2007 Water Pump Replacement. Overheating and no coolant loss
 

Hello everyone. I searched on this and couldn't find anything.

My wife calls and says her X5 is overheated, it shut down, come get me. Luckily, she is a mile or so away in a residential area.

What happened was the engine temp amber light came on. Then the red light came on maybe a couple minutes later, and she pulled over as the engine put itself into major limp mode.

I expected to see a puddle of antifreeze (based on some of the posts here) but did not. She sat about 20 minutes before I got there.

Under the hood, things didn't seem incredibly hot, so I got some towels and CAREFULLY opened the coolant reservoir a bit, noting a small amount of pressure released.

Coolant is between the min and max lines. So I added a bit to top it off. No leaks, good.

So I thought maybe the electric fan is not working. Fired her up and the fan came on, good.

Shut her down.

Residential all the way home so might as well give it a go and see if the light comes back on.

About half way it did, and I pulled over and let her cool off. Two more tries with about 15 minutes cool down got me in my driveway.

So, I'm thinking thermostat stuck shut. (Figured I might find a thread on that that on this list, but nada)

Any advice on what the problem could be before I call up BMW to have the non-warranty X5 taken to the shop?

Yes I'm handy and expected to be ordering a radiator right now, not scratching my head.

:dunno:

Replacing a thermostat or a faulty sensor would be welcomed advice.

Thanks in advance all....

Tried another search and found a recent thread on water pump failure.

So these are electric? And prone to fail around 60k?

Thanks,

Failed water pump, thermostat stuck closed, its one or the other.

Thanks Blue Dragon.

Seems there's a consensus that the electric water pump is a weak link, so i figure spend the $500 or so on it and replace while I'm in there with the thermostat replacement.

Tend to think the same about the radiator.

Summer is coming. Get it done now.

AGREED, (Although this is from my E39, i think i can help a bit) when my thermo was just replaced, it got stuck closed a few times, but then never happened again. (no coolant loss either) Keep in mind it was a new part, I wouldn't let something like this go unchecked with an aged one.

I had almost the same symptoms you are going through.

faulty water pump. to confirm, turn on the ignition, and put the heat on full hot, and turn the blower speed to the lowest setting. then stomp on the accelerator pedal for 10 seconds. remove the coolant reservoir cap. and check for coolant flow and noises from the water pump. coolant should be flowing.

So, "key" in, press the start button (without pressing the brake pedal), heater on highest temp setting, fan low, mash accelerator pedal for 10 seconds.

Check out under the hood.

No circulating noises from the opened reservoir tank.

No sounds anywhere, except...

The HVAC fan gently running, and

From the passenger' side of the engine (right side), a repeating
ba-braaaaack ba-braaaaack ba-braaaaack...ba-braaaaack ba-braaaaack ba-braaaaack...ba-braaaaack ba-braaaaack ba-braaaaack

repeating over and over.

WP is toast I'd say.

here is the price for a new pump, and thermostat

11 53 7 550 172, Thermostat Assembly
11 51 7 586 925, Water Pump or
11 51 7 568 595, Water Pump
11 51 0 392 553, Screw Set

Where'd ya get those price if ya don't mind me askin'

Northside Parts

water pump is toast indeed - luckily your vehicle died in a residential area. Mine went out doing 85 on the left lane in a heavily congested speeding highway. The damn X gave me enough time to pull over to the right breakdown lane and then kaput - dead.

No damage to the vehicle, never got hot - just heavy damage to my wallet. 1000 bux later, its back on the road - new pump, thermostat and 1 gallon of coolant.

Newbe question. Do you "need" a lift for this? Can jackets suffice? Or do you dive in from top?

Manual is on its way

Dan

Had exactly same thing happen ocasionally on my Corolla. Sudden overheating, but no coolant loss. On other ocasions, the air would all of a sudden start blowing cold.

Figured it would be either thermostat or water pump. Since thermostat is much cheaper and easier to replace, went ahead with it. No problems since.

I've had a couple of guys say a lift isn't needed, I would use jack stands not just a jack to safely keep the X in the air during removal and instillation of the new parts.

Also don't forget a jug of fresh coolant in your parts list! It's always a pain to have to drain and refill with the proper mixture of coolant when you forget to pick it up the first time.

