I bought my car at just under 50K and it had been dealer maintained to that point with no waterpump replacement in their records, around 96K or so it began to slightly weep so I replaced it with a $36 NAPA reman, at 110K it got bolted to the LT1 I swapped in, at 132K I cammed it, at 15X I did the gears which will have it spinning faster, at 160 I totalled the including losing the coolant so it sat basically dry over 7 months, now at 165k it weeps slightly not enough to even affect the PS yet. Had it not sat dry I am sure it would go past this 80K that is talked about as too long.
Our waterpump is different that previous designs and therefore MANY see is as inherently evil much like the opti even though FACT is they are better than the parts they replaced.
I am among those who feels an electric is a poor idea on a daily driver if from no other fact than the failure mods. The stock type usually weeps so it is a slow failure that will give you warning and get you home possibly for weeks of use yet before you have to replace it. The electrics go all at once and unless you have a spare you are stranded. If you went through the trouble of removing the WP drive then putting a basic replacement on would require major surgery so you are there waiting for one to be shipped too you. Can they offwer advantages in some circumstances absolutely, I just think as with may parts people msues them and jump on that bandwagon way too quickly.
... in the Engine Performance section of the forum.
