I plan on replacing the water pump and thermostat as preventive maintainence. Just a few questions...1) How do I know when the water pump fails? 2) which aftermarket metal/aluminum thermostat housing should I use?
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To check the waterpump remove the resivior cap and give the car some gas. You should see a steady stream of water squirting into the resivior. I have a turnermotorsports t-stat housing and have'nt had any problems. -
My waterpump just failed... It started with a rattling noise - and the fan wiggled slightly. It eventually dumped a major wad of coolant into my driveway. Something in the impeller shaft - like a seal - gave way to the pressure. If you have any doubts just replace the thing before it leaves you stranded somewhere. I have a few bits of advice if you're doing it yourself: sorry for the long-wind but it might help you get the job done faster and with fewer problems:
1. get the fan pulley locking tool from your friendly bmw parts dealer (also seen on pelicanparts.com and bavautosport) - part # 11 5 030. It's not worth the hassle of trying to goof with a screwdriver to hold the fan pulley in place. You may also want to find a nice long 32mm wrench to crank on the pulley nut. This job is a non-starter without the pulley locking tool.
2. The Bentley's manual isn't as helpful as one might like for this job. Although it becomes obvious once you start looking at things, you'll need to unscrew the big plastic splash protector under the front. Also, the drain plug on the engine block is on the lower left side of the block (about 2/3rds of the way back) if you're facing the front of the car. The block's drain plug on my '98 was partly obscured by some exhause sensor thingy sticking into an exhaust pipe: I used an open ended (I think 19mm) wrench. I couldn't get a socket over it without risking the health of the sensor. Wear protective glasses since the coolant will spray everywhere once the nut is removed.
3. replace your thermostat, thermostat housing and hoses at the same time. It's very easy and will save you later trouble. My car has ~95K miles - and the plastic one was fine; regardless, I replaced it with a new plastic housing. My car red-lines mulitple times per day and the old one was still viable. You may want to listen to others regarding the value of an aluminum housing: it seems unnecessary given what I've seen.
4. Get some 1.5" long m6 bolts to screw into the sides of the pump. These push it off the front of the timing chain cover.
5. When adding the new pump, be very careful when torquing the nuts that attach to the studs holding the pump. I broke one of mine because I'm an idiot and failed to realize that this crap anti-seizing grease that got on the threads made the idea of "torquing" very difficult: stuff just spins until it breaks.. If you break the stud then you'll have to determine how to either get a new one in or replace the lower timing chain cover. [If anyone knows how to replace one of the studs without doing this then I'd love to hear from you ;-) ].
6. Get some replacement plastic rivots in advance. You'll need these for the fan shroud and plastic cover that sits on top of the radiator + fan shroud. They break when removed.
7. Be sure to keep your heater dial (in the center of the dashboard - on the top) rotated to the red side when both draining and later adding your coolant. This allows the fluid to enter/escape the heater core. (I also set my heater to 90 deg F to be safe). Also, be sure to follow the bleeding instructions to get rid of any air bubbles. If you fail to do this you stand the chance of warping very expensive pieces of engine.
Good luckComment
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I plan on replacing the water pump and thermostat as preventive maintainence. Just a few questions...1) How do I know when the water pump fails? 2) which aftermarket metal/aluminum thermostat housing should I use?
The pump on a 99 will last 100's of thousands of km's.Comment
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The pump on a 99 will last 100's of thousands of km's.
Thats only 10k miles in the US. :smash:
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Thanks for the input. I plan on replacing the water pump and possibly the radiator while my car is still under warranty. However, I'll have to replace the thermostat and housing at an independent shop. Can anyone recommend other things to replace while my car is still under warranty. :bullhorn: BTW I read somwhere that the water pump and thermostat are prone to failure in the e36 m3. In fact the article recommended replacing these parts every 60k miles to prevent any major engine damage. :hmm:Comment
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BTW I read somwhere that the water pump and thermostat are prone to failure in the e36 m3. In fact the article recommended replacing these parts every 60k miles to prevent any major engine damage. :hmm:
Not on a 99 though... (water pump at least as this was fixed in 97).Comment
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