water pump replacement 325is

[jimhorton1963]

now that i have read the book and ordered the pump, does anyone have any good advice or warnings? is it straight foreward, or really deceptive? i am mechanicaly inclined but just looking for anyone who has words of wisdom that the book dosent have.

[Starmavin]

Not a hard job, but a bentley manual helps too. There are two ways to do it, one is with a timing belt change and the other is with the timing belt left alone in the car. Either way you'll need a special tool to remove the fan clutch that is turned clockwise to loosen. Drain the coolant from the rad and the motor. The rad plug is on the left hand bottom a 1/4 inch drive or large flat head works here, the motor plug is on the passenger side of the block in the middle of two freeze plugs just under the exhaust manifold, you may have to poke a small screwdriver in there to get the crud out so it'll drain. If you don't drain the motor you'll gush coolant all over the timing belt because the engine coolant's lowest drain point is the thermostat so about a 3/4 gallon will pour out of the block once the water pump is pulled.

On to the job: Remove the radiator (if you wish, but it makes it much easier) next the distributor cap and rotor now the fan clutch losen the belts going to the water pump pully then the pully (4 10mm bolts) and the harmonic balancer bolts leave the large on in the center alone, pull it off. take off the upper timing cover (if you have an 88 and newer you'll need to remove the coolant cross over) be carefull of the plastic clips that hold wires that cross it. Now you'll notice that the timing belt tensor spring and guide pin mounts to the water pump, remove the water pump bolts and hold on to the spring and pin as you remove the last bolt, so long as you don't loosen the tesioner bolts the tensioner won't move. Scrape off the old gasket, refresh and reverse instructions then refill and "burp" the coolant system with the bleeder screw in the thermostat houseing. I recomend Sure Tack copper gasket spray to hold the gasket to the water pump, makes life easier.

Good luck.

[jimhorton1963]

well alot, or most of what you have said was omited in the book. i dont really want to replace the timing belt unless i get in there and it looks bad. yes i know its hard to tell if they are bad and one should replace such things when you are there allready. thanks for the advice and wish me luck, im going in.

probablly should find a bently manual, mine keeps saying "theese procedures are beyond the scope of this manual and should be refered to a qualified service indivual" to that i keep saying "what the hell am i?"

um...............special tool? can i make one?

[Kyytsis]

Originally Posted by jimhorton1963

well alot, or most of what you have said was omited in the book. i dont really want to replace the timing belt unless i get in there and it looks bad. yes i know its hard to tell if they are bad and one should replace such things when you are there allready. thanks for the advice and wish me luck, im going in.

probablly should find a bently manual, mine keeps saying "theese procedures are beyond the scope of this manual and should be refered to a qualified service indivual" to that i keep saying "what the hell am i?"

um...............special tool? can i make one?

Sorry to say this, but changing waterpump and NOT chaning timing belt AND tensioner is just stupid. Also other way around...

I think it is well worth the few extra $$$ or €€€ to know that everything is ok in that section. Also then the "overhead" of doing the fix in first place is divided to more activites -> cheaper in long run.

You don't need any special tools, just check and double check that you get the timing right.

Regards,
Ville

[ldsbeaker]

I agree. It is just cheap insurance "while you are in there".

[jimhorton1963]

ok, i get it. timing belt too. cant be much. now how long does this take? im sure it is not something i should start on at 5 when i get home and expect to drive to work in the morning without working all night.
i was kinda thinking about 4 hours.

[driftin325s]

it should take at the most like 4 hours if its your first time doing this but yes you do need a special to to remove the fan and it makes it a lot easier to change the water pump and timing belt if you remove the radiator but of course drain everything out first

[jimhorton1963]

ok, whats the special tool? is it like a really thin open wrench,ghead similar to what ford uses on their mercury capri?

[yammahamma]

Originally Posted by Starmavin

If you don't drain the motor you'll gush coolant all over the timing belt because the engine coolant's lowest drain point is the thermostat so about a 3/4 gallon will pour out of the block once the water pump is pulled.

That's what I did....boy oh boy did it get all over the place...

[Starmavin]

I install timing belts and water pumps as a pair job all the time, I do sugest that they be changed at one time, however if you'er in a bind, one can change it with out removing the belt. Besides as easy as it may seem to thoese that know how or have changed them before, if you mess up the timing belt install marks you just killed your cyl head....

The special tool is a clutch fan wrench that is 32mm or 1 1/4" the domestic clutch fan tool set won't come with it so you'll either have to order it or go to a tool shop or parts house and buy a cheap'o 32 or 1 1/4 wrench (sun-pro about $8 to 10) and litteraly grind it down thin enough to fit (I did).

[Kyytsis]

...and remember that the fan clutch has left-hand threads. There is some discussion about removing the fan on this board.

Good luck, you don't really need it

Ville

[jimhorton1963]

ok, its done. no problem. didnt even need to grind my wrench to make a special tool, it fit right in. my 11 year old son even helped put it all back togather.

[jimhorton1963]

one other thing, it made it a whole lot easier to remove the hood.