Dead water pump after 180,000+ miles

[wallyx5]

My water pump finally died on me with at least 180,000+ miles on it. The bearing went out. I haven't pulled it yet to see if it's the orginal with the plastic perpeller or not. My X5 had 80,000 miles on it when I got it and I have never touched untill now.

A few days ago I noticed kinda of a grinding noise but it was pretty quiet. On Wednesday my wife went to pick up our daughter from school and the X thru the belt off the pulleys. She managed to drive home with no power steering. I put the belt back on and then started the car and it wobbled off again. I ordered a new water pumps, new belts and Turner pulleys for a little fun. And I ordered the BMW fan tool and 32mm wrench. I tried using an adjustable wrench and screw driver but I couldn't figure it out. All my part should arrive on Tuesday and then I will give it a go.

The X5 now has 260,000 miles and up till now has been running strong. I wish it would hurry up and die so I can have a valid excuse to buy something new.

[chefwong]

Damm Wally -

You got good use out of your WP. Ours went out at 37K on a hot summer day. Waiting 6 hrs for a tow to boot ;-)

HTH

[m5james]

It's an I6...don't hold your breathe on it dying

[youry]

as a preventive maintenance and after reading so many horror stories here I changed a few weeks ago the water pump on my X5 that has 93k. the water pump had the plastic propeller and to my surprise looked like new. I would not be surprised yours to be still the original pump.

[BGM]

Replaced my pump at 8 years old but only 90K miles but I did it before it went out. You got a lot of life out of her--may she RIP .

[killcrap]

no x5's come with plastic impellers, only Composite or Metal. last time they used them was in 1998

[m5james]

Since composite is supposed to be better than the metal, why are they still sold? I can't even remember what I put in the 7 lasttime, and I'm probably going to do the X before summer time since it's almost at 90k. I'm just not sure if I should take my own advice and replace EVERYTHING....waterpump, hoses, thermostat, valleypan gaskets, OSV (since I'm in there) and checking the heater diverter valve.

[wallyx5]

Originally Posted by killcrap

no x5's come with plastic impellers, only Composite or Metal. last time they used them was in 1998

What else should I be replacing while I am doing this job? Should I replace the tensioners? They sound fine. I have never touched the oil seperator or the tubes connected to them. Will it be easier to replace that, since I have the fan and stuff out of there?

[bjo]

thermostat, belt tensioners, coolant reservoir, and the idler pulley. BMW plastic does not age well.

[m5james]

Tensioners I wouldn't worry about unless youre having belt slippage issues, and even then it could be belts. My 7 has almost 140 on stock tensioners and trust me, they're tight as hell.