First post here and hoping to get some opinions...

I'm planning on replacing the water pump myself ('98 z28) and was wondering what's the general opinion on using one from autozone or napa instead of oem. In speaking with a few local shops they stated the non-oem pumps aren't reliable... I'm pretty broke but if they aren't worth the trouble I'll cough up the dough for the factory part.

 

Unless you're building an all out race motor with attention paid to every detail, no. The stock LS1 water pump works fine.

 

Are you talking about buying one from GM vs. Napa/Autozone because it's BROKEN or because you want a performance increase? Your question is kind of confusing.

Anyway, a stock waterpump upgraded to an electric Meziere is very costly and gains around 7-9rwhp.

If you're talking about replacing a broken part on your car, then Autozone and Napa use remanufactured parts and GM uses new parts. I'd use a remanufactured part if the GM part is that much more, but I can't see it being that much more. Did you contact Dal or Jason Cromer for a new GM part a little above cost?

 

No, I'm pretty new here but I'll look them up. No upgrades, just replacing a leaking pump. The shops around me want $300 something for the part (and $350 for labor) compared to about half that at autozone for the duralast pump.

 

That pump price is too high, and the labor is so ridiculously high it's comical. I'm not at work now so I can't quote published labor time, but I'd imagine it's only around 1-1.5 hr for pump replacement. It's a really easy pump to replace

Edit: gmpartsdirect has a new GM water pump for $170, so $200-$220 from a dealer should be expected.

 

Yeah I agree. It doesn't surprise me coming from the dealership, but even the local shops are giving me practically the same prices.

Thanks for the tips on the parts everyone.

 

Your local shops don't stock water pumps. they will buy one from the dealer (unlikely) or a local Auto Zone or Napa and then make it up 150-200% for a profit. Realistic book labor time is about 2 hours.

Do it yourself. Even if your mechanical skills are limited, it's easy. Drain the system, remove the belt, remove the pump, install in reverse order.

Re'

 

All of Autozone's water pumps are new and come with lifetime warranties; there are few applications that they offer remans for nowadays.

 

I'm running a pump frm O'Reilys. I haven't had any problems with it.

They seem to stock better made parts than Autozone IMO and I think NAPA does too.