Jump to content
WI BIMMERS - Wisconsin's BMW Community

another failed n5x water pump: news at 11


i_love_cars

Recommended Posts

shocker. 

 

52k miles on my n55, yellow temp light came on during my trip home from Road america on saturday. Thankfully it didn't happen while I was on the track. The only good part about this is that it wasn't the dread  "oh look my temp gauge light came on yellow...but oh wait 5 seconds later it's now red and my car is dead", but rather just the warning lamp telling me pretty much that my water pump is on the verge of imminent failure.

 

So i was able to hobble home from West Bend where i was at under 2k rpms without the light coming back on. 

 

I struggle to think about the average person who has no idea about the water pump issues on these cars, and sitting in traffic or being on a busy highway if your pump totally fails; because the car will go limp, kill throttle response, and limit rpms to 1000. 

 

That's all I got. Nothing out of the ordinary here, folks. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the track went well. I hadn't ever done a BMW CCA event before, and they definitely are a class act. They really treat the event as more of a driving school, with class time even for advanced drivers - obviously for them they are going over more intricate driving techniques. 

 

They also had instructors for everyone in Intermediate and Novice groups. I was impressed that with 40-50 people they were able to get instructors for all of them. It was an impressively large event. Compared to more dedicated DE groups like LAPS, MVP, etc. focused on pure track time where they have like 10-12 instructors and it's a sign-up process where you either take one or don't, and there's a small pool of available people for it. 

 

I learned that I will never drive Novice again. I was passing everyone, and my instructor had to give me a written rec to move into Intermediate. I'm at the point now where I need to be in run groups that are more spread out, don't form congo lines, and just generally have better drivers to surround myself with. 

 

I wish I woulda had the money to do both days. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an '07 E92 328i with a little over 105K on it.  I've owned it for about 2 years and got fairly complete service records when I bought it.  No evidence there was ever a water pump done so that's been at the back of my mind ever since.  Did you do the job yourself or take it somewhere?  If you took it somewhere, may I ask what they hit you for to do it?

 

Thanks,

Wally

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an '07 E92 328i with a little over 105K on it.  I've owned it for about 2 years and got fairly complete service records when I bought it.  No evidence there was ever a water pump done so that's been at the back of my mind ever since.  Did you do the job yourself or take it somewhere?  If you took it somewhere, may I ask what they hit you for to do it?

 

Thanks,

Wally

 

He did the job himself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah IMO it's a DIY job for most mechanically inclined people, at least on n54/n55 cars. The suspension configuration allows you to just unbolt the sway bar bushings and pull it down and rotate out of the way. IMO it is also best to disconnect the fan shroud and lift it a few inches up (no need to fully remove it) - it will give you a TON more space to work with when lining up the E12 for the top water pump bolt. The first time I swapped one of these was on Pat's car and it took 3 hours on the floor. Not a huge job.

 

I can tell you that my old 135i was under CPO when its water pump failed at 63k so I naturally had BMW replace it and the work sheet read just shy of 1500 for parts and labor, if that helps give you any idea of dealer cost. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

dude, those hoses are a fucking rats nest. The first time I did this job I was in disbelief. The 2 supposed "quick release" hoses with the clips required a screwdriver tip to wedge and twist in order to pop them loose, they were ON. A couple of times I thought I had all hoses disconnected only to find another one. That's a couple of times too many   ;)

 

EDIT: Still better than doing the water pump/timing belt on my old V6 acuras. Never thought I'd say that but removing the electric water pump is way better than dealing with a belt driven pump on a J-series honda 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah IMO it's a DIY job for most mechanically inclined people, at least on n54/n55 cars. The suspension configuration allows you to just unbolt the sway bar bushings and pull it down and rotate out of the way. IMO it is also best to disconnect the fan shroud and lift it a few inches up (no need to fully remove it) - it will give you a TON more space to work with when lining up the E12 for the top water pump bolt. The first time I swapped one of these was on Pat's car and it took 3 hours on the floor. Not a huge job.

 

I can tell you that my old 135i was under CPO when its water pump failed at 63k so I naturally had BMW replace it and the work sheet read just shy of 1500 for parts and labor, if that helps give you any idea of dealer cost. 

 

Thanks for the tips.  Do most guys change the thermostat also?  If they aren't really prone to failure, not sure if I will mess with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the tips.  Do most guys change the thermostat also?  If they aren't really prone to failure, not sure if I will mess with it.

 

It's a good idea since you have to pull the water pump to do the thermostat.  I have read that the pumps are prone to failure when they are removed if they are not stored properly, even for short periods of time.  I don't know how true that is but at about $400 a crack for water pumps i'd say it's worth it to do the thermostat as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.