Also I've tossed the needed parts in a custom cart for your to check out if you'd like, it can be viewed HERE.

http://c1552172.r72.cf0.rackcdn.com/123723_x300.jpghttp://c1552172.r72.cf0.rackcdn.com/161489_x300.jpg

Jack stands. Yes!

Hi guys quick question when draining the coolant for this job is there two drain plugs or one on the e70. I have a 2009 4.8 and have the same symptoms. I wanted to change the coolant at the same time.

So I bought a pirate service manual off ebay and it does not have the full procedure for water pump and t-stat R&R. Or at least with my VIN it doesn't.

I'm going to give it a go with the belly pan off and from the top removing the fan and shroud.

Will attempt without removing the radiator.

Here goes!

Okay,

Step 1 - Raise the truck
Jack using the front centre jacking point
Support with jack stands at the two front tire changing jacking points.

Step 2 - Drain "lifetime" coolant.
Remove belly pan. Or whatever the BMW vernacular for it is ;)
Remove engine brace plate. Disposable aluminum bolts? No blue paint, but they sure look the part.
Remove reservoir cap.
Unscrew blue plug bottom left of radiator, let dangle.
Catch a bunch of coolant in a strategically placed pan.
Remove the inlet water hose on the water pump (it's under the a/c compressor pointing to the rear). I got the clamp off with a 1/4 drive 6mm ratchet.
Try to catch some coolant with your (now safely emptied) pan.
Clean up the unbelievable mess with lots of cheap kitty litter.

Step 3 - remove electric fan assembly
Remove the two bolts on each side of the brace.
Unsnap the hood release cable from the 3(?) clamps on the brace.
Work the left side of the brace up and move to the left so that the right side clears the a/c hoses, then lift the right side and slide out to the right.
Unplug the electrical connector on the right side of the shroud.
Press in the lock on one side (you can see how the one by the plug works as it is not hidden by the rad hose like the right hand side one).
Lift each side enough to clear it out of the lock.
The "ear" on the left of the shroud folds back and into the shroud so it clears the radiator hose.
Lift/work the fan assembly out.

Step 4 - remove thermostat assembly
(This is where my BMW service manual has no documentation, so it might be hit or miss until I get there.)
Loosen the t-stat end of the water pump inlet hose and remove (6mm wrench accessed from the rear after to other unsuccessful tries from the bottom front and attacking from above.)
Release holds from the radiator to t-stat housing and remove - a little working back and forth and then they slide off.
Unplug the t-stat housing power connection and move out of the way.

That's where I am now. Really wanted the water pump and t-stat housing to be on the garage floor today, but then I messed around yesterday and most of today trying to get the service manual to spit out the procedure.

Next step, I'll remove the other hoses on the t-stat housing and then it looks like two smaller screws hold the t-stat housing to the water pump. Hopefully this will get the t-stat out of the way so I can access the upper water pump bolt.

Oh well.

Got the thermostat housing and water pump out. Wasn't so bad. An hour or 1 1/2 hours tops.

Couple pics along the way...

Up a bit on stands just to get some room.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP1.jpg

The bolts off of the engine reinforcement plate. I reused these. Put a tiny bit of aluminum anti-sieze on them (cause it looked like there was some residual amount on them already.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP2.jpg

Looking at the water pum (VDO on it) and the black plastic housing of the thermostat. From between the radiator and the "pack and pinion cross member." Not much room. The removal of the brace plate exposes from the rear.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP3.jpg

Another angle
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP4.jpg

Water pump from the rear after the inlet hose is removed. WP outlet hose still on (this comes off by moving the water pump off the hose, not the hose off the pump). And a thermostat hose off staring at you on the right.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP5.jpg

Success! T-stat no longer in its natural habitat.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP6.jpg

Bit more room in there now. That WP is snugged right up against the A/C compressor. You cannot see the top bolt. The bottom 2 are easy.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP7.jpg

Here's how I got the top WP bolt. Elbow and then extensions through the frame to the ratchet in the wheel well!
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP8.jpg

Another angle.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP9.jpg

From the rear, here you can see the missing water pump and the outlet hose still in place. It connects to a metal pipe. No movement there. Just twist the pump off the hose.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP91.jpg

Remove the wire connector and the cables from the hold downs and "maneuver" the wp out the front, twisting and turning, twisting and turning, until you get the mounting face up against the radiator and raise it out. No radiator removal necessary!
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP92.jpg

There she goes!
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP93.jpg

Water pump on the bench!
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP94.jpg

And a pick of how the t-stat attaches.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP95.jpg

That's it for now.

