What are your opinions for a quality replacement water pump for an 85 SE? Replaced it 16yrs. ago with Mazda oem. That pump now goes for 365.00,hard to justify the price. The one on car is not leaking but the bearings are beginning to make noise. Don't want to go reman route,not a lot of choices for new non-Mazda pumps. Surely someone on this site has been here,what did you install and how has it worked for you? Am keeping this car,reliability is important to me.

 

I'm in Aus, but a quick look on ebay and there's plenty of new aftermarket waterpumps for your car, ranging from $50aud to $90. The one I have on my car was made in Mexico, was about $70 and havn't had a problem with it.

 

My aftermarket pump for my 12a (same I think) was a NAPA or Beck Arnley purchase. No issues for all of $60 IIRC

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Beck Arnley does make good products. I've never been dissatisfied with anything form them. They would probably be the brand of choice that I would use should I go aftermarket instead of oem. In fact I think I have anew Beck Arnley water pump fora GSL-SE on the parts shelf in my garage.

 

Go to rockauto.com for a pump. They range from $27 to $64.

1985 MAZDA RX-7 1.3L R2 Water Pump | RockAuto

 

I like the ones with the aluminum housings, they polish up nicely and look real pretty.

 

Get one of these if you can, the aluminum pumps are a huge weight savings over the oem pump. Amazon shows the shipping weight for the beck/arnley pump at 2.6 pounds!

 

Thanks for all the responses. Have had my car since 1993,know it sat for four years in a garage. When i bought it,set about changing all fluids,filters,etc.. In summer the car always ran warmer than i thought appropriate so r&r radiator to be flow tested and cleaned,replaced all hoses and thermostat with Mazda items,fresh coolant again. According to rad. shop there was no scale in radiator,flowed fine. Car ran no cooler, then came fall,winter and put car away. Next year as temperatures rose so did operating temp on the car. Decided to change water pump,sourced one from Mazda. Looking at the old and new was night and day,don't remember the brand but do remember it was aluminum,it had three less blades on the impeller. Once new pump installed,system bled,engine temps were rock steady at 1/4 gauge. Stop and go traffic with a/c on in summer,slightly warmer but not even 1/3 gauge reading,same all these years since. This is why i hesitate to use a non-stock pump. Not long after i had the car,started having problem with l/r brake caliper dragging. Upon investigating found a pos reman caliper on it,went to salvage yard and bought one,rebuilt it myself,all good. Been working on cars most of my life,not just Mazdas and remans have bit me in the a** more than a few times and why i always look at them with the stinkeye. Will have to "hands on" look at some aftermarket pumps.

 

the Mazda OEM pump is N232-99-153B, list price is $89.82, Mazda has a ton of them. the $360 part is the whole housing assembly, Mazda uses the de-code 15-010 for most water pumps, except the rotaries, where 15-010 is the whole assembly, so its a common rookie mistake to look up the whole housing.

gasket is N2Y0-15-116, which looks like it may not come with the pump anymore.

 

rookie mistake,lol. Thanks for the info and part #s. Really appreciate the info on this forum and the people willing to share it. Been looking at dealership online parts diagrams which are not that clear,must be another source. Going to local dealer not a lot of help,parts guys work on commission not interested in helping to find/get parts for 30+yr old cars.

 

Searched water pump part# and mazdamotorsports.com popped up. Interesting site

 

they actually can't look up parts for a 30 year old car, the new parts catalog, only goes back to like 87 or 88 or something. so this leaves Mazda with a warehouse full of parts that aren't in a catalog. we've told them that this might be a problem, but they don't seem to think it is.

we actually do know of something like 7 or 8 different parts catalogs, there is the new GEPC, or Global Electronic Parts Catalog, which as the name implies only does the US. its also internet based, so its slow and clunky.

there is the old EPC, which also only did the US, but it did 77-2015. there is the older EPC which did 86-2003ish, this one is the best of the lot, its quick and easy.

next there is a JDM EPC, there is one for Australia, which also does the world. there is a european one, there is a middle eastern one.

and these are just the ones we know about!

before that they had books (up to maybe 2003 in japan) and microfiche (US, from a book, up to about 2001ish)

so they have a lot of ways to look up a part!

 

I meant when parts guy sees me come in the look on his face= f***,should have gone to lunch 5 mins. ago. From reading your posts i get the impression you work/worked in a Mazda dealership,guessing possibly parts dept.? Again thanks for part #s. I'm a little thick,trying to break down things you said in your post. Old EPC,is this where the #s you gave me come from,if so can anyone access/use this? Were i able to get a # for a needed part,take it to Mazda parts guy,could he check inventory? on his computer and tell me if it's still available and the price? Again thanks for your input.