Water Pump. Anyone replace their own?

Originally Posted by Cobra

would anyone happen to have a writeup on how to change the water pump on an automatic car? that damn clutch fan is in the way

There is a tool you can buy that helps remove the clutch fan. I used a 10" crescent wrench and a hammer, it is reverse threaded so put the wrench on the nut and hit towards the driver’s side. It only takes a quick hit to break it loose, and then it will come off easily. The 10" wrench is usually thin enough to get onto the nut.

The tool you buy locks between the bolts on the fan and gives you leverage to pry against. I think AutoZone sales a tool that might work.

In my opinion it was easier to remove then I thought, just be careful slinging the hammer and don’t hit the P/S reservoir.

would it be easier to get to the water pump from under the car? if so, i'd build this ramp and get to it from there;



http://www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/News/mwramps/

I dont see any advantage of going in from the bottom. The fanis a hastle, but actually is easy to take off then there are 4-6 bolts that come out. My 2000 323 had 80K when I changed my pump and the bolts came out like they had just been put in.

I am not sure of cars from cold climates, but every bolt on my car comes out as easy as if it had just been put in yesterday.

Be careful when you remove the pump that you dont put the shaft thru your radiator, there is a rubber seal that takes a little force when you are pulling out towards the front of the car and I hit my radiator, some people have suggested putting a peice of cardboard or plywood behind the radiator to make sure you dont hit it.

I think this is overkill, just be careful and leave the reckless abandon to your driving skills.

Originally Posted by Cobra

would it be easier to get to the water pump from under the car? if so, i'd build this ramp and get to it from there;



http://www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/News/mwramps/

I like those for lowerd cars, you could make them longer and get the entire car higher. Good idea, I have metal ramps and the 2X8's look safer and more steady then the ramps if not a little redneck

Replaced the water pump yesterday and had a related but unusual problem. My fan is electric, so I had no problem removing it. But once we removed the four bolts from the water pump pulley, it wouldn't come off! Totally frozen to the hub on the pump. We tried to bang the pulley off with a wrench, but the pulley then got all chipped and cracked - it's very fragile. We finally got it off after spraying all around the inside of the pulley with WD40 and letting it sit for a few hours. Oh, and a few curse words. Those helped, too.

So if you're about to try this job, maybe spray a little PB Blaster or WD40 onto the pulley the night before you start. Also, when replacing the pulley on the new water pump, maybe put a little anti-seize on there, too. The pulley is mostly plastic but the mating surface is metal.

I'd recommend buying uderdrive pullies or a new water pump pulley, that way you can skip the wd-40, forget waiting a few hours, say more curse words and have fun beating the pi$$ out of it to get it off! Ah, but you know me ask, curse, hammer...sometimes skip the ask part

My pulley snaped while installing a belt, wasn't even touching it. Go non oem for the pump and pulley

Autohauz.com

better pump, half the price. Free shipping

Originally Posted by Canuck328i

I get a knocking sound at low RPM from the AC compressor - AC still works, but it makes one hell of a whacking sound at 800 to 1200 RPM. It will only happen when the AC button is on, so if you hear the noise try turning off the AC to see if it goes away.

Sorry for the off-topic reply (don't want to hijack the thread) but if you are still experiencing this, check to make sure your aux fan turns on no later than about 15 seconds after you hit the snowflake key and the compressor turns on with the car stopped at idle.

If the fan does not turn on, particularly after a couple minutes at idle, the head pressure in the A/C system is operating well above normal and that's causing the valves in the compressor to chatter. Aside from poor A/C performance (warm air out of the vents while stopped at a light or whatever), you take a real risk in damaging the compressor.

You should get that checked out soon. In the interim, turn off the A/C when driving below about 15 MPH or while in stop-n-go traffic. As soon as you get past 15 MPH, ram air does the job of the aux fan and the A/C should operate normally.

HTH,

-Doug

I just replaced my belts and idle/tensioner pullies to find out that my water pump is the one that was makes grinding noise. Obviosly I want to replace it.