Parts arrive hopefully tomorrow.

It all came out okay.

Hope it doesn't take much longer to get the new parts in.

Parts from ECS arrived today. So I left work at 5pm (to avoid the Occupy Wall Street March) and come home to slap 'em in.

First time ever my wife was excited to see car parts delivered! (Her car.)

Uh-oh. The water pump that delivered has the electrical connector at the pump housing and the delivered pump has it at the end of the motor housing.

The TIS shows the pump "as delivered" by ECS, not like the one I pulled off my X5.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP01.jpg

I managed to re-route the wiring harness - just barely. It is very close to the a/c compressor pulley and I tied it down to keep it away.

Put everything back together. Reverse of disassembly. Be careful to position the hose clamps so they are easier to get to.

Also, reused the o-ringed hoses. All hoses in great shape.

Get her off the jack stands.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP02.jpg

Pour in a gallon of anti-freeze and a gallon of distilled water. It took just a tiny bit more, luckily I had another partial gallon of anti-freeze and I had bought 2 gallons of distilled water. Leave the cap off.

Hook up battery charger. I put mine on 10 amps.

Key in. Press start without pressing the brake. (That turns on the ignition.) Turn the temp up to max on the heater. Fan on low.

Then floor the gas for 10 seconds.

Release and you can hear the water pump start. Runs for 12 minute.

Here's the water cycling.
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP03.jpg

And don't forget to close the hood!
http://members.rennlist.org/lt_texan/X5WP04.jpg

And I started assembly at 6:30 (that means when I carried the box-o-parts to the garage. Got called in for dinner. Finished everything at 9. Really took my time. (This was my first work ever on a BMW.)

On a scale of 1 to 10. I'd score it "challenging!"

Oh and putting on the o-ring radiator hose to thermostat was a pain. Radiator side was okay. But it was hard to get good leverage on the t-stat side - made me want to check in my "man card." ;)

Thanks to ECS for GREAT SERVICE!!!!!!!

I like to do all the work on my cars that I care about. Nice to know there are good vendors out there like the ones I enjoy with my 928!

Thanks everyone.

vehicles with active sway bars use a different pump. Home Page > Search > 11 51 7 546 996 > ES#24434 RMFD WATER PUMP - 11517546996

Well let's see how this one holds up.

It texan thanks for the great post and pictures its gonna be alot of help for me. Thanks again

No problem. Figure I save close to grand. And up and running on the night of the day BMW would have taken it in!

Well done!! Thanks! Bookmarked for future reference:)

Thanks lt_texan for the great write up!!! Mods, could we get this added to the "How-To's" section?

Just a heads-up for anyone with the Sport Package (active sway bars) there is a LOT less room towards the front of the car (immediately noticeable when comparing pics in this thread with what you have on your X5). As a result it helps to have abnormally small hands and skinny forearms...at least when it comes to dealing with the thermostat/waterpump bolts. Fortunately any of the "heavy lifting" is done from either the rear of the pump/thermostat housing or from up top.

FYI- In 2008, 2009 the Sport Package included Adaptive Drive (AD) (which is the active sway bars, etc)

But in 2010 on, you only got AD with AD - in other words a "sport package" car no longer includes this $3500 option.

I've wondered how the used market will price this option with the weird packaging as the years change...

nice job, lt_texan, with the DIY and the pictures! my friend's 2008 X5 just exhibited the symptoms. might end up helping him out with doing the job on our own,

Absolutely. Save a almost a grand and get it done quicker!

Make sure you get the right water pump! :D

Saw that. We are going to a dealer where I can get 20% wholesale discount. Thanks!

Why's everyone always exclude the 2007? What about the 2007, ard?:dunno:

Just wanted to say thanks for the write-up. I replaced my water pump and thermostat on my E70 this past weekend after getting a P0128 CEL. The instructions made things a lot easier and faster (still took me 10 hours though, lol). Things that I noticed was I didn't have a coolant drain plug so I had to detach a radiator hose to drain the coolant. Universal joint sockets and extensions is a must. Going through wheel well is necessary.

Do I need to reset the cel light with a code reader or does it automatically go away?

Thx,

Doug
2008 BMW X5 3.0

No problem, glad it was helpful.

What's a cel light?

seriously.....I didn't set mine (if I have one).

