Whats this!?! A plastic impellor?

[Hallmark]

Last week my 525 turned over 200K miles. I was looking through my maintenance log and thought it was about due for a new water pump. Sure enough, I delayed calling BMA and Wednesday evening I hear a grinding coming from the engine. The water pump is dying and taunting me for waiting a week.

I didn't think I would make it until BMA could get me one, even by 2nd day air. I called the local stealer and with my CCA discount the pain was bearable so I picked up a new water pump yesterday. At the parts counter I asked the guy if the impellor was metal and was assured it was, the plastic ones were long out of the system. As you may have guessed by now, I took a careful look at the new pump and saw that it was plastic. I talked to the service manager who also thought the impellors were metal, but agreed upon checking that the one I had was plastic. He checked the stock and they were all plastic.

The service manager made a few calls and came back to tell me the impellors were all plactic now. He pointed out that other brands have used plastic impellors for years without problems. He is convinced that BMW has done their homework and this new impellor is up to the job. It comes with a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty.

What do you think? Has anyone heard of a new design impellor for BMW water pumps? I took the pump, but I'm keeping my receipt.

[granit_silber]

Last week my 525 turned over 200K miles. I was looking through my maintenance log and thought it was about due for a new water pump. Sure enough, I delayed calling BMA and Wednesday evening I hear a grinding coming from the engine. The water pump is dying and taunting me for waiting a week.

I didn't think I would make it until BMA could get me one, even by 2nd day air. I called the local stealer and with my CCA discount the pain was bearable so I picked up a new water pump yesterday. At the parts counter I asked the guy if the impellor was metal and was assured it was, the plastic ones were long out of the system. As you may have guessed by now, I took a careful look at the new pump and saw that it was plastic. I talked to the service manager who also thought the impellors were metal, but agreed upon checking that the one I had was plastic. He checked the stock and they were all plastic.

The service manager made a few calls and came back to tell me the impellors were all plactic now. He pointed out that other brands have used plastic impellors for years without problems. He is convinced that BMW has done their homework and this new impellor is up to the job. It comes with a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty.

What do you think? Has anyone heard of a new design impellor for BMW water pumps? I took the pump, but I'm keeping my receipt.

I was told that BMW switched to metal impellers, but they failed with bearings seizing up. So they decided that plastic was the way to go.
-ashley

[winfred]

id wait for a aftermarket with a metal impeller personally, but the orignal plastic are good for usually 100k with a few lucky ones barly making it to 200k, my favorite brands are hepu and graf, geba SUCKS damn near every one i've installed or sold has come back with a bad bearing on several different engines not just m50s

[Hallmark]

I don't know the brand, but it came from BMA and had a metal impellor. Getting 100K sounds prety good to me.

id wait for a aftermarket with a metal impeller personally, but the orignal plastic are good for usually 100k with a few lucky ones barly making it to 200k, my favorite brands are hepu and graf, geba SUCKS damn near every one i've installed or sold has come back with a bad bearing on several different engines not just m50s

[Kalevera]

Hey Winfred - even on the m30's? Patrick sold me a Geba for my M30 in February...haven't installed it yet.

[Mobius]

They're now made from a composite material that is reportedly longer-lived than the metal version.

No worries.

[Derek A.]

BMW was switching to a composite material for its water pumps. Its not nylon like round one of the M50 motors, but they are a nice piece. Not sure if the aftermarket has caught up yet - but the OEM BMW piece is nice.

[Kalevera]

hmm...looks like metal to me :/

[winfred]

i can't remember any m30s off of the top of my head that i installed but i don't get that many m30s for water pumps, and i don't run the parts store enough to have a look at the big picture, the factory pumps seem to last forever on those motors. i have had geba's crap on m20s m42s m44s m50s and b230 volvos, it's the same story everytime, the bearing grinds down to nothing and that can be a bitch on m42/44 motors as it can **** the timing cover if ignored (and boy is that fun to replace, you gotta pull the head) i guess they use a shitty grade/brand of bearing, the only way i would install a geba on one of my cars would be if i had no other choice so that i could drive to get another brand back home, the sonofabitch that was on my 325 lasted 38k miles ( i sent it on to it's reward with a 12# sledge after i removed it) that's about 2 years for that car

Hey Winfred - even on the m30's? Patrick sold me a Geba for my M30 in February...haven't installed it yet.

[niall]

that is the same as the x300 jaguars that i work on,
they have plastic impellors in the water pump, they are
absolute disaster, i have changed maybe 3 dozen of them
at 800dollarsAU each!