Water pump Gates or OEM FORD

I used a Gates kit which seemed good quality and included a water pump, tensioner and idler pulleys.

I just had the alternator (bearing went bad) and water pump changed (coolant leaking through the weep hole). Still the original block.

I got a water pump there for 80 dollars ford wanted to sell me for $560, I've spread the good word ever since

I went with Gates. My oem pump on my Mazda CX9 failed at 90k.... The bearing failed and the amount of bearing material in the housing was crazy.

This is why I’ve avoided the 3.5/3.7 Duratec engines in transverse (front wheel drive) platforms. It’s just fine in rear wheel drive applications as those use an external pump driven by the serpentine belt.

Yup, that's happens when they decided to put water pump INSIDE the engine. Ask me why i would never own a newer Ford. Oh, and a timing belt cooled by engine oil, what could possibly ever go wrong? Last 10 years Ford has managed to come up dumbest engine designs.

I had the same issue with the same Ford motor 3.7 in my Mazda Cx9, it is internal water pump

I had one go bad on my Ford flex... The pump is inside the timing chain cover. Most places have to drop the engine, I got lucky and the place I went the guy was able to do it without removing the engine.

The 3.5 engine is garage with this design. Had an Edge from new and out 150,000 miles on it in 13 years. I was always dreading this failure and luckily dodged it before selling it.

Awful design by Ford to put the water pump inside the engine. I almost bought one of these used a few years ago, but backed out after reading about 3-4k jobs to replace a water pump at 180-100k miles.