Find water pump age?

[Ricky Bobby]

Is the expansion tank, T-stat, sensor, upper and lower rad hoses new? If not I'd probably just do those and fresh coolant for now -


My '03 is on original WP at 106k and 15 years of age and still going strong, the WP's on the E53's dont grenade like the old days.

[Russianblue]

I mostly agree with you...except...mine DID grenade. I am talking about complete bearing failure and serp belt flying off and coolant spewing out. I'm lucky it wasn't worse. When i ultimately got the pump off, ball bearing literally spilled out across the garage floor. Now, that said - I still agree with you. It's not the days of the cheap plastic wheels on the e36.

This was before I knew about (rather, respected enough) the warnings with regard to cooling systems. It just took that one time for me. that was on my 2003, 5 years ago, with 131k miles. it'd been dealer maintained prior to my buying it with 100k miles on it. My dad was the previous owner and had it at the dealer constantly, for all the classic issues (he's NOT a car guy). I guess i just assumed the water pump had been changed. Some of the dealer records were a little unclear what they did.

I figure if the thermostat is to be replaced...and i have to drain coolant, $60 for a new water pump to knock it out at the same time is a no-brainer.

[X53Jay4.8is]

Originally Posted by Russianblue

I mostly agree with you...except...mine DID grenade. I am talking about complete bearing failure and serp belt flying off and coolant spewing out. I'm lucky it wasn't worse. When i ultimately got the pump off, ball bearing literally spilled out across the garage floor. Now, that said - I still agree with you. It's not the days of the cheap plastic wheels on the e36.

This was before I knew about (rather, respected enough) the warnings with regard to cooling systems. It just took that one time for me. that was on my 2003, 5 years ago, with 131k miles. it'd been dealer maintained prior to my buying it with 100k miles on it. My dad was the previous owner and had it at the dealer constantly, for all the classic issues (he's NOT a car guy). I guess i just assumed the water pump had been changed. Some of the dealer records were a little unclear what they did.

I figure if the thermostat is to be replaced...and i have to drain coolant, $60 for a new water pump to knock it out at the same time is a no-brainer.

After experiencing coolant failures of other past BMWs why not just take the route of "Piece of Mind" and change out the water pump with cooling system service. No matter the miles the hoses go soft on these vehicles after 10 years of service.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by Russianblue

I mostly agree with you...except...mine DID grenade. I am talking about complete bearing failure and serp belt flying off and coolant spewing out. I'm lucky it wasn't worse. When i ultimately got the pump off, ball bearing literally spilled out across the garage floor. Now, that said - I still agree with you. It's not the days of the cheap plastic wheels on the e36.

This was before I knew about (rather, respected enough) the warnings with regard to cooling systems. It just took that one time for me. that was on my 2003, 5 years ago, with 131k miles. it'd been dealer maintained prior to my buying it with 100k miles on it. My dad was the previous owner and had it at the dealer constantly, for all the classic issues (he's NOT a car guy). I guess i just assumed the water pump had been changed. Some of the dealer records were a little unclear what they did.

I figure if the thermostat is to be replaced...and i have to drain coolant, $60 for a new water pump to knock it out at the same time is a no-brainer.

Wow - What a story - I guess I'll put another cooling overhaul on my "to do" list as I believe the WP is original, but the tank/hoses/Tstat were all done and changed back when I bought the X in late 2011 - so I'm on 7-8 years now of those parts and WP still original.