My questions are:

1. How much of coolant do I have to let out and how do I do this?
2. My dad mentioned something about being careful of air getting into the cooling system! ?? anyone know if I should be worried about this?

Btw, here's the video of my water pump
http://rapidshare.de/files/31736665/MOV03445.MPG.html

P.S. It wasn't like this prior to belt change. I would notice it if it was like this before.

Originally Posted by croat

I just replaced my belts and idle/tensioner pullies to find out that my water pump is the one that was makes grinding noise. Obviosly I want to replace it.

My questions are:

1. How much of coolant do I have to let out and how do I do this?
2. My dad mentioned something about being careful of air getting into the cooling system! ?? anyone know if I should be worried about this?

Btw, here's the video of my water pump
http://rapidshare.de/files/31736665/MOV03445.MPG.html

P.S. It wasn't like this prior to belt change. I would notice it if it was like this before.

Wow dude - that baby's ready to go! I'd get that fixed ASAP before she ends up in the radiator...

Have you done a coolant change yet? If not, you may as well do it since a good 1/2 of the fluid will drain anyway when you pop that pump. Plus if you don't drain first, it will be significantly more messy since you can more easily control where the fluid goes when you drain from the plugs. Either way do not reuse drained fluid - always top up with new fluid. Plus use the same fluid to top up, so if BMW fluid is in there (blue/green in colour) stick with it.

As for air in the system, it has to do with the way you refill. You don't want air pockets in the cooling jacket or the car will overheat. There are a few threads going on this just recently.

We actually had a "coolant meet" last year in TO - changed out 4 cars in an afternoon!

Mark

man this just happened to my car after my friend was racing someone with my car without me in it ....but its an easy change it looks like and i had to replace my thermostat anyways...

Canuck,

Yes, that thing is ready to pop out. I used to hear the same noise you hear in the video before but then it would go away and come back.
I thought it was my idler and tensioner pullies. Also my belts would squal. So I replaced those this past Saturday and the chirping/chatter noise was still there. Two hours after it got worse. I popped the hood to see that in disbelief. It's so scary looking. Anyways, car is parked and water pump+bmw coolan have been ordered from www.autohausaz.com. Should be here by Friday so I'll be doing stuff on Saturday.

My questions about coolant flush are:

1. There are two plugs to drain the coolant, correct? One on the radiator (driver's side on bottom) and one on the engine block (passenger side, underneath the engine)?

2. If those are the only plugs, so I go ahead and drain everything then plug them. Now thru which hole do I fill up 50/50 mixture of coolant+destilled water?


Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by croat

My questions about coolant flush are:

1. There are two plugs to drain the coolant, correct? One on the radiator (driver's side on bottom) and one on the engine block (passenger side, underneath the engine)?

2. If those are the only plugs, so I go ahead and drain everything then plug them. Now thru which hole do I fill up 50/50 mixture of coolant+destilled water?


Thanks in advance

Hey Croat...

Check out www.autopartsonlinecanada.com next time you are after parts. They are in Canada (so no duties/customs issues), shipping is free for $75+ orders and they are damn fast. Ordered rotors and pads for the 328i on Monday eve, got them Wednesday aft. Two thumbs up for these guys.

As for the Qs:

1. Yes. There may also be a third one on the expansion tank, depends on your car. I've also read that the rad one is no longer there on newer rads.

2. Yes, drain what you can then reinstall plugs. Refill is through the rad cap - turn car to IGN (do not start), turn heater on full heat and full fan (opens the core valves), then slowly fill at the rad cap with the bleeder screw (on the top hose) OUT. When you are nearly full, fluid will bubble out the bleed screw (have a basin underneath to catch overflow) - continue filling SLOWLY until you see no more bubbles coming out with the fluid. Button up and you're done. Usually you should get no air pockets with that method but keep an eye on the temperature just in case.

