Timing Belt/Water Pump brand

DaOutlaw · 02-20-07, 01:27 AM

Does it really make much of a difference if I bought a water pump/timing belt from ebay or from a site like http://www.carpartswholesale.com as opposed to one from Acura? Theres a big price difference with the ones on ebay and not that big of a difference with the supposed like-OEM parts from that site compared to the ones from Acura. Need some help deciding, gonna do the headgasket DIY job soon so I might as well replace the timing belt and water pump while I'm in there since its due for it's 180k maintenance in 7k miles.

**Mike Diaz** · 02-20-07, 11:05 AM

As long as you don't mind tearing the front half of your engine down again if it's a faulty water pump.

Hint: buy OEM parts when you have to spend more than 2 hours replacing it.

antik · 02-20-07, 11:21 AM

My luck has been far too good by just staying OEM...

If you have to ask, you probably shouldn't be going aftermarket...

sr5guy · 02-20-07, 11:49 AM

This is funny. Quite a few OEM parts sold at the dealer are aftermarket. Car manufacturers subcontract out parts - Aisin, Nippondenso, Matsushita, Mitsuba, are just some of the manufactureres Acura/Honda uses on the car when new. Are the tires that come on the car made by Acura? Rims? How about the battery? It might say Acura on it, but you can be sure underneath the label its a major brand name battery.

Alot of people on this board seek out aftermarket modifications to their cars. I don't see anything wrong with using aftermarket replacement parts, just use your better judgement on the quality. GMB and Paraut water pumps are excellent quality replacement water pumps and you can save $100-150 over OEM. Dana and Gates belts are time tested, trusted names in aftermarket belts.

Mike, do you use OEM banner kits to rebuild transmissions at your shop?

-Matt

legendtype2 · 02-20-07, 01:29 PM

OEM wp was too expensive for me so I went with GMB. I think it's ok... other cars use them all the time. Total job cost me $640 including crank angle sensor ($200 dealer), new cam seals, crank seals, TB, other misc parts. If I were to do the same at a dealer it would cost me at least $1200 and I wasn't going to spend that much $$ on a car with 182K miles. Some parts that I would only go oem are termostat, ATF and headgasket set to name a few... I'll let you guys know if my wp fails prematurely *knock on wood*.

**Mike Diaz** · 02-20-07, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sr5guy

This is funny. Quite a few OEM parts sold at the dealer are aftermarket. Car manufacturers subcontract out parts - Aisin, Nippondenso, Matsushita, Mitsuba, are just some of the manufactureres Acura/Honda uses on the car when new. Are the tires that come on the car made by Acura? Rims? How about the battery? It might say Acura on it, but you can be sure underneath the label its a major brand name battery.

Alot of people on this board seek out aftermarket modifications to their cars. I don't see anything wrong with using aftermarket replacement parts, just use your better judgement on the quality. GMB and Paraut water pumps are excellent quality replacement water pumps and you can save $100-150 over OEM. Dana and Gates belts are time tested, trusted names in aftermarket belts.

Mike, do you use OEM banner kits to rebuild transmissions at your shop?

-Matt

Actually, we use Borg Warner frictions, which come in 95% of transmission from the factory. With 14-18 hours on a remove, rebuild, and replace, you don't fuck around with crap kits. I use Transtar Industries for all my transmission parts. I don't install cheap parts on my customer cars. That's part of the reason why our shop went from making $3000 per week when I started, to an average of $13,490 per week as of the last 4 months.

If it were something you don't have to work hard to get to, I would consider aftermarket, but since it's a 4+ hour job, buy the right shit.

Yes, Honda outsources a lot of their parts, but they outsource them to good companies, and that's what makes the difference.

Everybody has their opinion, but mine is that OEM is better, and my very low comeback rate has proven it to me.

