Looking if anyone has experience running and aftermarket water pump. OEM pumps from the online dealerships look to be about $70 and aftermarket are about $30. My OEM pump bearing is going out after 10,000 miles - geez must have been a lemon.

I plan on doing the timing belt and cam seals at the same time. For timing belts I usually go OEM, although I have had good luck with Dayco who is making some OEM belts for other makes. Anyone know the brand Nissan OEM belt? Last OEM brand belt it bought was a Tsubaki.

an aftermarket pump is just a remanned nissan pump

as for timing belts i just used a goodyear one

does the Goodyear one have the marks on it like the factory one? I always use the factory timing belt, usually the cheapest from what I have found and has the marks to line up, as far as the water pump, aftermarket can't see paying that much for something I'm going to replace in 60,000 just cuz I'm already in there

yeah all the belts have the marks on them.

Anyone know if there is a difference in pumps for these year to year on the Max? I checked the OEM WP and they show different p/n for '85-'88 vs 89 -up. Aftermarket WP p/n cover '85 to '93. Quality of all pumps (and most parts) seems to be down from what I have been reading.

How about aftermarket cam and crank seal brands? I usually go with National if I am not using OEM.

Yep, the Dayco and Gates belts I have timing marks. I usually check them by laying side to side with the OEM belt to make sure. Nissan OE belt is about $30 online now and if I am not mistaken used to be about $20 not too long ago. Good AF belts are about $15-20. The dealer I checked doesn't know what brand the OE belt. It is somewhat of a crap shoot, because some dealers can supply OEM parts and/or OES parts, with OES being lower price/quality. This isn't just a Nissan thing.

Anyone fix a leaking hex plug in the head closest to the firewall? Mine looks to be leaking. Some searching I found they can be a PIA to remove, but re-sealing is easy with Teflon tape.

I went through several aftermarket water pumps. Most rebuilds were absolute crap. Main bearing leaked more than the original which had 230K kilometers on it.

Finally got a very good replacement from ParAut, Japanese domestic replacement. Highly recommended!

-bob

I would recomend staying away from CLOYES timing belts and chains! As for the block draining plug appling some teflon thread sealer works even better!

It looks like ParAut is a brand of Atsugi, which supplies OEM parts. They seem to be high quality. How is the impeller size/design compared to OEM? Notice any temp difference? The aftermarket pumps all seem to have different impeller designs ( had higher temps with WPs on my old Toyota due to this).


Just checked my previous OEM t-belt part number was superceded to a new number. So, good chance Nissan has changed suppliers and it is no longer Tsubaki.

I have to get some Teflon thread sealer. I also need a 17 mm hex, have to check this though.

Man, finding decent quality parts is turning into a real project. I think it's probably worse for our vintage cars , but I've read of others having the same problem on some other boards. Crappy parts seem to be the norm.

I think going to a local auto parts is ok if you can find a good rebuilding vendor....or just buy new parts....don't know! I buy water pumps for my D21 Nissan Hardbody over the counter locally and it seems that they don't last nowhere as long as the original OEM parts.... My altenator lasted to almost 280,000 miles and I regretted that and replace it with a rebuilt Nissan OEM altenator which is going on 60K.....They got some sorry a$$ rebuilders out there doing all kind of shortcuts for that US Dollar bill!!!!!

I did the entire cooling system when I was forced to do the water pump - all hoses, thermosat, heater core, block heater, bypass valve, re-cored radiator - over $600.

The new impeller was indistinguishable from the original, but the attachment flange for the fan wasn't stainless steel, like the original. Overall the machined surfaces of the new pump were smooth as machined, not pitted and dulled by sand blasting as on the local rebuilt replacements.

Engine runs lower temperature than before the rebuild, maybe too low!, because I've noticed somewhat lower gas mileage.

Next in the rebuild queue is the fuel delivery system, as the car has surging issues on acceleration. Most likely one or two injectors are fubarred.

-later

What brand was the pump? Was this done on a 1st gen car? Maybe your t-stat temp is off or is stuck open (even if new)

Do you remember seeing which brand name on the belt with OE part number 13028-16E85 ?

For those of you that replaced your WP did you use a gasket, RTV or both? There is conflicting info on the install. Originally the second gen came with a paper gasket and no RTV as shown in the factory service manual. But as posted above, the pump design has gone through several revisions, which included a cooling channel on the mounting surface. Nissan now recommends only RTV. Most aftermarket pumps come with a paper gasket ( which looks like crap) and list RTV as an option. On other cars I usually use RTV with the gasket. Seems like once a paper gasket has been on there it's tough to remove the residue and seal without RTV.

when I replace a WP I use the paper gasket with a thin layer of grease rubbed on it then a thin layer of RTV and have never had a leak issue.

vernk, I'll probably do the same with gasket and RTV. Too many chances for a leak with RTV only, unless maybe it was new during assembly at the factory.

vernk or anyone... have you replaced the U shaped by-pass hose at the thermostat.? If so, is it worth pay the $10 for the molded one or the make your own from 9/16 straight hose... not sure if that would pinching at the bend would cause a problem...it doesn't seem like it would.

Gasket plus gasket sealant spec'd for aircraft engines.

Yeah it's a b***h to clean the surfaces off if you have to redo the work due to crappy parts, but my 84 just might last another 27 years!