Water pump pulley wobble

Tue Jan 01, 2013 5:35 pm

Hi
Along with some other problems my 325i has developed a wobble on the water pump pulley. It doesn't look too major but you can see it wobble when running the engine.
Does anyone know if this is a fairly straight forward job of replacing the water pump and all is good?

The existing pump has only been in for a couple of years when I did the Cambelt. it's metal impeller and I would have hoped it to last longer. Looks like this may be the cause of gradual coolant loss and the car eating one of its own fan blades a couple of months ago, no sign of this wobble then though.

Any ideas?[/u]

Tue Jan 01, 2013 10:22 pm

I would reckon that the fan loosing one of it's blades put the bearing on the water pump out of centre and since then has just been getting worse as it lost it's equalibrium?

Mine lost a blade, I didn't notice any wobble either but I wasn't looking for it, when I did change the water pump, the old one's bearing did feel a little loose...I did the viscous fan clutch too. Partly because I couldn't undo the viscous fan clutch nut holding it to the water pump! Just replace both at the same time...as you probably know, and if it's the same as the M40 engine, the plastic fan is just 4 allen bolts connecting it to the fan clutch.

Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:16 pm

Thanks for the reply, i'll get onto it this weekend.

Anyone had any experience of the Circoli water pumps?
http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/c/B ... a8b&000366

They seem cheap - which worries me.
Or there is this from GSF: http://www.gsfcarparts.com/170bm0060
The last one was from GSF, but that hasn't exactly lasted too well.

Wed Jan 02, 2013 3:20 pm

I bought mine from GSF...

But, then again we don't know for sure if the water pump is at fault, certainly as the fan blade could have been the cause...

Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:46 pm

I've replaced the water pump - along with the inlet manifold gaskets (which is another story) this weekend, now all is good, the car is running really well... Apart from its now leaking at the front of the block, looks like its from the water pump!

I've taken the pump out and tried gain with the gasket, tried again with the gasket and some gasket sealant, tried again with no gasket and only sealant and again with just sealant. And still it leaks.

Any ideas? I think I'm having a problem as the cam belt tensioner being in place makes putting the pump on straight almost impossible. Has anyone else run into this?

On the upside, I'm getting pretty quick at stripping off the cam cover and removing the water pump, day or night

Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:52 pm

I've replaced the water pump - along with the inlet manifold gaskets (which is another story) this weekend, now all is good, the car is running really well... Apart from its now leaking at the front of the block, looks like its from the water pump!

I've taken the pump out and tried gain with the gasket, tried again with the gasket and some gasket sealant, tried again with no gasket and only sealant and again with just sealant. And still it leaks.

Any ideas? I think I'm having a problem as the cam belt tensioner being in place makes putting the pump on straight almost impossible. Has anyone else run into this?

On the upside, I'm getting pretty quick at stripping off the cam cover and removing the water pump, day or night

Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:54 pm

It can be very difficult to hold the pump against the tensioner spring and keep the gasket in place while you insert the bolts. There's no reason why the spring an pin can't be left off until the next belt change. They do absolutely nothing after the tensioner has been locked in place.

Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:55 pm

Once you fit a cambelt and tension it up, you're not supposed to undo it again!

I would have thought it essential to have the gasket in place.

Did you clean up the block before fitting the pump to remove all traces of old gasket, corrosion, etc.?

Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:02 pm

I've taken the Cambelt tensioner out as I remembered reading on here that it was only used for new belt tensioning. I've cleaned up the block yeah, I'll have to track down a new gasket and try again. Though this time it only leaked deter a run,during fill ad bleed it was fine.

Thanks for the quick replies

Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:42 pm

All sorted now. Took it out again last night, cleaned everything off again an put on a new gasket from bmw. The bmw gasket was alot thicker than the one that came with the pump. I guess the moral of the story is to use decent gaskets in the first place!

Thanks everyone for your help on this

Thu Jan 10, 2013 8:23 pm

Glad its all sorted mate!