How much is the price difference? $70 vs $160? It's worth the extra $90 for me never to worry about it for another 90,000 miles

Socol · 02-20-07, 03:23 PM

I'm going to agree with Mike, not because he's pretty damn smart when it comes to these things but because I've learned to use OEM the hard way (head gaskets repaired twice). Sure there are times when using after-market parts is ok, but when it comes to the Legend and it's cooling system/BHG "problem" you might want to keep the variables which effect it at a minimum; and a water pump is one of them. As far as the timing belt goes, think of it this way: It’s the only thing keeping the valves from hitting the pistons, and how much would it cost you to fix the top end if it fails? So far, I haven’t heard of an OEM belt failing prematurely.

**Mike Diaz** · 02-20-07, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Socol

I'm going to agree with Mike, not because he's pretty damn smart when it comes to these things but because I've learned to use OEM the hard way (head gaskets repaired twice). Sure there are times when using after-market parts is ok, but when it comes to the Legend and it's cooling system/BHG "problem" you might want to keep the variables which effect it at a minimum; and a water pump is one of them. As far as the timing belt goes, think of it this way: It’s the only thing keeping the valves from hitting the pistons, and how much would it cost you to fix the top end if it fails? So far, I haven’t heard of an OEM belt failing prematurely.

I pulled a 190,000 mile Legend engine apart a while back and found the original timing belt on there. You can tell when it's original because of the rubber grommet at the front of the timing belt tensioner, plus it had serious wear marks, but still not broken.

Socol · 02-20-07, 05:10 PM

^^^--- Proves my point regarding OEM right there.

mrkeith · 02-26-07, 04:14 PM

For parts like these, I ALWAYS stick to the Honda part,
and I am on my original head gasket, etc...
You're penny-pinching to save $100 at this point.

LS92Sedan · 02-26-07, 07:28 PM

go with the OEM parts, ESPECIALLY the water pump, most aftermarket waterpumps use palstic impellars which can break easy and will completely screw your cooling system. The OEM uses a metal impellar which is far superior, spend the extra money.

mrkeith · 02-26-07, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LS92Sedan

go with the OEM parts, ESPECIALLY the water pump, most aftermarket waterpumps use palstic impellars which can break easy and will completely screw your cooling system. The OEM uses a metal impellar which is far superior, spend the extra money.

Thank you for the post, man. Sometimes it's an uphill battle to prove that there is good reason to pay extra for certain OEM parts.

k.

LS92Sedan · 02-27-07, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrkeith

Thank you for the post, man. Sometimes it's an uphill battle to prove that there is good reason to pay extra for certain OEM parts.

k.

Not a problem, I recently found this out the hard way myself, needless to say after $160 and about 10 hours of work, I learned my lesson. The plastic impellars in the aftermarket waterpumps should not even be an option for anyone who lives where the temperature falls below freezing, as I found out, anti freeze can freeze when there are EXTREME wind chills and temperature drops. On my birthday of all days, it was -30 degrees here, easily cold enough to freeze damn near anything, the passages in the waterpump became frozen, when I tried to start the car it started very hard, and when it was started, I heard what can only be described as the sound u hear when you hold paper in front of a fan. So I popped the hood to try and find the sound, magically, it went away, because all the impellar blades had been sheared clean off the water pump! After driving to my eye doctor with no heat, I decide to pul the car in the garage and find the problem, after feeling the lower rad hose, it was damn near frozen solid and the temp gauge had climbed, not to overheating, but enough to throw a red flag, cuz my temp gauge hasnt moved since the engine swap 19 months ago. Pulled the t-stat thinking it wasnt opening and replaced it with a new OEM one, still, same problem, no heat and temp gauge rising, so I pull the heater core, nothing visibly wrong with it or any type of leak, so this can only mean one thing. At this point, Im mad, cuz t-belt/water pump jobs on our cars are NOT fun. When I pulled the water pump, all the impellar bladed fell out of the housing for the waterpump. When I looked at the OEM pump vs the aftermarket one, the difference was clear, plastic vs metal. Basically, any obstruction large enough to get into the cooling system would cause this to happen. So think about it this way, our heater cores and radiators are copper or aluminum based, if these crack or break from radiator or heater core failure it will kick those peices loose into the cooling system, and rust from the block passages could also obstuct this flow causing catostrophic failure of any aftermarket water pump. Dont learn your lesson the hard way, when it comes to the cooling system, dont screw around, OEM or go home, you'll be glad you spent the extra ching, cuz the labor and parts involved in our cooling system can get very pricey.

sr5guy · 02-27-07, 12:31 PM

What brand was your water pump? Autozone? The aftermarket ones I was recommending both had metal impeller blades. The Paraut water pump is very nicely constructed - in Japan. The GMB isn't as nice but it passed my muster.

