Inspect Your Water Pump

I have it in my hand right now...I actually cannot tell if its plastic or metal. If it is plastic it appears to be very durable. It's actually a cylinder with fins (imagine a a deep dish car wheel).
You mean a squirrel cage?

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^ yeah something like that. I opened up the water pump and confirmed the blades are indeed plastic. No damage to the actual blades were found.
 

Good read. I find it horrific that they went to plastic...but at least the impellers have gotten better to where they last. The full plastic water pumps just scream "throw this car away".

The OEM and Aftermartket Gates Water pump were not heavy at all. Likely aluminum bodies. The OEM has plastic impeller (did not check the Gates unfortunately) but unless there's hard objects in the cooling system I can't see the blades chipping.

BMWs were notorious for cheap plastic impellers. Actually Euro water pumps in general aren't as good whether plastic or metal. JDM cars fare better.
 
The water pumps we use in my industry all use plastic composite impellers that are absolutely superior to the old metal ones. Plastic is not inherently bad and any product can be poorly made, metal or plastic.
 
Interesting that the OEM pump has a plastic impeller. I picked up an Aisin pump recently (Part # : WPZ-045) to replace the pump on my CX-5 when I do the 100K mile coolant/belt replacement(I figure it makes sense to swap out the pump when I'm already half-way there doing other things), and it definitely seems to be metal. I guess that means Aisin probably isn't the OEM-source for newer Mazda water pumps.

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Interesting that the OEM pump has a plastic impeller. I picked up an Aisin pump recently (Part # : WPZ-045) to replace the pump on my CX-5 when I do the 100K mile coolant/belt replacement(I figure it makes sense to swap out the pump when I'm already half-way there doing other things), and it definitely seems to be metal. I guess that means Aisin probably isn't the OEM-source for newer Mazda water pumps.

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oh good info here. I've got a Gates branded one but not sure whom really makes it and I don't know if it has metal impellers.

Aisin in theory could make the OEM pumps but with plastic impellers to cut down on costs?
 
oh good info here. I've got a Gates branded one but not sure whom really makes it and I don't know if it has metal impellers.

Aisin in theory could make the OEM pumps but with plastic impellers to cut down on costs?
I believe the reason why car manufactures have switched to plastic composite impellers and even plastic water pump body is for the lighter weight.

I suspect the water pump on our CX-5 is from Denso?

Yes BMW’s I6 were notorious for its plastic water pump and it fails easily in many ways. The plastic water pump on my 2000 BMW 528i “exploded” from its bearing with small metal balls flying everywhere under the hood at 28K miles!
 
I believe the reason why car manufactures have switched to plastic composite impellers and even plastic water pump body is for the lighter weight.

I suspect the water pump on our CX-5 is from Denso?

Yes BMW’s I6 were notorious for its plastic water pump and it fails easily in many ways. The plastic water pump on my 2000 BMW 528i “exploded” from its bearing with small metal balls flying everywhere under the hood at 28K miles!

I could not locate any markings to suggest who made the Mazda OEM pump. I tried googling some codes stamped on it but no luck. That said there's not one report of a skyactic pump (any model) where the pump impeller broke let alone fail.........well except for me. In my case the internal seal went bad.
 
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