I’ve now had my 3rd water pump fail. The first time was around 40k and it was electric failure. Second one failed less than 15K and the plastic case cracked. Now the current one is not even 2 years old so for me less than 10K is on it and it’s leaking like a sieve. Could there be an underlying issue here or am I just the unluckiest E60 owner in the world??

 

wow - I have never heard of such a bad streak of failing pumps in a single car.

I can't think of any underlying issue that could be causing it.

 

Where are you getting your water pumps from? What brand coolant are you using?

 

All have been OEM, first replacement done by dealer, second one done by an indy shop. THey had a 2 year warranty on their work so they are replacing the pump for free.

I was told yesterday the third one failed where the plastic housing met the metal housing, same as the 2nd one. Such a poor design. This one only had 4-5K on it!

 

youre just unlucky. but dont let it ruin your love for the amazing E60

 

My last failure occurrd at less than 90K Miles. The design used electric versu belt drive to reduce load on the engine and improve mileage. My calculations indicated that at an averagae repair cost of $1200 CA ($900 US) I would need to save a lot more on gas lol.

Love the car but and have owned since new. I have lived through the HP fuel pump, multiple fuel injectors (both banks) and replaced one bank.

Although the same manufacturer produced all four, they apparently sold an inferior pump to some independent shops. My shop buys directly from the dealer to make sure they remain accountable.

If we are just unlucky, time to get a lottery ticket.

 

Are you saying the electric pump is less reliable than the belt driven one?
Why would that be?
Also, the fundamental reason to switch to electric drive cooling pump wasn't to reduce the load on the engine, since electric drive simply increases the load on the alternator, thus the load on the engine stays roughly the same and is perhaps worse due to transfer losses, but to allow variable coolant flow according to demand by changing the electric motor speed. This is not possible with belt drive coolant pump. Thus the total energy expended to cool the engine does end up to be marginally lower with the electric drive.
I guess every little bit helps, but is it worth it if the electric pumps are less reliable?

 

Should consider a Stewart High Performance Water Pump....My diy choice when I overhauled my complete cooling system twice...on my current 2004 and my previous 2001 530i. Some say overkill, I say replace it once and forget about it.

 

N52 uses electric water pump, the Stewart pump is great (I have one too) but will only work for M5X and S50/S52 generation engines.

 

did your indy do the proper bleeding procedure?

pretty suspicious your sitchaition i tell ya hwut