Where did the after run coolant pump go!!!???

blepkowski · 09-27-2008, 03:09 PM

Hey guys, I'm going to go look at this 87 951 tomorrow with 65k miles on it. I have been looking at pictures all week of the car and noticed that in this picture the after run coolant pump appears to be missing!

The car is unmodified and the owner has had the car since 92 and has never heard of or dealt with anything related to the pump. (he dident even know it was missing or had one in the first place)

Am i going crazy or it supposed to be on that bracket and connected to that vacant plug? Is an 87 different? Should I bypass the car to avoid future turbo problems? Is there any reason someone would remove it?

Any input would be great!

Thanks

vette951s · 09-27-2008, 08:34 PM

Indeed this car is missing the electric turbo water pump. It also has a bolt threaded in where the throttle bypass jet is supposed to be! (at the top of the throttle body) The original valve probably fell out (common) and the owner/mechanic just filled the hole. Easy fix with a new jet and the idle adjustment proceedure in the shop manual. This of course brings to question the [in]proper maintenance of this vehicle. However, any low mileage 951 merits attention, just factor in the cost of bringing the vehicle up to specs; if bad, a new turbo is not all that expensive and then you will be good to go for 150,000 miles!

Good luck! John

nize · nize's Garage

if the turbo pump is missing, the obvious question is, is the turbo original? if it is, how is the water plumbing done? it's also possible the turbo was replaced with a turbo that does not have water cooling, in which case you'd have some poor reliability issues.

it's hard to tell from the photo, but the turbo pump could have slid all the way down in the bracket. you can look down there to verify.

vette951s · 09-28-2008, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nize

if the turbo pump is missing, the obvious question is, is the turbo original? if it is, how is the water plumbing done? it's also possible the turbo was replaced with a turbo that does not have water cooling, in which case you'd have some poor reliability issues.

it's hard to tell from the photo, but the turbo pump could have slid all the way down in the bracket. you can look down there to verify.

It is possible that the water pump has slipped down, however unlikely. I don't remember when the factory changed to a 90 degree hard water line coming from the turbo to the electric turbo water pump as the hard line [with it's small hose at pump] would make it very unlikely. Also, the electrical connection is missing. More likely it leaked and they removed it and ran the water connection directly to the hard water line crossover pipe to the rear of the radiator.

John

blepkowski · 10-01-2008, 07:55 AM

Thanks for the input guys! I saw the car this past weekend and it is indeed missing and replaced with a copper elbow! The owner had no idea about the pump and woulden't have known if it was ever there or not.

I did test the plug and it does get its signal properly ( comes on after engine shutdown) but it is suspect and makes me wonder about an otherwise pretty straight forward stock car.