Thread: Nissan Water Pump or OEM style?

I am hoping for some advice on a beater '91 SE-R that I am giving to my brother in law. A few years ago I picked up a free beater SE-R that had a bad water pump and just never got around to replacing it. The car has 114K on it and is in rough shape body wise.

At first I was unable to even start the car fully, but then we found out the plugs and wires were super old (one was almost welded to the sparkplug). I was able to get the wires off and take the plugs out. With new plugs and wires the car started right up and sounded pretty good running. I drove it for about 8 miles or so even with the bad waterpump and it did not overheat or make weird noises. After that though my wife got preggers and it has sat for about 2 years (in the garage).

Rather than sell it for a few hundred bucks I am going to give it to my brother in law since he is without a job and needs to save money on gas since his car isn't really that fuel efficient. It will be ok for him to run around locally looking for a job. Don't know if I trust it on long trips though.

We are going to toss him some cash for parts but money is tight for us as well right now. Does anyone think it's a mistake to save a few bucks by getting one of the $22-$30 Water Pumps from RockAuto or should I stick with Nissan original parts for $75ish from someone like G-Spec or Courtsey? If we go with the cheaper water pump he can get more parts with what we are giving him (coolant hoses, rotors, pads, etc).

Anyone else here have any experience with non-Nissan water pumps? Or am I wayyy better off going with original Nissan parts?

if you get aftermarket get aisin or gmb on the cheaper side. I am not sure who sells them to the public though. You could take a chance on one of those cheap pumps, but more than likely it is a Chinese brand and they suck.

You can get the Autozone water pumps. I don't know where we get them from, but our lifetimes ones are very good. That's what I'm rocking.

Check ebay for oem water pumps. I remember seeing a sr16 water pump for sale for $40-50 brand new.

Ya autozone ones are like $40 and are identical to the newer style VE ones.

x2 on aftermarket....got one from Napa a few years back when i had my old b13 SE-R and it worked like a charm

GREGV ,,, no need for looking around on ebay,,, G Spec Performance

In a pinch, I'd do Autozone as well. I had to use one for one reason or another and it lasted 2-3 years with no signs of stopping.

I was looking at this one as the cheapest options. Looks to be Chinese.

EASTERN INDUSTRIES SR20DE Water Pump

Just a thought here, you are looking at the solution with the cheapest possible upfront cost. When that pump fails, you will be faced with the task of replacement. If you have never done an in-car replacement, I can tell you it is a long, frustrating, cramped POS job to do. If you value your own time in any way, you might consider something of higher quality to avoid the possibility of redoing this job in the future. IMHO, saving a couple of bucks now is not worth the risk of pump failure, and wasting more of my time (I hate doing a job more than once).

Darrin