Approximately 10k mike's ago, I installed an Airtex water pump with the paper gasket. I bought it due to my past experience with their fuel pump assembly for my D1. Also, it was more that half the price of the OEM unit. I also rebuilt mostly all of the cooling system, using all OEM parts.

About 8k miles into it, I noticed that the coolant was low. So I topped it off, thinking it was just evaporation. About a few hundred miles later, it got low again. And when changing the oil, found dried coolant residue on the oil filter cooling fins and on the skid plate.

I borrowed a pressure bester from my uncle. Applied 16 lbs and found coolant dripping from the water pump.

 

Also notice the seal leak from the shaft. You can see the grease coming from the shaft.

 

I spun the shaft, and you can hear the seal at the beginning of failure. I will be taking it apart this weekend just for the heck of it.

So, this is the second time I had an issue with a cheaper aftermarket pump. The only exception was the water pump for my M3, which i went the other direction. I installed a Stewart Performace Pump, twice the cost of an OEM unit.

The first cheap one, a Gates water pump on my Mopar. It leak also within 10k miles. Now this, using an Airtex instead of the OEM LR unit....fail. This is the last time ever, to never experiment with a cheaper aftermarket water pumps. Damn, the 911 is next...

 

And last, I deformed my old 36mm fan clutch wrench. And bought a beefy one from NAPA.

 

Good tips.

It is nice to use aftermarket parts when the are better than OE, which happens. I am glad that I had ordered the OE water pump, which I just fitted. The original still working, no leaks yet, but I figured after 146k miles, it is time.

 

But the Airtex is the OEM Pump ..isn’t it ?

 

The OEM as well as the AC Delco 1 piece pump have a good reputation. I prefer, as do many others, the AC Delco, as it's an improved design and very reliable - and in this case, much cheaper *and* OEM level quality.
I have read that there is a low end and a higher end Airtex pump - I think it was our resident expert DakotaTraveler who said recently that he sees many failures w Airtex pumps.

 

It looks like AB is selling the Airtex as OEM with a gasket that looks like the metal gasket included with the genuine Land Rover pump above. The Airtex pump on partsgeek shows a paper gasket. Is the gasket usually the failure point on the Airtex pumps?

I decided to go with the ACDelco from Rock Auto but I noticed the metal gasket is bent. I ordered a second and this one is a slightly better but still has a good bend near one of the coolant channels. Does anyone know if his is normal? I always thought bends/kinks were a no go but this is my first time using this style gasket.

 

I used that exact AC Delco pump on both my 07 and 06. The seal is made by the rubber inlay. As long as the rubber isn’t damaged, the bend should not affect a good seal. Bend it back straight as you can then your bolt torque will flatten it the rest.

Use caution with the large center o-ring. It’s a tight fit. You might put a very small amount of dielectric grease on that o-ring to help ease it in.

 

I am curious about the Airtex as well, as I ordered it from AB as it was listed as OEM. I too recall some statements about a low-end version of it, and a better version. I hope the one I ordered is the better version . . .