Let's get caught up with some updates, but first

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT...DON'T EVER BUY PARTS FROM PARTSAVATAR.CA

Sooooo....the last couple weeks have been very frustrating for me. I am currently being outsmarted by the "good" vehicle I bought the wife while I got Swampy on her feet and that has backfired to epic proportions. (I will be starting a new thread about those issues)

We left off with some rusty brake lines so I ordered the parts and figured a few days later I should have them. Enter partsavatar.ca

I usually get my parts from Rockauto and ever since they figured out how to deal with the border crossing extortion (read: duties, taxes, and misc fees) it's been pretty much my go to place. I thought that ordering "local" without having to deal with borders should get my parts to me faster and boy was I wrong. I don't want to get into all the details but let's just say this is one of those times I should have checked the google reviews.

Anyway horrible customer service and I'll never do business with them again. Steer clear of them.

After I ordered the brake parts I turned my attention to the fan clutch/water pump situation. Luckily I had a water pump sitting on the shelf and I found a guy online selling a new fan and clutch for $40. Sweet!

The drain on the rad was being stubborn but finally cooperated and much like the last 3 BMWs I've had to do this on the coolant was nasty and green.



Every time I have to remove a fan clutch it's always a pain in the ass for me so I was sort of ready for that, however while trying to get it off my cheapo Amazon fan clutch wrench stretched out and would just spin around the nut

Prime shipping got a new tool to me the next day and I spent a couple days off and on trying to get the fan off, but failed.

so it's time for the 50's kid super secret option 3, doing it the long way.

Move the fan shroud over and try to remove the fan blades first







Success!

Next up is to remove the bolts from the water pump pulley. I happened to notice that one of the bolts wasn't even in all the way and the rest were just a little bit above finger tight.



Next up is to undo the water pump bolts and get the pump out. The pump didn't want to come out but a few wacks with a 2x4 changed it's mind.



The bearing on the pump feels really good, but the o-ring was shot and looks like it was possibly slightly leaking already.



For the replacement I went with a Saleri brand and metal impeller





New water pump is installed



So after I got the new pump installed I realized my old water pump pulley is being held captive by the seized fan clutch.

I also completely neglected to acknowledge that I should probably replace the idler and tensioner pulley. Which of course sound like skateboard wheels

Guess I'll be ordering some more parts and waiting...but hey, at least the water pump is in and I didn't make things worse. I'll take that as a victory for now.