-Matt

legendtype2 · 02-27-07, 12:48 PM

It's too late for me now. I'm stuck with gmb brand. It's good so far. If it breaks I'll take it as lesson learned but I hightly doubt it'll go bad at least for 60K. Definitely not letting it run more than 60K miles.

EDIT: checked out gmb website... it's supplier of oem wp for porsche, hyundai... etc... must be good enough

02-20-07, 01:27 AM	#1 (permalink)
DaOutlaw Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oakland, Cali Posts: 45 Car 1: 95' coupe, blk on blk iTrader: (0)	Timing Belt/Water Pump brand Does it really make much of a difference if I bought a water pump/timing belt from ebay or from a site like http://www.carpartswholesale.com as opposed to one from Acura? Theres a big price difference with the ones on ebay and not that big of a difference with the supposed like-OEM parts from that site compared to the ones from Acura. Need some help deciding, gonna do the headgasket DIY job soon so I might as well replace the timing belt and water pump while I'm in there since its due for it's 180k maintenance in 7k miles. __________________ 95 L Blk on Blk -Jdm Headlights -18 Diablo Viennas

02-20-07, 11:05 AM	#2 (permalink)
Mike Diaz WHAAAAAH! Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: N Canton, Ohio Posts: 10,986 Car 1: 3.5L 1991 LS Coupe 5 Spd Blk/Blk Car 2: 1994 Civic EG Hatch Car 3: 03 Honda TRX400EX iTrader: (2)	As long as you don't mind tearing the front half of your engine down again if it's a faulty water pump. Hint: buy OEM parts when you have to spend more than 2 hours replacing it. __________________ 2nd Gen FAQ \| Newbie FAQ \| Bleeding Coolant DIY \| Manual Trans Flush DIY 3.5L DIY \| Crank-No Start Diagnosis \| How I built My Legend

02-20-07, 11:21 AM	#3 (permalink)
antik Obsessive Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Northern VA Posts: 3,915 Car 1: 98.5 BMW M3 Coupe 5MT Car 2: 95 L Sedan Car 3: 95 6MT Coupe (Dad's) iTrader: (5)	My luck has been far too good by just staying OEM... If you have to ask, you probably shouldn't be going aftermarket... __________________ ~Ben Canterbury Green '95 Auto L Sedan ADDCO \| MLS \| KNUKONCEPTZ \| ALPINE \| ECLIPSE \| JL AUDIO \| BOSTON ACOUSTICS

02-20-07, 11:49 AM	#4 (permalink)
sr5guy Legend Agent Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Connecticut Posts: 2,625 Car 1: 95 BMW 740I Car 2: 91 L Sedan Rosewood Car 3: 91 LS Cpe 3.5 sold iTrader: (32)	This is funny. Quite a few OEM parts sold at the dealer are aftermarket. Car manufacturers subcontract out parts - Aisin, Nippondenso, Matsushita, Mitsuba, are just some of the manufactureres Acura/Honda uses on the car when new. Are the tires that come on the car made by Acura? Rims? How about the battery? It might say Acura on it, but you can be sure underneath the label its a major brand name battery. Alot of people on this board seek out aftermarket modifications to their cars. I don't see anything wrong with using aftermarket replacement parts, just use your better judgement on the quality. GMB and Paraut water pumps are excellent quality replacement water pumps and you can save $100-150 over OEM. Dana and Gates belts are time tested, trusted names in aftermarket belts. Mike, do you use OEM banner kits to rebuild transmissions at your shop? -Matt __________________ The dude with a chip on his shoulder. Stop asking me to compare my chip with Telion's damnit. Mines better. No, really, stop asking The Legend Garage

