Engine Warranty: The Water Pump Warranty Explained

The water pump that GoWesty supplies with your rebuilt engine is warrantied against failure and/or manufacturer defect for a period of twelve (12) months or twelve thousand (12,000) miles, whichever comes first. In other words, if it fails or leaks during this time/mileage, GoWesty will replace it at no charge. The labor to replace the water pump for any reason is not covered by this warranty. 

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When you buy a rebuilt engine, you don't really get the entire engine. You get what is called a "long block." The terms "long block" and "short block" are industry terms to describe what is included when you purchase a "rebuilt engine." The difference between a "long" and "short" typically means with or without cylinder heads, respectively. Water-boxers have two cylinder heads, so "long block" implies that both cylinder heads come installed. 

When you buy a rebuilt water-boxer long block from most other companies, the water pump is not included. Even when you could buy a rebuilt long block directly from VW, the water pump was not included. The only "extremity" that was included was the flywheel (manual trans) or flex plate (automatic trans), because it was necessary to properly set up the crankshaft endplay. But that's it—that's all you get. GoWesty long blocks include that, plus the following:

• Restored intake manifolds and plenum: clean on the inside where it counts!
• Restored pulley, new pulley seal and o-ring, installed with proper bolt and torqued to specification
• Thoroughly cleaned, inspected, and pressure-tested oil cooler (applies to '86-'91 models)
• Oil filter
• Spark plugs
• Steel coolant elbow on the right-hand side
• Steel crossover pipe from right side of block to water pump
• And... the water pump!

We go out on a limb to include these items because, in reality, there is no way to ensure the level of quality we require (and our customers expect!) without these items. The air intake system, oil delivery system, and the coolant delivery system must be tested to be as sure as humanly possible that our engines work flawlessly when installed. These responsibilities are usually left to the installer—at an additional cost to the customer, of course. These are items that are not typically installed on a rebuilt water-boxer long block; in fact, they were not included even when you could buy NEW long blocks from VW! Here is why we do what we do:

The air intake system (intake manifolds and plenum): Most shops just transfer over the cruddy, rusty, ugly old stuff onto a fresh long block. "So what," you say, "I don't care what that stuff looks like." The problem is that, when an engine lets go in a BIG WAY, metal particles end up inside these parts. You would think the average shop out there would be able and willing to get this stuff thoroughly inspected and cleaned inside and out... so you'd think. In the very early days of our engine program, we trusted the shop installing one of our motors to do just that. However, after losing several engines to bits of metal left over from the old grenaded engine—bits not thoroughly cleaned up by the techs doing the installation—we decided this was a responsibility we needed to take on to ensure that it was done correctly. Providing the parts ourselves ensures a good, clean intake system; with the addition of spark plugs, these parts help keep stuff OUT of the combustion chamber, parts that might fall in there during transport or installation. That is why we always install a set of the correct spark plugs, with anti-seize compound, of course. 

Oil delivery system: The only way we can ensure that the oil pressure is correct, and to test for oil leaks in the oil pressure circuits, is to put an oil cooler and filter on, fill the engine with oil, spin the crankshaft, and test it. We do this to each and every long block before it ships out. While we're at it, we check the oil cooler to make sure it does not leak oil or coolant. Again, you would think this practice would be commonplace among every engine rebuilder... but it's not. This is just another example of why GoWesty engines are unsurpassed in quality, why they work flawlessly right out of the box about 99% of the time. Our success rate sits in sharp contrast to the OEM factory rebuilt long blocks (the ones that came from Canada), which had a 50% failure rate out of the box!

Coolant delivery system: This is another area where GoWesty goes out on a limb to ensure the best possible outcome for the customer. (The old adage, "No good deed goes unpunished," comes to mind.) Our long blocks come with a brand new water pump installed. They also include a restored crossover pipe that runs from the water pump on the left to the other side of the engine, a connection hose with new stainless steel clamps, and a steel (never plastic!) elbow on the right. This plumbing has to go on before the pulley, and it has to be there to seal up the coolant system on the engine so that it can be properly pressure tested. Here again, you would think that a "new engine" from any supplier would come with the coolant system pressure-tested, right? WRONG. Not even factory VW-built engines came with these parts installed. They left it up to the installation shop to transfer that stuff over. We don't do that. We install these items using the best quality parts we can obtain, and we test the system. Of course, this extra level of completeness comes with an extra level of liability. The water pump, which is a relatively inexpensive part, takes about 5 minutes to install when the engine is on an engine stand... but most shops charge four hours to replace it if it bellies up once the motor has been installed! We could do the "corporate thing," and simply remove it once we've finished testing the motor. But that's just not our style, because it's not in the best interest of our customers. We know for certain that the installation shop isn't going to install a new water pump, even if it only takes them 5 minutes pre-install. Why? Because if it goes bad, now they will have to replace it for free. A five-minute job, where a shop makes very little profit, could end up costing them four hours and two gallons of coolant if the pump goes bad... and water boxer pumps are fickle. They are notorious for leaking right out of the box. Thus, we go out on a limb and leave that sucker on there, but a different warranty applies (12-month/12,000-mile). We figure that our customers appreciate a brand-new, less-warranted water pump over their old one, simply transferred over by the shop.

Think about it like this: Would you rather have GoWesty take the water pump back off after testing and knock a few bucks off the cost of the engine? Your installation shop would inevitably transfer over your original water pump (to avoid liability). That just doesn't make sense. If you were given the options of: 1) a new, less-warranted water pump installed at no extra labor charge now, or 2) leaving your old water pump on and taking your chances with it... Nobody in their right mind would choose option 2. 

It should be noted that we replace the original STUDS that attach the water pump to the block with BOLTS, thus making the water pump replacement about 1/2 as difficult as it would normally be. Now that's being pro-active, right?

The bottom line is this: GoWesty provides a high-quality engine that has the highest probability of working right from the get-go. The customer is happy, the shop is happy, and we're happy. 

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