Need to buy yet another water pump and am wondering if there is a preferred brand. On checking I find quite a few brands on the market with a wide range of prices. Rock Auto appears to be the cheapest, but not comfortable with the brands they offer. Genos has a Gates at $40 and also a Cummins at $160. Is it really necessary to pay four times the price just for the name, or is there a 4X value in the quality? Is there a 4 fold increase in life expectancy with an OE pump versus a cheap Delco or the slightly more expensive Gates?

Just installed my forth water pump, with two being Cummins pumps.

 

So far I've had good luck with the factory pumps. Replaced the original pump at 100K miles as preventive maintenance. Now I have 162K miles on the truck and still on the second factory pump.

 

WOW! what's going on? i'm still on the original pump at close to 300,000 miles, but i keep an extra behind the seat.
in view of the failure rate i would go with the gates from rock auto or the more expensive ones they offer.
by the way, are you using antifreeze?


2003 DODGE RAM 3500 PICKUP 5.9L L6 DIESEL Turbocharged Water Pump | RockAuto





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What is going on indeed? I am only at half your mileage. Due to the failure rate of these pumps, always keep one in the truck. Yes, have run the recommended anti-freeze from new. Don't know if this has any bearing on the latest failure, but about 6,000 miles ago, made a routine change in anti-freeze and went from my usual Zerex G-05 to the Fleetguard Blue extended life that is recommended for the Cummins diesels.

 

Mine failed at about 50K (which was 7 1/2 years for me). Just beyond my 7 yr power train warranty. The dealer wouldn't do anything for me. But, I contacted Chrysler corp and they covered it because it was so close and I had several Chrysler products in my history. So, I'm on the second OEM but only 85K on the clock. Too soon to know if this one is going to last any longer.

 

I think mine was around 150 and it started leaking. I went to O'Rileys, it was closer than autozone, either one you get a life time warranty.

I like Rock auto for some things but brakes/waterpumps... things that you need fixed quickly I go to the local guys.