02-20-07, 01:29 PM	#5 (permalink)
legendtype2 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 1,675 Car 1: 2006 Mercedes C230 Car 2: 1991 L coupe iTrader: (3)	OEM wp was too expensive for me so I went with GMB. I think it's ok... other cars use them all the time. Total job cost me $640 including crank angle sensor ($200 dealer), new cam seals, crank seals, TB, other misc parts. If I were to do the same at a dealer it would cost me at least $1200 and I wasn't going to spend that much $$ on a car with 182K miles. Some parts that I would only go oem are termostat, ATF and headgasket set to name a few... I'll let you guys know if my wp fails prematurely knock on wood. __________________ 91 KA8 Legend Gallery

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02-20-07, 03:23 PM	#7 (permalink)
Socol Welcome to my head Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Vancouver, Not BC Posts: 989 Car 1: CL-S (Daily Driver) Car 2: ObsidianBlack KA8 iTrader: (5)	I'm going to agree with Mike, not because he's pretty damn smart when it comes to these things but because I've learned to use OEM the hard way (head gaskets repaired twice). Sure there are times when using after-market parts is ok, but when it comes to the Legend and it's cooling system/BHG "problem" you might want to keep the variables which effect it at a minimum; and a water pump is one of them. As far as the timing belt goes, think of it this way: It’s the only thing keeping the valves from hitting the pistons, and how much would it cost you to fix the top end if it fails? So far, I haven’t heard of an OEM belt failing prematurely. __________________ Socol's Basic Website

02-20-07, 05:10 PM	#9 (permalink)
Socol Welcome to my head Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Vancouver, Not BC Posts: 989 Car 1: CL-S (Daily Driver) Car 2: ObsidianBlack KA8 iTrader: (5)	^^^--- Proves my point regarding OEM right there. __________________ Socol's Basic Website

02-26-07, 04:14 PM	#10 (permalink)
mrkeith dealer-opted track pack Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: look behind you Posts: 3,520 Car 1: ka8 Car 2: chevro-legs iTrader: (2)	For parts like these, I ALWAYS stick to the Honda part, and I am on my original head gasket, etc... You're penny-pinching to save $100 at this point. __________________ The performance handling machine... If you've got coil-overs, corner-balance them! Please protect our environment: use a high-flow.

02-26-07, 07:28 PM	#11 (permalink)
LS92Sedan Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Brew City Posts: 1,785 Car 1: 94 L Sedan Caterbury Green Car 2: 94 L Sedan (white) Car 3: (RIP) 92 L Sedan iTrader: (0)	go with the OEM parts, ESPECIALLY the water pump, most aftermarket waterpumps use palstic impellars which can break easy and will completely screw your cooling system. The OEM uses a metal impellar which is far superior, spend the extra money. __________________

02-27-07, 12:31 PM	#14 (permalink)
sr5guy Legend Agent Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Connecticut Posts: 2,625 Car 1: 95 BMW 740I Car 2: 91 L Sedan Rosewood Car 3: 91 LS Cpe 3.5 sold iTrader: (32)	What brand was your water pump? Autozone? The aftermarket ones I was recommending both had metal impeller blades. The Paraut water pump is very nicely constructed - in Japan. The GMB isn't as nice but it passed my muster. -Matt __________________ The dude with a chip on his shoulder. Stop asking me to compare my chip with Telion's damnit. Mines better. No, really, stop asking The Legend Garage

02-27-07, 12:48 PM	#15 (permalink)
legendtype2 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 1,675 Car 1: 2006 Mercedes C230 Car 2: 1991 L coupe iTrader: (3)	It's too late for me now. I'm stuck with gmb brand. It's good so far. If it breaks I'll take it as lesson learned but I hightly doubt it'll go bad at least for 60K. Definitely not letting it run more than 60K miles. EDIT: checked out gmb website... it's supplier of oem wp for porsche, hyundai... etc... must be good enough __________________ 91 KA8 Legend Gallery

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