I'm talking about the Check Engine Light. I just went to my neighborhood Autozone and had them reset it. Hopefully it will stay off now.

Thanks,

Doug

When a 'fresh code' is set, the CEL illuminates. The code is stored. After a certain number of run cycles, if there is no 'fresh' or 'present' code, the light will go off, but the code remains. The problem many people have is that the next time the CEL illuminates, you get all codes since the last reset, even those that might have been fixed or went away.

This is why you will read advice of "clear the codes see what returns"...unless you are on top of it and know for sure the last time you cleared them.

Nice work.

A

PS Why no 2007 love? You busted me- I didnt know for sure if 2007 had AD and sport, so didnt want to list it:cool:

Is there any way that this can be made an article and then placed in the Article section.Texan did a great job and it would be easier for people to find. when making this repair on a e70 3.0

Thanks

Just updated the title to make it easier to find

I have a 2008 X5 3.00si and changed the thermostat today. A PITA!!! I took me 5 hours.

Here is how I did it:

I put the car on ramps and remove everything underneath. I also remove the wall in the passenger side wheel. I didn't remove the wheel.

The fan is different than the one described here.It doesn't have any screws but tabs at both sides that clip into the radiator housing. This was very hard to figured out and I wasted a lot of time here.

At this point I could see everything, the hoses (two) with clamps, very easy to remove. The other two a PITA. The radiator does;t have a drain plug so removing the houses the system got drained.

The thermostat went out from the top.

Put everything back in reverse. The space to work is tiny but now I can celebrate. $1,500 from one pocket to the other one.

Cheers.

With a stuck-close t-stat, would the method described by killcrap in post #6 still work in terms of confirming a failed WP?

About 10 days ago the coolant reservoir on my wife's girlfriend's 2008 X5 3,0 si had a crack about 5 inches long. I replaced the reservoir a week ago. Now the engine overheats. I applied the failed-WP-confirmation procedure that killcrap had outlined in post #6. In my case, the flow of coolant to the reservoir is pulsed, not a constant-flow, and I can hear the pulsed coolant movement in hoses with noise of "air bubble sputtering."

What does this pulsed coolant flow back to the reservoir mean? Is the WP working or not? If the WP is working, then the overheating is caused by a stuck-close t-stat, right?

These pumps can be intermittant.

Do a search about the thermostats...I don't think I've EVER read about a stat leading to overheat on these 30s...

I made a video clip and attached it to this post. It shows the pulsed coolant flow observed via the opened reservoir. The clip is just over a second due to file size restriction. I applied killcrap's failed-wp confirmation procedure (post #6) again this morning and watched over the opened reservoir for more than 10 minutes. The pulsed coolant flow comes irregularly, sometimes with several minutes in between. Does this confirm WP failure?

Not knowing if this is related to engine overheating, hence potential replacement of wp and t-stat, here is what I need to report:

First start in the morning, engine idle in P, no AC: the fan would come turning in very high speed in just a couple of seconds, with very loud fan noise that can wakes up everyone in the neighborhood and no stop. All this without any overheating warning on the dashboard - the overheating warning would come up in a couple of minutes once the vehicle is on local street, then it goes in to a limp mode, disabling any driving capability.

What puzzles me is this: while engine started cold in the morning, why the fan got turning so quick and at such high speed?

Question about X5 models for ordering WP and t-stat. The vehicle I am working on is a 2008 X5 3.0si, all standard options. Following the parts link where It_texan got his parts (my guess), the ECS Tuning parts order page asks to pick a model, with the following choices:

X5 M
X5 xDrive30i
X5 xDrive35d
X5 xDrive35i
X5 xDrive48i
X5 xDrive50i

which are under chassis E70 X5 (2006-2013). Which choice do I go with?

I don't own a BMW and so I have very little knowledge about X5 models lineup. I am helping a family friend. Your advice is very much appreciated.

I have finally got the replacement of water pump and thermostat done over 2 weekends: the first weekend was to remove the water pump and thermostat following the guide by IT_Texan on this thread. Once the components were off the vehicle I ordered the right parts. The second weekend was to reinstall the replacement parts.

The thermostat has one port that has elbow outlet and many online auto parts stores sell the same thermostat with straight outlet. I finally found a matching thermostat on Amarzon, and here is the link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and water pump

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

which looks exactly the same as the one off vehicle.

The X5 has been happy running for 2 weeks now. Thank you all for the help.