07 X5 E70 4.8 water pump bottom bolt!!!!!

[fillmoho]

does anybody have any idea of the best way to remove bottom bolt from water pump that's behind the crank pulley? without removing the pully???

[Nanniepoo]

I removed the pulley.

[fillmoho]

how did u remove pully ?

[Nanniepoo]

There are 8 bolts holding it on. Remove them. I've had to take the pulley off twice, one I could get it off by hand, the other time I had to use a puller. I know it was from Harbor Freight, but I don't remember if I used a three or two jaw. In order to have enough room for the puller I had to pull the cooling fan.

This: https://www.harborfreight.com/three-...ece-63760.html

or: https://www.harborfreight.com/3-piec...set-40966.html

[Nanniepoo]

And obviously you'll have to pull the belts.

[Freestyler]

I was in your shoes a couple of weeks ago. So i fully understand all your exclamation marks.
After 5 or 6 hours of trying to get my crankshaft pulley off, (which turned out to be so stuck on there that i will have to grind it off if i ever need to replace it), i caved in and strayed off of my usual path of doing everything by the book.
Also, be careful if you try to use a puller on the pulley. The outer part you will pull on, is only connected to the inner part with a rubber compound that has a tendency to break loose. (Look up the price for a new pulley )


But there is another way.
If your remove all the other bolts from the water pump and loosen that last one as much as possible, you will be looking at something like this:




Notice that the bolt in question is quite a bit longer than the others, and has plenty of 'extra' thread.
Now take a hacksaw blade and cut the bolt, just far enough from the engine block so you can grab the remaining end of the bolt with a pair of pliars and twist it out -and avoid scratching anything other than the bolt. And Voila'. The pump is out and your pulley is still in.
If you cut it close enough to the block, you can use the, now shorter, bolt again when re-installing the water pump.

[Nanniepoo]

I will say I used the puller when I was taking the pulley off the second time.... The second time being needed to replace it, because yes there's a rubber compound that can wear out. So I guess a potentially destructive removal method was warranted. However considering the only other method I could think of was a prybar, a puller is the less damaging of the two.