Owner reviews for water pump

I then bought one that was made of aluminum and had a metal impeller (Dorman brand I believe) I never had an issue with it after that.

I just used the vdo/continental pump. The plastic end on it makes it more prone to a leak, but hopefully by the point I do it again preventatively, there won't be a leak. Been 10k miles, no issues so far. Oil stays abiut 5ish degrees cooler with this new pump/t stat

The Pierburg pump is an all aluminum upgrade. I put one in a couple months ago. It works great, less prone to leaking and I have only ever read/heard good things about it. It is even a few dollars cheaper than the OE VDO pump.

Used Aisin for my 2000lx.

I have a 2013 GTI on the original water pump at 100k miles.

As for the aluminum one made by/marketed as Graf, there are a few issues in my experience. First, the rubber gasket from the housing to the block is known to fail by tearing where the link in the gasket between the two passage connect. I think this is because the gasket does not precise fit in the channel for the seal machined into the housing. On the one that just put on an engine I just put in my '12 Tiguan, I cut that link out, effectively making two seals and relieving the tension in the seal. Next, the O ring seal supplied for the temp sensor is known to disintegrate, so I got a factory seal. Last, if your engine has a late water pump currently with the clip that holds in the temp sensor, the two mounting bolts to the block at the sensor will be too short for the aluminum pump housing, so you need to get the bolts for an early water pump. Honestly, as long as you don't have any oil leaks, the latest factory water pump is fine. I generally don't trust aftermarket water pumps, as I have had too many fail over the years (not on these engines, just in general). I used this Graf aluminum water pump as a test. The quality seems good, but time will tell.

I had a Graf pump as well and it blew up less than a year later, literally the shaft blew off while I was in traffic.

I replaced the water pump in 3/2021. By 2/2022, it started leaking, so I replaced it under warranty. It leaked again in 1/2023, leading to a 3rd replacement. Now, one month in, the new pump is already leaking, this is driving me insane. This will be my 4th replacement in the last 3 yrs! These are GRAF PUMPS.

That is indeed a common failure item on the 2 liter turbo engine. One of my VWs went out @ 70k miles.

I had a coolant leak in august. They replaced my water pump under warranty. Brought my car in last week and guess what another freaking leak. They tried to charge me this time but are now fixing it under parts warranty.