MTC parts
 

Hi all, my engine coolant temp is really slow to get to the half way point which I think is the thermostat. 143k miles on the car now and shopping around for parts I saw MTC thermostat and water pump with metal impeller. Has anyone used this before? I know someone would say use OEM or take a chance with aftermarket.... But I am trying to see if anyone used MTC before and wat their experience has been. Venders feel free to provide ur input

Firstly, I haven't used MTC. That said, I would only us OE from the dealer. A water pump is a bad place to go cheap. An added benefit is the lifetime warranty BMW offers on certain replacement parts like water pumps.

The metal impeller is a red herring. X5 models have never been sold with plastic impellers. They use composite impellers, after problems were experienced with plastic impellers in the 90's. I would choose composite over metal.

I wouldn't go with MTC, most likely cheap made in China junk with hit or miss quality. A sway bar bushing? Maybe (not I however). An integral part like a water pump? Stick with OE or OEM equivalent quality, I think Graf? makes our water pumps

Thanks for the input guys. I find it interesting that most water pump I saw say that they have the "improved" metal impeller. Also, the water pump works fine on the car right now, but i don't know when it was change last which is why I am planning to do thermostat and water pump. JCL, you are right, the MTC part is cheaper almost the same price as the URO part. Now the only water pump I found that is Genuine bmw with composite impeller is refurbished. Would you put a refurbish pump or leave the one as is since it's not broken?

It's very interesting to see JCL would choose composite impeller over metal. I wouldn't skim on cooling components though. I put Hepu WP with metal impeller, Wahler thermostat.
With your mileage, if you choose not to overhaul the cooling system, but replace part when it breaks, you need to watch your temp gauge like a hawk every single day. M54 engine has no tolerance for being overhead with its aluminum head.
I choose to overhaul mine, for the piece-of-mind and not to be strained somewhere remotely in the middle of the night.

I used a autozone water pump with no problems. I dont like MTC, i've found the quality of the parts to be suspect. They seem to be on the bottom end of the quality spectrum.

Looks like it'll be Graf pump with Behr thermostat (with metal impeller) I've used Behr on my vw Mark3 and it has been fairly reliable...

If it is the original 2001 water pump, and I was doing the thermostat, I would do the water pump and all hoses at the same time. The hoses would be more important to me than the water pump.

I don't know what the seller you are referencing means by refurbished. If it was fixed, or a spray can rebuilt, I would stay away. If it was remanufactured, then that is what I would pick. I would also expect that options to be cheaper, net of the core charge when you return the old water pump core (if your core is acceptable).

If you look at the ECS Tuning site, under engine, cooling system, water pump, you will see photos of four water pumps. Two of the metal impellers look like cheap stampings that are tacked together. Those are what I would avoid, as they can break. The Graf pump is that cheaper impeller, at least in the ECS pictures. One of the other metal impellers looks robust, but heavy. The composite impeller on the OE pump looks the best to me. Best coolant flow, and longest lasting. Just look at the vane design. It is worth looking at the zoomed photos of the vanes on each pump. Look at the open area that passes coolant, and how restricted it is on some designs. Look at the spot welds. Look at the rough edges of the casting on the heavy impeller.

The Stewart pump vane design looks good as well, but the pump is too expensive.

Link here: OEM / Performance Parts for Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Mini, Porsche & Volkswagen - ECS Tuning

doesnt look like a core on the remanufactured OE pump, you're right now that i look at the spot welds on that impellar it makes me wonder. The Gebu brand with the beefy metal impellar is the only one that looks decent now that i look at all. coming up on 10 years of age this year and only had tstat and expansion tank replaced so far with 66k miles, cooling overhaul is in my cards.

nice observations Jeff.

JCL, I meant to say reman and not refurb. I was looking at ecs and autohaus when comparing pumps. But now that you mentioned looking at the impeller closely, i looked closer at the Graf on the autohaus/compare to the ecs and it looks like two different impellers. I will call and ask autohaus for a better picture if possible. I haven't bought anything yet so I still got time to research a bit more.... Ricky, I never used Gebu but i read a few bad review (leaking after short time etc) for Gebu so I kind of steered away from that one.