water pump question - preventative maintenance

[jaye944]

question, '12 n52, bought it on 24k now about 67k

so I'm in the danger period

plenty of highway if that helps, some spirited driving but generally, smooth with cruise on

my question is this:

As there is no sure fire way to check for failure (car is still under w'tee)
Is there any evidence that doing a full coolant flush will help things?
I understand it's an electric part, if it helps other than top up with BMW coolant
since I've had the car it's had no coolant flush

Thanks

[jaye944]

no-one ?

[PA135i]

I had no warning. Mine went at 72K. If you are planning on keeping the car get it done now. That is my advice.
Perhaps the 128i has a different pump but I believe both models have this issue.

[jaye944]

txs,

while it's still under w'tee, I'm going to pass at replacement,
I'm planning on keeping it, but if a rich uncle dies, or somone here has some spare ca$h, I was going to trade in for a 2 vert

I guess it's the electrics which suddenly go.

so I guess no amount of PM would help

Originally Posted by PA135i

I had no warning. Mine went at 72K. If you are planning on keeping the car get it done now. That is my advice.
Perhaps the 128i has a different pump but I believe both models have this issue.

[Olgeezer1]

As I understand it there are subtle warnings such as the fan running at high speed after shutoff or occasional amber, not red, high temp. warning lights. I keep a Scan Gauge plugged in to at least monitor water temp. so I'll know when things change from normal. Other than using BMW coolant/distilled water and changing every 2-3 years I don't think there's anything you can do to prolong waterpump life. I'm in the same boat, similar mileage and will probably do preventive replacement at 100k/KM along with thermostat, drive belts, pulleys and a few other things.

[buzzmatrix]

My water pump just failed at ~99K miles. I spent an entire day on the track and all the fluid temps were within range. On my way back though, the engine started to become sluggish and after a minute the overheating yellow light lit up on the instrument cluster. 30 seconds after that it turned red. Once it turned red I started to figure out that I needed to pull over NOW!.

I thought I might ve been low on coolant, so I waited for about 20 minutes for the cooling system pressure to drop but once I opened the expansion tank cap, it had enough coolant in it. I figured I can start the car to check again, it was back to normal. I broke the screen on my Android device that had MHD on it, so I couldn't pull the codes. With nothing else to do, I let it idle for a while to see if the engine overheats again. I revved it too to make sure the coolant comes up to temp. Nothing. So, I drove back home at 55MPH on a 70MPH highway. 1.5 hours later, the yellow engine overheating light came up again. I lifted my foot off the gas and coasted for a mile to a parking lot and got it towed to my mechanic.

Thinking back, I did notice fan noise a week before but I chalked it to my tune which I had flashed two weeks ago. The mechanic quoted $1000 for the water pump and thermostat replacement. I'm getting my Oil filter Housing Gasket (OFHG) changed too since it started leaking.

Anyways, just wait for the water pump to crap out and keep an eye out for excessive fan noise like others in the thread have mentioned. I don't think it's worth doing a preventative replacement of the waterpump unless you are going on a long trip away from home, even then you might just want to keep the water pump and thermostat ready on hand to replace.