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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > BMW E90/E92/E93 3-series General Forums > General E90 Sedan / E91 Wagon / E92 Coupe / E93 Cabrio > Water Pump Survey - Died or Not?



View Poll Results: Is your original water pump dead or alive? at what mileage?
Still working; < 60,000 miles 188 27.53%
Replaced with least than 60,000 miles 73 10.69%
Still working; 60-75,000 miles 88 12.88%
Replaced between 60-75,000 miles 49 7.17%
Still working; 75-90,000 miles 85 12.45%
Replaced between 75-90,000 miles 45 6.59%
Still working; 90-105,000 miles 54 7.91%
Replaced between 90-105,000 miles 17 2.49%
Still working; 105-120,000 miles 28 4.10%
Replaced between 105-120,000 miles 18 2.64%
Still working; 120,000+ miles 21 3.07%
Replaced with greater than 120,000 miles 17 2.49%
Voters: 683. You may not vote on this poll

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      02-23-2013, 11:17 AM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Artmasterx View Post
It would have been nice, but I didn't want to have too many options. I think that tracked/non-tracked may be important too, but probably a relatively small amount of people really track their cars.

Engine power mods would be a legitimate question... maybe I will add a comment to original post.
I was just talking with my indy mechanic on this very subject the other day when I took it in for an oil change. He says their experience indicates it is total engine time, rather than miles related. He said they are starting to recommend pro-active changes at around 60K miles if you do a lot of city driving in an E9x.
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      02-23-2013, 05:07 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chromisdesigns View Post
I was just talking with my indy mechanic on this very subject the other day when I took it in for an oil change. He says their experience indicates it is total engine time, rather than miles related. He said they are starting to recommend pro-active changes at around 60K miles if you do a lot of city driving in an E9x.
That's good info, and makes a lot of sense as many industrial pumps and equipment use hours as the maintenance metric.

Changes at 60k feels a bit early for proactive replacement, but if you really don't want to be stranded it could be worth it. If I make it to 90-100k without failure, it will definitely get replaced.
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      02-23-2013, 06:55 PM   #25
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161,000 miles.

Same pump.
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      02-24-2013, 03:11 AM   #26
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Water pump failed at 73k
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      02-24-2013, 10:05 AM   #27
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      02-24-2013, 01:15 PM   #28
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They all fail. I have had 4 new BMW cars in the past 6 years and 3 out of 4 have had electric pump failure and 2 needed a tow to the dealer
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      02-24-2013, 07:10 PM   #29
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They all fail. I have had 4 new BMW cars in the past 6 years and 3 out of 4 have had electric pump failure and 2 needed a tow to the dealer
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      02-24-2013, 07:23 PM   #30
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Friend of mine just had his die 2 days ago. 2008 with 60 something on the clock. has had DP's, exhaust, intake, FMIC, tune for the last 10k or so
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      02-24-2013, 08:01 PM   #31
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      02-25-2013, 03:57 PM   #32
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anyone know if you can read water pump pre-failure codes with an OBD tool or bavarian technic tool? Is it worth checking regularly to see if anything weird comes up?
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      02-25-2013, 04:18 PM   #33
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Looks like E90 water pumps are a hot topic, so I'm hoping someone here might have some answers. Participated in the poll, but would like to know if anyone has had these symptoms prior to replacement/failures.

About a month ago, my wife was driving my 06 N52 330i with 106K and called me to tell me the temp warning came on, quickly followed by the overheat warning. She noticed no warm air was entering the cabin, even at full heat settings. I'm not sure if it went into limp mode, but I assume it did. She was near her destination, so she parked and let the car sit while she was inside.. let's say 30 minutes. Car then ran fine for the 15 min drive home, and then did not happen again until a few weeks ago.

I was driving this time, and noticed not long after I got in the car (on a cold morning) that no heat was entering the cabin. I anticipated a warning light, so I took it easy. Within 5 min, I got the yellow temp immediately followed by red overheat warning. Car entered limp mode and allowed me to reach my destination a few miles away.

Now, being the shadetree mechanic that I am, I decided to pop the hood and check things out, since there were no other warning signs or symptoms of overheating.. There was no sign of engine overheating, and I could even remove the overflow tank cap within just a few minutes. 5 min later we drove the car home and had no issues for another week.

A few days ago, it happened again, but this time I only rec'd the Yellow warning. Drove 10m miles to destination, was inside 10 min, and has ran fine since.

At 106K miles, I know I'm on borrowed time and should probably just pull the trigger and replace it all, but I would like/need to know if is this a pending failure, or perhaps something else? Temp sensor maybe?
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      02-25-2013, 04:39 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beer ad View Post
temp warning came on, quickly followed by the overheat warning. She noticed no warm air was entering the cabin, even at full heat settings.
Exactly what happens when the WP fails. Change it.
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      02-25-2013, 08:53 PM   #35
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Exactly what happens when the WP fails. Change it.
Really? So, the car warns me of a pending failure by duplicating the symptoms of an actual failure? Brilliant! I must be lucky then...