Also I didn't go right to the coolant after the first drain - I flushed with distilled water 3 times. Basically the whole routine over and over until the drained water was basically clear and clean. Then I did the final fill.

BTW, here's a DIY I wrote on my home forum: Water Pump DIY on Tuning Emotion. Maybe that'll help, but feel free to PM anyway if you have any more Qs.

Cheers...
Mark

Hi Canuck,

First of all thank you so much for detailed response.

I've been to AutoPartsOnlineCanada but my dad's friend has PO Box is US, so I ship all of my parts from AutoHausAZ to PO BOX, then he 'smuggles' them over

Ok, so there is definitelly engine block drain but there might not be radiator one. I'll take a look for radiator drain.

So refill thru radiator. Good to know! Oh yeah, I saw your DIY on Tuning Emotion. I'll watch for those little bubble fckers while filling up.

My further questions are:

1. 8L of 50/50 BMW coolant/destilled water should be enough

2. At the end of the the fill, coolant/water mixture should start coming out on radiator cap (not talking about the air bubbles)? Like bottle being overfilled? This should tell me that system is full?

Originally Posted by croat

I've been to AutoPartsOnlineCanada but my dad's friend has PO Box is US, so I ship all of my parts from AutoHausAZ to PO BOX, then he 'smuggles' them over

LOL! Glad to hear you have "connections" bud, that always works well. :-) I am a good hour from a dealer so that site saves me lots in gas and time.

Originally Posted by croat

My further questions are:

1. 8L of 50/50 BMW coolant/destilled water should be enough

2. At the end of the the fill, coolant/water mixture should start coming out on radiator cap (not talking about the air bubbles)? Like bottle being overfilled? This should tell me that system is full?

1. Yes, we used about 7 litres for each car so if you pre-mix you'll have a bit left over. BTW if you have trouble finding distilled water I bought Deionized water from Canadian Tire (stocked near the coolant) - about 2 bucks a gallon.

2. It will overflow through the bleed screw before it comes out the cap, you'll know it is full at that point but you still need to flow all the air out of the system. The bubbles come out with the coolant - if you fill slow enough, you'll see the smooth flow of coolant with the bubbles then eventually it will just be coolant.

Mark

That explains alot. So once the coolant starts coming out of bleeder with no bubbles, my system is full.

Well water pump and BMW coolant should be in by Friday so I'll do it on Saturday.

Did the work yesterday. It was a breeze. Took me 1.5 hours to replace water pump and do full coolant change.

My only remarks are draining coolant from engine block. That thing sprayed everywhere! Other than that, very easy DIY and you'll save at least $200

Originally Posted by croat

My only remarks are draining coolant from engine block. That thing sprayed everywhere! Other than that, very easy DIY and you'll save at least $200

Damn, I didn't think of mentioning the way I got around that (thought I mentioned it in the WP DIY, guess I didn't). You need a 2 or 3 foot long piece of 1.5" sump pump hose. Loosen the block drain bolt until it is almost off, then slip the hose right over the drain bolt (with the other end of the hose in the drain pan) and rotate the bolt off with two fingers over the top of the hose. When the bolt comes loose, let it go and it will simply slide down the hose into the pan and all the fluid goes down the hose - it worked like a charm.


Mark

Originally Posted by Canuck328i

Damn, I didn't think of mentioning the way I got around that (thought I mentioned it in the WP DIY, guess I didn't). You need a 2 or 3 foot long piece of 1.5" sump pump hose. Loosen the block drain bolt until it is almost off, then slip the hose right over the drain bolt (with the other end of the hose in the drain pan) and rotate the bolt off with two fingers over the top of the hose. When the bolt comes loose, let it go and it will simply slide down the hose into the pan and all the fluid goes down the hose - it worked like a charm.


Mark

Actually, I read that but I didn't have a hose so I was like hell with it. It's not like I was gonna have oil going all over the place.

So far, everything looks good. Engine is super super quiet now and temp is sitting in the middle.

Well, may the force be with me this weekend...