E30 Zone

hi, i took my car to garage as it had a water leak. i have been told its the water pump. is this expensive and time consuming. i have seen on other threads that i may as well have the cambelt done too. is this correct and what else would be a good idea to do at same time. thanks
its a 325i auto 88 f reg

Hi,
It's not a difficult job but since you have to disturb the timing belt tensioner and cambelt covers to remove it, you may as well change the cambelt and tensioner at the same time. It cost me around £150 in genuine BMW parts on a 325i Sport (you get a rebate for the old pump at the BMW dealer). It took around a day to do it (I was slow as it was the first time I'd done them). You can get the bits cheaper from GSF/ECP, etc. but beware that cheap water pumps don't last long!

See this link http://www.angelfire.com/blues2/bimmer/

i will pay my garage to do this as im am under pressure at work and i dont have time to do this. i dont mind paying them as they will do it better than me anyhow lol. i have just asked zimmer for prices for the parts you suggested. so really im looking at 200+ hmmm oh well. im gonna have them change the pas and alt belts too as i was gonna have them done anyway, thay look a bit knackered. many thanks

No worries. To sum up for a thorough job, you'll need:

Cambelt
Cambelt tensioner
Cambelt tensioner spring and pin (optional, depending on condition of old parts/whether they're supplied with your new tensioner)
Water pump
Water pump gasket
Alternator & PAS belts
Antifreeze

thats just what i need, thanks very much.

i would get a camshaft oil seal as well jsut in case. it will only cost a couple of quid and would have been a shame to have got that far only to see a leaky seal and not have one!!

those pumps are quite expensive from bmw. the pumps from gsf are alot cheaper, anyone know what the milage is for both pumps before they go kapoot. cheers

eamo wrote:i would get a camshaft oil seal as well jsut in case. it will only cost a couple of quid and would have been a shame to have got that far only to see a leaky seal and not have one!!

nice one cheers

Some have reported that ECP's cheapest water pumps fail after only around 15,000 miles/a year or two! My Sport had a cheapy fitted which looked externally fine but the bearing went after 27,000 miles.

The genuine BMW replacement cost £66.39 with £13.27 off in exchange for the pattern part.