smooth0033

So my 07 525i screen gave me the "car overheating, drive moderately" yellow screen only to follow with the "engine overheated, turn car off" red screen like a minute later. I kinda had an idea what this was as i have a few buddies who have had this happen to them. But I did some research on the net had my buddy hook up the laptop to diagnose what the issue was and it said the water pump was not communicating or something like that, he also told me my car never actually overheated the temperature was not above what our engines run at. So i went on all the websites that has parts for our vehicles and called around a few shops and a few independent guys.

a new Pierburg (full metal cast, no plastic) water pump is $378 with the hardware from ECS

a refurbished BMW pump is $421 with hardware

and you also gotta get the thermostat with 2 gallons of Coolant $140

My question to you guys is, which one would you purchase and has anyone already been in this predicament and what have you done? I'm leaning towards the Pierburg, not only cause its new but the price isn't too bad either.

Anyone have DIY, or have you just took it to a shop, any local guys have any Indy guys they trust to do the work? I'm in Inland Empire, So Cal

tonyb635

Same thing happened to me at 85K. I ended up purchasing the pump from Autoquest and it was 340.00. Dealer wanted over 650.00 but I did purchase the thermostat and coolant from them. I hear the getting the coolant from them is very important. I then paid a mech friend of mine 200 to install it. I just didn't have the time and wasn't 100% confident in my mech abilities on this one. There are a few DIY on this forum and if you google you'll find a few more. Seems pretty strait forward. But for 200, I didn't have to get my hands dirty and instead just go to a few wineries! I can't remember what name was one my pump.

smooth0033

Thanks Tony. I appreciate your input. Like you mentioned I have done a thread search on this forum and other forums and have found some DIY write ups none really have pictures. I did the search on the net and found like one or two on youtube but not real extensive info. From all the information I have gathered seems like you should replace the thermostat when replacing the EWP as well as doing a coolant flush.

$200 for the work doesn't sound bad, the work I don't think is complicated but it's time consuming, and it would help to have skinny fingers which I do not and patience. I found a guy online says he replaces an average of about 3 a month and will charge me $150 for the labor. I think that sounds good to me. I figure $50 an hour is less than shop labor rates starting at $65.

tonyb635

Yeah that price sounds good to me too. I think the 535 calls for like 5 labor hours to change the pump. Some others I hear are a little less. My thoughts are if you've done it once or twice before maybe only two hours or so to complete it. Well minus all the draining and filling time...

smooth0033

Yea, i'm still on the fence wether to order the OEM or Pierburg pump. Doing some research online before I pull the trigger

audiophool

Pierburg is an OE supplier of many years. If they make a pump it's probable they made the OE one too, just as Lemforder is the OE maker for suspension...