With all these electronic monitoring and warning systems, I wish it would just say "Hey, your water pump is about to fail.. sell your left arm"
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      02-25-2013, 11:21 PM   #36
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This is happening to me.

A month ago, car overheated, yellow temp light, then red temp light. Pulled over, opened hood, car had puked coolant.

I assumed water pump was fucked. Let it cool down, restarted without the cap off, and... i see the coolant pumping (small hose on expansion tank will piss coolant into tank). Drove home. No issues in a month.

Today...... Yellow light, Red light, Pull over, cool down, remove cap, start car, coolant is flowing, top off with hose and drove home another hour with no issues.

My thoughts.... Both times, the car has puked, the coolant system is boiling or the cap is weak and the coolant blows out under the hood. Both times, like you said, the heater quit working which makes me think either there was air in the heater core or the pump had quit circulating. Both times, a simple off-on cycle has fixed it.




Quote:
Originally Posted by beer ad View Post
Looks like E90 water pumps are a hot topic, so I'm hoping someone here might have some answers. Participated in the poll, but would like to know if anyone has had these symptoms prior to replacement/failures.

About a month ago, my wife was driving my 06 N52 330i with 106K and called me to tell me the temp warning came on, quickly followed by the overheat warning. She noticed no warm air was entering the cabin, even at full heat settings. I'm not sure if it went into limp mode, but I assume it did. She was near her destination, so she parked and let the car sit while she was inside.. let's say 30 minutes. Car then ran fine for the 15 min drive home, and then did not happen again until a few weeks ago.

I was driving this time, and noticed not long after I got in the car (on a cold morning) that no heat was entering the cabin. I anticipated a warning light, so I took it easy. Within 5 min, I got the yellow temp immediately followed by red overheat warning. Car entered limp mode and allowed me to reach my destination a few miles away.

Now, being the shadetree mechanic that I am, I decided to pop the hood and check things out, since there were no other warning signs or symptoms of overheating.. There was no sign of engine overheating, and I could even remove the overflow tank cap within just a few minutes. 5 min later we drove the car home and had no issues for another week.

A few days ago, it happened again, but this time I only rec'd the Yellow warning. Drove 10m miles to destination, was inside 10 min, and has ran fine since.

At 106K miles, I know I'm on borrowed time and should probably just pull the trigger and replace it all, but I would like/need to know if is this a pending failure, or perhaps something else? Temp sensor maybe?

Last edited by mike3000fl; 02-25-2013 at 11:43 PM..
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      02-28-2013, 05:51 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike3000fl View Post
This is happening to me.

A month ago, car overheated, yellow temp light, then red temp light. Pulled over, opened hood, car had puked coolant.

I assumed water pump was fucked. Let it cool down, restarted without the cap off, and... i see the coolant pumping (small hose on expansion tank will piss coolant into tank). Drove home. No issues in a month.

Today...... Yellow light, Red light, Pull over, cool down, remove cap, start car, coolant is flowing, top off with hose and drove home another hour with no issues.

My thoughts.... Both times, the car has puked, the coolant system is boiling or the cap is weak and the coolant blows out under the hood. Both times, like you said, the heater quit working which makes me think either there was air in the heater core or the pump had quit circulating. Both times, a simple off-on cycle has fixed it.
not sure and not an expert, but maybe you can check for water pump codes (though I am not sure of the procedure or tools required... maybe a BT tool?)
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      02-28-2013, 09:46 PM   #38
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Everyone, I have compiled initial statistics based on 106 responses so far.

This gives the failure probability and the +/- 95% confidence intervals for that failure rate. Obviously, we need more data points to get more confidence, especially at higher mileages.

Everyone help out by voting!

Also, there will likely be a skew towards more failures given that many people with healthy water pumps may not check out the thread.

The plot gives the failure rate as a function of mileage. In the x-axis I list the total responses for each mileage bin. For those of you interested in the calculation details:

Total response in each bin = n_i
Failure probability for each bin (p_i): p_i = #dead_i / n_i
95% Confidence Interval (CI): CI_i = +/- 1.96*[ p_i*(1-p_i) / n_i ]^0.5

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      03-01-2013, 12:10 PM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Artmasterx
I saw a similar thread that was specific to the N52 engine, so let's open it up to the whole crowd. I tried searching but didn't see a similar poll. N52 guys/gals, definitely respond to this poll as well.

N52 thread here: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=725313

Many of us are starting to get well into the range where they start to fail, so let's get some statistics.

