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Water Pump

4K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  stmoore01 
#1 · (Edited)
Any advice welcome.

I need to know if you complete the automatic bleeding procedure for the electric water pump in a 2006 530i and you hear the pump activating and pausing then activating and pausing during the process and hear water moving, is it safe to say that the pump is working??

I am having an overheating message and rapid intermittent radiator fan operation (surging) and don't want to replace parts unnecessarily. If the pump operation seems normal than I will replace the Tstat and the temp sensor.
 
#2 ·
Waterpump

I had the same issue and was hoping that was the case. Apparently there are 2 stages, more than likely if you are getting the overheat warning you need a new pump. I took a shot and gambled and lost. Replaced the Tstat and put it all back together, no luck had to take it back apart and replace water pump in the end. Good luck.
 
#3 ·
Gamecock, thanks for the response. I have a feeling I am in the same boat as you and have decided to order a new Tstat, temp sensor and water pump. If i am going to rip it all apart I might as well replace it all. The car has 95K miles on the original, the radiator was replaced under CPO warranty at about 70K miles. Just for the "fun" of it I decided to purchase a BT scan tool and want to pull the codes on the car before i start to replace things. I think I will probably replace all parts even if the codes come back indicating only 1 failure. I will post when finished, thanks.
 
#6 ·
Boramkiv,

Thanks that is the question I was hoping to have answered. It sounds as is my water pump was functioning properly then. I ordered the enthusiast kit so will not have the option you mentioned. It arrives tonight so I should be able to see what the car says. I have mixed emotions on replacing a water pump that is working as it should be if in fact it is OK. The car has 95,000 miles on it and has been relitively problem free except for a couple bad ignition coil packs and the raditor mentioned before. Some say just replace it because of the mileage, but I am not sure that is necessary. It's possable I could get away cheap with just the temp sensor or Tstat, we'll see soon.
 
#7 ·
Well, FWIW. I hate telling people this as they can take it as a recommendation but I'm at 117,000 miles on the same water pump and tstat. I KNOW the tsat has failed because the BT tells me every time I hook it up and the dealer told me when I took it in for the battery recall. It will be MUCH cheaper if I do it myself. Because its stuck in the open position I let it be and i dont want to go under there twice. Thats usually my luck, it would fail after a tstat change and id be under there again the next week. Now I have enough vehicles to not worry about a water pump failure downing the car. Not everyone's situation is similar. This car has been STELLAR so far unlike my X5 which I'm now wearing the hood shocks out by it being opened and closed so much.
My advice though would be to change both out at once as soon as you can. It's just me working on my cars with "little" help from the wife so I must manage time wisely as I do have fun and love the cost savings of doing all myself. The E60 is VERY reliable, and I'll argue that all day long. The E53 X5 however not so much. I'll argue that all day too.
 
#8 ·
Hooked up the BT tool this morning and it is in fact the water pump that is working intermittantly. I gues i know what I'm doing Saturday!

All things considered, I agree with you that this car has been incredibly reliable for the first 95,000 miles and it has been properly maintained so there is no reason to think it wont go another 50-75K.
 
#10 ·
Project Completed

Well, the BT tool was lying. I tackled the replacing of the T-stat, water pump and the lower temp sensor last night. Project took overall about 3 hours thanks to all the great DIY and other posts on this forum. This is a real PITA and would be fairly easy if you had a lift. No leaks no overheating, just need to check coolant level this morning and re-bleed if necessary.
Thanks for everyone's help and support!!!
 
#11 ·
Well, the BT tool was lying. I tackled the replacing of the T-stat, water pump and the lower temp sensor last night. Project took overall about 3 hours thanks to all the great DIY and other posts on this forum. This is a real PITA and would be fairly easy if you had a lift. No leaks no overheating, just need to check coolant level this morning and re-bleed if necessary.
Thanks for everyone's help and support!!!
Was it lying in terms of the fact that the water pump was working fine,
or the Tsat was bad? I remember when my tstat failed (after investigating)
I got a low coolant warning when I was about to back out the garage, so I
checked and everything was good even the level. No leaks anywhere.
It was only running for like minute before the message popped. I decided
to park it and check it out later.

The BT told me about the tstat. I forgot what the error code was. The pump was
working fine with no codes running at full output when activated. Still no leaks.
So, my conclusion was that when you get a low coolant warning with no visible
leaks anywhere, the tstat failed. When you get a "Pull over and shutdown NOW"
type of message your pump has failed. And of course any leaks that are visible
should be addressed immediately because it will eventually lead to a low
coolant warning by way of the reservior getting low. Change your coolant
NLT every 70,000 with the approved fluid and all should be fine.
 
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