturers.
Other comparisons of water pump
If this comparison didn’t fully answer your question, there are many others on PartReview.
For example, comparisons of water pump Gates with: OEM Volkswagen, OEM Audi, GRAF, AISIN, Hepu, Pierburg, OEM BMW, OEM Toyota, GMB, Saleri.
Also available: comparisons of water pump OEM FORD with: OEM Volkswagen, OEM Audi, GRAF, AISIN, Hepu, Pierburg, OEM BMW, OEM Toyota, GMB, Saleri.
You can also see who is better among other water pump manufacturers: OEM Audi or OEM Volkswagen, GRAF or OEM Volkswagen, AISIN or OEM Volkswagen, Gates or OEM Volkswagen, Hepu or OEM Volkswagen.