Feel free to comment if you have a engine power mod, as that could have an effect on the failure rate.

If you had it replaced, feel free to reply with the cost and whether it was dealer or independent shop.

If you replaced it as a preventative measure, feel free to post that too in the thread.

Mine has ~55,000 miles and is on the original pump.


If we end up with a lot of responses, I will try to make some graphs/stats and stuff and post them here at the top. Thanks!

[[[[ Update 2/28/2013 ]]]]
Everyone, I have compiled initial statistics based on 106 responses so far.

This gives the failure probability and the +/- 95% confidence intervals for that failure rate. Obviously, we need more data points to get more confidence, especially at higher mileages.

Everyone help out by voting!

Also, there will likely be a skew towards more failures given that many people with healthy water pumps may not check out the thread.

The plot gives the failure rate as a function of mileage. In the x-axis I list the total responses for each mileage bin. For those of you interested in the calculation details:

Total response in each bin = n_i
Failure probability for each bin (p_i): p_i = #dead_i / n_i
95% Confidence Interval (CI): CI_i = +/- 1.96*[ p_i*(1-p_i) / n_i ]^0.5

Nice work! This confirm that I should change it after 110k km to prevent being stuck on the road.
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      03-01-2013, 02:13 PM   #40
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Exclusing everybody < 60000 miles, 77% didn't have any issue.

23% failure is HIGH and obvious recommendation would be a preventive change if you intend to keep the car.

Except vbefore doing so, we would definitely need separate the following.
2006
2007+ N52
N54

Again, I don't think that the 2nd category would necessarily need this, but 1st and 3rd - yes.
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      03-01-2013, 02:28 PM   #41
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nice job, mine died at 52k, mod money I could have spent, but there I was out a grand easy on that pump.
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      03-01-2013, 06:02 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Saintor View Post
Exclusing everybody < 60000 miles, 77% didn't have any issue.

23% failure is HIGH and obvious recommendation would be a preventive change if you intend to keep the car.

Except vbefore doing so, we would definitely need separate the following.
2006
2007+ N52
N54

Again, I don't think that the 2nd category would necessarily need this, but 1st and 3rd - yes.
I agree that it would be good to separate it out by engine, but it is challenging enough to get enough responses to make a conclusion.

Let's see if we can accumulate a few hundred more votes.

The picture is clearly very sketchy at the high mileages, but having 40-50% failed by 100k miles seems possible based on the limited data so far.

The N52 survey mentioned in the OP showed about 25% failed (~40 of 160), though failure mileage was not tracked directly.
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      03-01-2013, 08:42 PM   #43
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It's happened once more since my last post. Off/On cycle after sitting for 5min did get me to destination and back, but noticed low coolant level so I topped off with some distilled and drove it another day to work ~15 each way with no issues, although I do have a bit of a whine in the engine compartment. Not sure if that is related to this issue, since it's an electrical pump. It might be tensioner pulley (which has been replaced once already).

Don't need the headache, so it's now parked and I've ordered Tischers WP/Therm kit. $500 shipped w/coolant. Parts will be here Monday, so I will tear into it tomorrow to get a jump.. need this back on the road! Hopefully this will make it go away. Will let you know!

Quote:
Originally Posted by mike3000fl View Post
This is happening to me.

A month ago, car overheated, yellow temp light, then red temp light. Pulled over, opened hood, car had puked coolant.

I assumed water pump was fucked. Let it cool down, restarted without the cap off, and... i see the coolant pumping (small hose on expansion tank will piss coolant into tank). Drove home. No issues in a month.

Today...... Yellow light, Red light, Pull over, cool down, remove cap, start car, coolant is flowing, top off with hose and drove home another hour with no issues.

My thoughts.... Both times, the car has puked, the coolant system is boiling or the cap is weak and the coolant blows out under the hood. Both times, like you said, the heater quit working which makes me think either there was air in the heater core or the pump had quit circulating. Both times, a simple off-on cycle has fixed it.
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      03-02-2013, 11:10 AM   #44
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Bought my 2008 335 two weekends ago, CPO. This past Wednesday on the way to work, I notice the fan came on loud while sitting at the stoplight a mile from my house. After entering the freeway, I got the 'water temp high' warning followed a minute later by the 'water temp too high, stop the engine' warning. I pulled over and called BMW roadside assistance. They dispatched a tow truck. I called my SA and gave him a heads-up and he had a 2013 328 waiting for us when we got to the dealership. He called 6 hours later and said the car was ready. They replaced the water pump, bolts, topped off the coolant and pressure tested the system. No charge since we'd only bought the car ten days prior.

Car has 51000 miles on it, build date of 10/07, bone stock.

Last edited by MountainStone; 03-02-2013 at 04:15 PM..
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