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Originally Posted by rocketir
Why do we have the mechanical hanging off the motor then? I would like to go strictly electric if I could. Also what use is it being on when the motor is turned off, the water pump is off anyways.
Jes
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I am not sure about this, but possibly the water pump is partially electric? Would make sense that BMW engineers would think of this- belt-driven water pumps are horsepower parasites- but I will have to investigate further to be sure.
I've used electric aftermarket water pumps before, they typically flow only abut half the volume of a belt-driven pump, and they're huge compared to your standard pump, I'm just hypothesizing now, I'll have to look under the hood.
EDIT: Just thought of this, maybe the two fans arranged in the series like they are (in front of the radiator and behind) are in a push-pull setup? This would increase airflow greatly. I suppose the electric would continue to pull air into the engine compartment after engine shutoff to cool the headers, etc.
JV