Ok I give up

I have been dicking with this fan clutch butch all last night and now another hour this morning.. I specifically bought the two tools from ecs, they say they will work with the m54. There is no way humanly possible to actually remove the bolts off the water pump and bolt the water pump locki tool to it, there is literally maybe an inch and a half to work with. My hands are sore, what am I doing wrong? Am I missing something or is this just not going to work?

Waiting for the "shoulda never bought an automatic"

Oh WOW !!!!
you just place the tool over the bolts, YOU DO NOT NEED TO REMOVE THE BOLTS AND BOLT THE TOOL !!!!

If you had spent a minute of your life looking at a DIY , youd see that the tool simply goes over the bolts and holds the water pump in place while you undo the main screw.

If you bought a no name china tool, the holes may be too small to go over the screws, open them up bigger with a drill and buy Original tools next time.

When you get the wrench down on the nut turn it towards the airfilter if that makes sense and hold the blade of the fan so it doesn't spin but be careful because you dont want to mess up the blades on the fan it takes a couple minutes to get the fan all the way off have patients it will come off. Hope this helps you a little I just did my belts yesterday and the hardest most time consuming part is taking the fan off, Goodluck!

You don't take the bolts off of the water pump pulley.

First off, take a deep breath. This can be one of the most frustrating parts until you kinda learn the trick of doing it.

You want to use the special tool that should have the two holes that position around the small bolts on the water pump pulley. With that in your right hand, attempt to position it over one of the bolts and against the one next to it. What you are trying to do is loosen the bigger nut (32 or 36 mm if I remember ) and its REVERSE THREADED. So with the big wrench in your left hand, with the other tool positioned in the pulley like described before, attempted to loosen the big nut (so 32/36mm wrench goes to the right if you are facing engine bay, other tool holding water pump pulley goes to left) it takes a good amount of force to get it loose the first time. Maybe try using a rubber mallet. You can also try using a rubber mallet with just the wrench on the fan nut and if you are lucky you won't need the other tool.


When you finally learn how to get it off, you have to be patient when learning to get it back on

Edit hope that made sense -___-

remember, the big fan clutch nut is reverse threaded.

Originally Posted by Blocked Out

If you bought a no name china tool, the holes may be too small to go over the screws, open them up bigger with a drill and buy Original tools next time.

Um no? I bought the schwaben tools ecs sells... The holes are not big enough on the tool to slide over the nuts..

Originally Posted by patrickmurray2

When you get the wrench down on the nut turn it towards the airfilter if that makes sense and hold the blade of the fan so it doesn't spin but be careful because you dont want to mess up the blades on the fan it takes a couple minutes to get the fan all the way off have patients it will come off. Hope this helps you a little I just did my belts yesterday and the hardest most time consuming part is taking the fan off, Goodluck!

I know the nut is reverse threaded, simply holding the fan does nothing the fan blades aren't what needs to be held the actual wp needs to be held in place because that is what is turning when I turn the fan nut

Have you removed the airbox? It's easier that way. I just did it this morning without special tools.

Originally Posted by jhaurimn

You don't take the bolts off of the water pump pulley.



You want to use the special tool that should have the two holes that position around the small bolts on the water pump pulley. With that in your right hand, attempt to position it over one of the bolts and against the one next to it.

This doesn't really make sense because as you can see in the picture I posted of the tool the holes are the same size and quite small, no way to just slide the tool over the nut on the water pump..

The holes are probably just snug. Like I said without the airbox you can reach in from the side over the alternator.

Originally Posted by lszlszx

The holes are probably just snug. Like I said without the airbox you can reach in from the side over the alternator.

Yeah I removed the air box and no way is that tool fitting over the heads of the bolts.. I promise you that they are much bigger than the tool holes..

Does the 10mm wrench fit over the head of the bolt? Go ahead and take one out.

I don't get what that will do because there's no way I will be able to have enough room to bolt the tool back to the water pump. There's only like an in and a half I have to work with..

You have to some how lock the pulley with the one bolt and then turn right to turn the fan clutch nut. It's really easy but you need to have patience. It would be easily if you spray the nut with WD40

I did spray it with pb blaster last night, thought I'd give it a rest and let the pb blaster soak in all night

Originally Posted by lszlszx

Does the 10mm wrench fit over the head of the bolt? Go ahead and take one out.

That would help you confirm that the holes are too small on the special tool
and also help you determine what drill size you need to enlarge the holes.

But I can't believe ECS would sell a special tool that is incorrect.

Did you look at this DIY, it has pics...http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=696330
The tool works as it's suppossed to. Slip the holes over the nuts of the water pump and push down towards the ground with your left hand, and wack the 32mm wrench towards the air box and it should unlock the big nut and the fan clutch should be able to spin off by hand. Easy Peezy. The bladed tool with the holes is used to keep the water pump from spinning allowing you to remove the fan clutch, if you didn't already know. The slot goes over the shaft, and two holes to catch 2 of the bolt heads on the water pump. Since you said it doesn't fit over the bolt heads, I suspect someone put larger bolts in. Then you'll have to figure a way to open up the holes on the tool, and since it's stainless, not sure how to do it easily.