twh

On DIY for an E60 water pump...

If you are already an accomplished DIY mechanic, this is probably a fine job to tackle. It looks to be easier than a belt driven water pump. No gaskets, no O rings, nothing old to scrape off and also no danger of damaging the Aluminum surfaces. You are working in tight spaces on your back. You'll need to jack up the front end and remove the underside plastic shielding. You also need to be aware of the Aluminum screws and not reuse them and, most importantly, don't snap the new ones off by over tightening them. It also looks like you probably need to go out and buy some new sockets for those special screws. You will empty out some of the coolant. You'll need to replenish a lot of coolant and bleed the cooling system. I'm sure there is a coolant system bleeding procedure you *must* follow or you can lock some air in the system and have bad things happen.

So, if this doesn't sound foreign to you, then you are probably safe with DIY water pump replacement.

968turboS

To add to the above post, you will lose just about all your coolant. The waterpump has connections to the block and radiator hose so you will lose coolant from both sides.
Buy BMW coolant and add it 50/50 with water. As far as bleeding, I topped the car off, ran it for a bit, turned the car off, let it cool and then topped it off again (only way to add coolant is via expansion tank). Doing this a few times burped the system. Make sure you turn the heater to max to open heater core circuit to get all air out of the system.
Regards.
Raj

gatemaster

I am preparing to R & R my water pump on an 545.
IF you can find TIS CD, the R & R steps are kind-of described, i've seen better.
From your self-rated description, i would suggest DIY.

I checked realoem.com and then pelicanparts.com for your water pump.
Hard to believe but the Genuine BMW waterpump is 511$, the hard to believe is that my waterpump (545) is about half for a Genuine BMW part (250$).
If you're interested, i will post back in a few days to let you know if i get a "Genuine BMW" waterpump.

Hopefully in a week i will be posting a water pump DIY - i searched and didn't come up with much.

Good Luck, mike

benjihana

Hey gatemaster,

I'm pretty sure the 545 uses a belt-driven pump due to it being on a bigger block (V8). Us sixers have to use the electric on these E60s, unfortunately. I went ahead and had the guy do it for $800. Driving my car right now - out a pretty penny, but I was mobile again!

v_therussian

Glad you're mobile again and all is well

Now go get that weekend job waiting tables and start stocking up on some mods
j/k