Original water pump, lasted to 167k!
My experience with the N52 was great honestly. I owned a 2007 328i from 2007-2019 and put over 120,000 miles on it. The only engine issues it had were the water pump failing at 90,000, and the oil filter housing gasket leaking.
I finished the water pump replacement with the Graf Aluminium pump. Nice pump. As per Qmulus recommendation, I replaced the coolant sensor Oring with OEM. While in the process, I replaced the oil filter housing along with a new oring for it.
I have been running the Graf AL pump for about 10k so not long enough to give a full assessment, but the quality was awesome and very pleased with it.
Graf does make an AL housing pump which I used this last time. Time will tell if it holds up better the the Rein plastic AM one installed in the CC.
Had a better look during weekend and the "substance" in the expansion tank looks and feels like rust particles not oil. It does not feel slick. I'll be replacing the pump with the aluminum Graf unit soon, hoping I'll last more than 100k at least.
I ordered the Graf aluminum water pump kit from ECS Tuning and did the job this past weekend. I'm glad I took the intake manifold off. I did some carbon cleaning while I was in there, I was surprised to see how much build up was in there for a 70K engine. I don't really see how I could have replaced the pump without removing the intake manifold
As for the aluminum one made by/marketed as Graf, there are a few issues in my experience. First, the rubber gasket from the housing to the block is known to fail by tearing where the link in the gasket between the two passage connect. I think this is because the gasket does not precise fit in the channel for the seal machined into the housing. On the one that just put on an engine I just put in my '12 Tiguan, I cut that link out, effectively making two seals and relieving the tension in the seal. Next, the O ring seal supplied for the temp sensor is known to disintegrate, so I got a factory seal. Last, if your engine has a late water pump currently with the clip that holds in the temp sensor, the two mounting bolts to the block at the sensor will be too short for the aluminum pump housing, so you need to get the bolts for an early water pump. Honestly, as long as you don't have any oil leaks, the latest factory water pump is fine. I generally don't trust aftermarket water pumps, as I have had too many fail over the years (not on these engines, just in general). I used this Graf aluminum water pump as a test. The quality seems good, but time will tell.
I just bought one of these Graf aluminum pumps for an engine that I am building, but before installing it I asked around with the VW tech friends I know what their impression of it is. The consensus was "not great". One shop had to warranty two of them because the seal to the block failed, tearing at a T where it connects the two passages.
Okay, so I installed a new aftermarket pump in my MK4 Jetta 2.0 last year. Went with the seemingly highly recommended GRAF metal impeller pump that many forum members across multiple forums seemed to stand behind... 14K miles later and it's leaking. Anyway, after doing some more research, it seems that it's considerably more common for aftermarket metal impeller pumps (especially GRAF, but seemingly all of them from what I can find) to fail prematurely for some reason...
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