I assume that the water pump impeller is not supposed to just come off in your hand when you touch it. That's what happened after removing the inspection plate on the pump.

 

No it's not. Should be bolted? Time for a new one.

 

Thanks! I didn't think so.

 

and do yourself a favor, when you get a new one, tug on the press fit pipes of the new waterpump. I replaced a WP, had it leak about 2 months later and kill a new opti. I then replaced it again (warranty part which was swell because I ate the opti cost) and 6 months later one of the press fit pipes came off and bathed my entire engine bay and opti in nice coolant. But, lucky for me, I got the wp replaced again on warranty and had the pleasure of purchasing yet another opti and that's when I encountered 2 bad GM optis in a row.

I don't knw what's going on but maybe Massey can chime in with honest anecdotal data. I paid more to get "made in the usa" water pumps and experienced what I outlined. It then took 3 GM optis to get a good one.

On my 3rd gen restoration I picked up a new WP, not reman'd and opended the box at the store, it would hardly spin. I ended up taking a reman'd one they had.

What in the world ever became of quality assurance? I don't blame the stores, they spend a lot of money to carry inventory and must trust the manufacturers to produce quality parts.

enough of my rant

 

OK I'll bite!

I can honestly say that the most I have ever had to do with an opti unit was push a brand new 96 Impalla SS off the truck (top rack) and push it into one of the bays of a tech. It was my job to drive the cars off the rack but as a detailer I didnt get to fix them. Not sure why the opti died the car only had 8 miles on it and the water pump was good. I think the guy said something about the opti unit getting condensation in it since it never really got to warm up from normal driving... cant remember it was a long time ago. I still remember being one of the guys pushing the car off the truck tho.

I would say if you bought a new WP and it took out your opti that the part store that sold the WP should be dropping a new opti in the bag you walk out with. Or at least let you file a claim and get your $$$ back. I would really be pissed if that happened to me.

As for quality of remanned parts... I like A1 Cardone, they seem to have good stuff. I offer A1C select new parts as well and again good stuff.

Massey

 

Massey, I have to replace my water pump on my 97 Z/28. I see the A1 Cardone reman pumps are available at O'Reilly's for $69.99. Being retired and the fact that this is a much better price than a new Duralast from Autozone, plus the car is not a daily driver except for summer, do you reccomend this pump? Here is the link for the pump on their site: Cardone 58-470 - Water Pump | O'Reilly Auto Parts

Thanks in advance.

Jack in Michigan

 

^ answered in the other thread.

But a recap... Go with new on the LT1 engine.

Massey