Water Pump Brand Conversation

[bigjae46]

Just read the part in bold:

This warranty does not apply to:

• Damage resulting from negligence, improper installation or lack
  of maintenance, flood, accident, or fire
• Damages resulting from modifications that alter the original
  engineering or operating specifications of the vehicle or part.
• Failure due to external influences
• Requests for warranty coverage by any person other than the original purchaser.
• Parts sold over-the-counter or wholesale and not installed by an authorized BMW center.
• If the vehicle in which the covered part is installed is used in competitive driving or racing.

The one I installed a while back would have qualified if it was not DIYed

Did that change recently? I warrantied some over the counter water pumps...but the stealer I worked at...well...was very well known to BMW auditors.

[Slideways]

Did that change recently? I warrantied some over the counter water pumps...but the stealer I worked at...well...was very well known to BMW auditors.

Just copied and pasted what I saw on this website - https://www.billjacobsbmw.com/bmw-parts-warranty/

Last bullet point has jae written all over it

[Obioban]

Fear got the better of me-- just ordered a water pump to leave on the shelf.

I'll do the swap in a couple years, and the FCP return at that time :P

[bigjae46]

Just copied and pasted what I saw on this website - https://www.billjacobsbmw.com/bmw-parts-warranty/

Last bullet point has jae written all over it

Lol…I brought my car in for an airbag recall with the airbag ziptied to the crash bar. They replaced it 🤣.

Glad you found that. It used to be a good deal. Not sure I understand why but BMWNA was promoting their parts rebuild program. Maybe they realized that their water pumps suck and cost too much. Could also be BMWNA protecting dealer service departments.

[chris719]

Looks like 13 in country, 84 in Germany.

Unrelated, but can you see if the diamond keys are coming or actually NLA?

[stephen]

Unrelated, but can you see if the diamond keys are coming or actually NLA?

They're still on indefinite backorder. Still an orderable part so not officially NLA. AFAIK there was a supplier issue but that could just be a rumor. We've had some on order going all the way back to August.

[digger]

lets be REAL, the issue is more about overall quality of all parts in the pump than the impeller material. The metal impeller will not cook the engine because it may flow some % less that is total BS on a decent aftermarket brand. Metal impellers have been used on similar engine OE E.g. S50b32

[chris719]

lets be REAL, the issue is more about overall quality of all parts in the pump than the impeller material. The metal impeller will not cook the engine because it may flow some % less that is total BS on a decent aftermarket brand. Metal impellers have been used on similar engine OE E.g. S50b32

Yes it’s mainly just that the aftermarket parts are trash and really poorly executed compared to the genuine BMW pump.

[Obioban]

lets be REAL, the issue is more about overall quality of all parts in the pump than the impeller material. The metal impeller will not cook the engine because it may flow some % less that is total BS on a decent aftermarket brand. Metal impellers have been used on similar engine OE E.g. S50b32

Sure, but the water pump impeller was a called out benefit of the s54 over the s50b32 in BMW’s technical documentation. Better flow will provide better cooling. That may or may not be meaningful to your use case.

[George Hill]

M/S52 engines had a real issue with plastic impellers. That was fixed and there has not been a real issue with plastic impellers in 20+ years yet the lore lives on.

[bigjae46]

M/S52 engines had a real issue with plastic impellers. That was fixed and there has not been a real issue with plastic impellers in 20+ years yet the lore lives on.

So I've had 4 water pumps blow up...hear me out...they were all pulled them from damaged S54s. All over 100k except for one.

Two had the impeller disintegrated.
Two had the backside of the bearing explode and leak grease into the coolant system. To this day, my coolant comes out cloudy and gray. It has gotten a lot better as I've drained the system more often.

I think BMW has a long 30 year history of shiet coolant systems. The plastics have improved over the years...lol... but it is still an issue.

For any BMW, 100k water pump change as preventive maintenance if it makes it that long.

Track car, have a spare on hand.

[chris719]

My bearing was shot as well at 93k. It seems to be the bearing that goes most often on S54 pumps. The impeller was perfect on mine.

[George Hill]

So I've had 4 water pumps blow up...hear me out...they were all pulled them from damaged S54s. All over 100k except for one.

I'm not saying that it can't happen, it absolutely can and in a race car sure, MAYBE its more likely.

But the M/S52 cars the impeller would just fail and the center section would break from the outer section. The break was not smooth and they would intermittently catch and spin which made this hard to diagnose at first especially for DIY'ers. After this issue was found the BMW replacement pumps no longer had this issue. I would bet most of those original pumps were long replaced by 2010, we were doing them like they were going out of style when those cars were in warranty. I can't think of the last time I replaced any BMW waterpump for failed impeller, but I replace them all the time for bearings going out. Besides if someone gets 150k miles and 20yrs out of one and the impeller fails at that point, I wouldn't consider that a reason to swap to a metal impeller pump.

[digger]

Sure, but the water pump impeller was a called out benefit of the s54 over the s50b32 in BMW’s technical documentation. Better flow will provide better cooling. That may or may not be meaningful to your use case.

i for sure believe that the plastic ones can and do flow slightly more but a metal one in itself will in 99.99% of cases do no harm as lack of cooland flow is rarely the issue with overheating except for obvious no coolant, blockage, stuck t-stat or mechanical failure and things like that. The issue is usually getting more air through the radiator. i would still use genuine because of overall quality and reliability but if there was a quality aftermarket with metal the only time i would hesitate was on a forced induction or heavily tracked engine

[Obioban]

i for sure believe that the plastic ones can and do flow slightly more but a metal one in itself will in 99.99% of cases do no harm as lack of cooland flow is rarely the issue with overheating except for obvious no coolant, blockage, stuck t-stat or mechanical failure and things like that. The issue is usually getting more air through the radiator. i would still use genuine because of overall quality and reliability but if there was a quality aftermarket with metal the only time i would hesitate was on a forced induction or heavily tracked engine

My memory, without looking, was that they claimed the S54's water pump flowed something like 30-50% more than the S50B32's, thanks to the updated impeller design. It was not an insignificant increase.