Wonderful wobbly water pump OR oh, i got tRiCKz

[paul p (chi-town)]

So my rad fan decided to practice self immolation a few weeks back, taking out a few coolant bits ............ in Wisconsin Dells .
A smarter pablo would have had the tools with to do an impromtu clutched fan delete at the 1st sign of distress. By this time it was a little too late. Closest parts source was 60 miles away in Mosc, uh Madison WI. Fortunately so were some in laws AND most cheeseheads (like the guy @ gas station) are reasonable souls. Instead of a rediculous tow bill we grabbed a rental car, hung out with the niece/nephew and slept on it. Replaced enough to get 'Rolf' running and holding coolant then tried limping him home. After a few miles of babying it and the harsh memory of driving a rental Corolla, he was allowed to find his natural pace.
*grin*
Try all that shite in the chi-town metro and see where it gets ya.

Obviously something was wonky and when i got the belts off later, one could feel quite a bit of play in teh water pump.
That's a cast metal impeller 'upgrade' failing at bout 80K miles.
I debated getting the Stewart hi flo, but the current OEM pump impeller looks and 'tings' like metal and half the price. So in it went. Now we find that a 190K mile aux rad fan is a little grouchy.
*rolls eyes*

On to the tips......
Two capital letters, and a word: PB Blaster.
If not here, u got:
http://www.understeer.com/waterpump.shtml
http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/tech...water-pump.htm
Fan wrench tool? HAH! A good long monkey wrench (or properly sized open end) and a big long/fat/rectangular shaft screw driver is all you need. Hold down the water pump pulley with the driver, wedged between bolts/shaft of the pulley and give the wrench a good tug on that fan nut (remember counterintuitive CLOCKWISE .... no problem. Off comes the fan clutch.
Get the ~2inch M6 bolts to ease the water pump out the block. Take the time to get them, they come in handy later.*
Putting in the new pump, at least one of the studs will catch, if the 1st one doesn't, you have 3 more. EASE the nuts on on alternating corners a turn or two, and it's in.
*Use one of these M6 bolts to locate the pulley on the pump, THEN start threading in 3 of the stock shortie bolts. After this, pull the 'special tool' long bolt and replace with the 4th stock one. This one step saves more than half the PITA of the limited space doing the job w/o pulling the thermostat cover and radiator.

Take the usual 2-3 heat cycles to bleed an m50 engine.
*frowns*

Hang up & Drive!
94 BMW 530iT&A 155K, ‘Helga’ ( Shleppen Schnell, Boat bus *splash* )
92 BMW 325i 188K, ‘Rolf’ ( 3rd water pump and front LCAs *woot* )
93 Datsun NX2000 190K ‘Carla’ ( Parting out *shakes head* )
85 Toyo MR2 140K ‘Jerry’ ( Showcar/track toy, killer mpg, needs an exhaust *sad* )

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
- Hunter S. Thompson

[tim eh?]

great story!

[Ross]

You must have been on the cell phone to provoke bad karma. ha ha ha
You cooked the bearing which has nothing to do with plastic/metal impellers. 80k is a good life for either.
I'm pleased to hear you didn't need to hoof it.
Good thing you are M50 powered, the Moncky wrench doesn't fit on M20 powered 525s.

[Mr._Graybeard]

There's a great shop in Baraboo, should you ever need it on a future trip:
http://www.sullivanstwo.com/baraboo/serviceparts.htm

These guys kept me in used parts when I was handcuffed to a '75 Volks Dasher about 25 years ago. I'm still in awe how they came up with the stuff I needed. They're first-rate on German cars. And, they can fill your NoX bottle!

[Jr ///M5]

My dear friend Paul,

In all your distress, and our illustrious 20/20 hindsight, sleep well in the fact that the BMWCCA publishes a book called "Friends of BMW"....I know you've heard of it....but at the time you are probably focused on the problem at hand and how to get from point A to B....the book, if used, and I wouldn't have thought of it either mind you, stores countless members and their locations across the USA, along with their skill level/hospitality/tool and parts sources for those of us unfortunate or fortunate (depends on how you look at it) enough to happen to break down in their neck of the woods.

There, now you know what to do next time huh?....=)
Nice story, thanks for sharing. Now when is the next time we in this neck of the woods are going to get together again? I miss seeing all you's guys smilin' faces...

Jr

[Russell]

There's a great shop in Baraboo, should you ever need it on a future trip:
http://www.sullivanstwo.com/baraboo/serviceparts.htm

These guys kept me in used parts when I was handcuffed to a '75 Volks Dasher about 25 years ago. I'm still in awe how they came up with the stuff I needed. They're first-rate on German cars. And, they can fill your NoX bottle!

Dasher! I had a 74 Dasher AUTOMATIC-First car my wife and I bought after we got married. Replaced her 71 cutlass so it had to be an automatic. worst car we ever owned. Had a carb which was part the problems along with the wonky emisson standards and an automatic. Memories

[Mr._Graybeard]

Mine had a stick, and it was actually kind of fun to drive, but it had that longstanding Volkswagen problem of everything BUT the drivetrain and suspension falling apart.

One of the first FWD cars sold in the US --

As for the carb and emissions, those years were the true dark ages when it comes to fuel delivery and ignition. VW wasn't alone.

[rickm]

"Friends of BMW"

When I was a member I had 5 calls over a year, 3 from a girl who lived nearby that had a 2002 that had seen better days. Whenever she had problems she'd call and want me to look at it. Heck, trying to find a mechanic around here to touch one was bad enough. I think I was at the end of her dialing list.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

"Friends of BMW"....

I never fill the part out on the membership form.... Don't want more local members showing up with pigs of a BMW to repair.

Or Hans and Helga showing up at my door as they backpack across the world.

[paul p (chi-town)]

Holy crap, it feels like i just posted this a couple days ago.....
Been a little busy. Trying to get a nursery cleaned up in teh household. There seems to be a new 5er driver on teh way.

JR and other local peeps. Yes, we must get together, as soon as the crib is complete, we will tip a few. Even if only digitally.
BTW, of course hindsight is always 20/20, looking back ... it's a bit funny. Roadtrips with an all original >150K mi drivetrain should always be done with a full toolkit. Grrrr!


Oh yeah, the early 70s were a drivability NIGHTMARE for every manufacturer. Including the British and even French.