so i finished my intake gasket replacement with no problems monday night. Today (wednesday) when i get home my h2o pump dumps all my coolant, great now i get to replace that and the less than 2 month old opti which has been saturated with oil and now with coolant in its short life span. if it isnt one thing its another isnt it? couple questions

1- this is a daily driver so i really dont want to go ewp. are there any recommended brands of after market mech h2o pumps and where is a decently priced place to buy them? (advance and auto zone seem to carry cardone and duralast )

2- will i save myself anything by going with a non gmpp opti, or are most still more likely to flake out than gmpp optis?

3-cheapest place to buy an opti? (i know jegs has gmpp ones for 279)

4- any good places to buy connectors, in particular the black and grey connectors that plug into the coil?

 

Why do you not want an EWP? I have had one on my car for... oh about 6 or 7 years, and it was my DD for 3 of those years.

 

ive also had my ewp for about 3 years as a daily driver, minus winters

 

Duralast here. 4 years no problems. Was the cheapest available at about $125 at the time.

 

I just got done today changing my opti for the 4th time in under 2 monts. I went cheap through autozone for the first 3 and then got pissed and asked for my money back and bought a new GM opti from summit. It's not woth saving the money for a cheap cardone OPTI. They are horrible IMHO.

 

If your opti is 2 months old, you should not need to replace it.

For the water pump, I would recommend a new GM pump.

 

What shoebox said. With certain parts, you should stick to AC/Delco.

 

Shoebox always gives good advice! Always give what he says serious consideration...

That being said, I put in a AutoZone Duralast water pump about 2.5 years ago and have had no problems...

If your budget is tight or you need quick availability, you might consider the Duralast...