Years ago during my old 308 Ferrari days the life of a WP was between 15-30K and was usually changed at 30K regardless. Mine went bad around 38K. I sent it out to a guy called the "flying Dutchman " for a rebuild and he gave me a 100K guarantee. Drove the car to 68K and was still good when I sold it. So I was wondering if anyone has had their WP rebuilt and if so by who. And if so is it still running.

 

I have rebuilt my OWN water pumps in days-gone-by, but not recently. It entailed replacement of bearing and seals, and I've also swapped around impellers from different models and modified them to both fit and to improve flow. Porting and polishing housings and coolant flow passages was also a thing.
Nowadays with computer-designed everything, I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult at all to rebuild any water pump and vastly improve its performance and reliability. It may take a good bit of work, but definitely possible.

 

Good luck finding a kit for it.

 

When I went to this guy he didn't use a kit even though Ferrari had one. He in essence redesigned it using a more reliable bearing and seals and if necessary would replace the impeller. He mostly handled various older exotic's but was doing later model Jaguar 12 cyl. WP. He did give a 100K guarantee but I don't know if anybody ever made it. I bet if someone were to send him their old WP he would come up with a better solution. Home

 

Back in the 50s water pump failure was much more common, and rebuilt water pumps were readily available. Don't recall anyone actually doing a rebuild. Perhaps the "Flying Dutchman" is still around. Now days I see only new water pumps offered; and, other than our Jaguars, most cars never need water pumps.
I am certain that Jaguar does not build its water pumps. They are made by various vendors, and have obviously changed over years. Cause of water pump failure is always a combination of seals and bearings failures. Seems to me that today's sealants are so good that leakage is almost a thing of the past. As for bearings, could it be that Jaguar too heavily tensions the drive belt - enough to drive a supercharger no doubt. But is this a bit much on a simple water pump?

 

"Kit"?
What is "Kit"?
I grew up perusing dismantler yards and buying anything that was close that I could make work.
Where we're going we don't need...... kits.

 

Can save you a lot of time spent whittling your own gaskets, though...

Some bits work better if they're new and un-borked. I've made seals out of inner tube, head gaskets out of Lino and fixed a fuel-pump diaphragm with silicone sealant - but those were bodges to get me home, not repairs. Unless it's unobtanium or stupidly expensive, I'll take a new consumable over a patched one if I want the job to last. Doesn't have to be manufacturer-branded; OEM or good-quality pattern parts will do.

 

Water Pump Brands

 

That's part of the Dutchman's deal as he uses new technology and modifies the pump body to fit.

 

What are gaskets?

 

Jaguar water pumps are crazy expensive, like msrp of $311+. My understanding is that the latest and greatest edition has the part # AJ813909.
I Googled this part number and found this: https://www.rmeuropean.com/Products/...9-MFG1110.aspx.
Price is $105.49, made by Eurospare using the Jaguar part #AJ813909. I assume that this part meets the specs for the Jaguar part #. I bought one to keep on the shelf for my '13 XK.
Wonder if Flying Dutchman could "improve" this water pump?

 

Wot, real men don't use gaskets?

 

Rey in the world of things $311 is not that expensive . Just look up WP for Ferrari or AM or Lambo and so on. As for whether the dutchman can do better the only way to find out is to give him a call and ask. Also does anyone have their old pump to send him so he can look at it. I guess the Jag 3909 pump will be good until the 1st one fails. I wonder how these guys can sell it for $105 when Jag sells it for $311.