[gangzoom]

Just on the way back from the supermarket, and all of a sudden the fan comes on full blast....2 hrs later the car is with my local independent awaiting a new water pump, via a tow from the AA van.

Quick estimate, I reckon it'll costs about £650-700 all in for labour and parts. Cannot complain too much tough, at least its not DSC hydro module, but planned CIC and Alpina flash mod will have to be put on hold....at least been towed was an interesting experience.



Makkan: I've tired to PM you regarding CIC coding etc but your inbox is full..

[no1_jazz]

Hi mate I am a newbee here and just wanted to ask:

Could this be a potential common problem on all and or most 335i's ? or is this just pure bad luck?

Hope you get this sorted bud.

[makkan00]

Sorry to hear that mate. Hope it all goes well.

PS: PMs cleared so you can shoot me your pm.

[phil200tdi]

Water pump is a common problem on 335i.

I bought mine from bmminiparts for half the dealer price and had an indie fit...

[E90F30er]

You don't have a mpg gauge but a temperature gauge instead? How?

[Subzero2003]

Mine failed at the side of the M25 only a couple of weeks ago at 59k miles.

The car stayed at around 90c for about 10 miles when it would suddenly shoot up. Interestingly if you stopped the engine and restarted it, the water pump was fine again and you could drive for as long as you wanted. I obviously didn't know this at the time of sitting at the side of the M25 or i would have driven off again. Nevertheless, the water pump was being intermittent and obviously needed changing. Got mine replaced at BMW under insured warranty so only had to pay £100. Also got an 80mile flatbed lift home from when i was at the side of the M25 for free, which also saved some petrol

[Subzero2003]

Also, hope the AA man drove slowly as i was under the impression you could only tow an automatic for 30 miles at 30mph max.

[mistryn]

Originally Posted by Subzero2003

Also, hope the AA man drove slowly as i was under the impression you could only tow an automatic for 30 miles at 30mph max.

+1 auto boxes i think up to 50 miles

OP sorry to hear your troubles there is and waterpump guide DIY if your are feeling up to changing it yourself

[no1_jazz]

Phill

Am i right in thinking about every 50k miles the 335i owners should be aware and be expecting to change the water pump?

Hope you get this sorted mate.

[M4rius]

Originally Posted by E90F30er

You don't have a mpg gauge but a temperature gauge instead? How?

sadly it's oil temperature not coolant

[rawbhp]

Originally Posted by M4rius

sadly it's oil temperature not coolant

And I think it's because it's a 335i that it has the gauge.

[phil200tdi]

Originally Posted by no1_jazz

Phill

Am i right in thinking about every 50k miles the 335i owners should be aware and be expecting to change the water pump?

Hope you get this sorted mate.

Dunno mine has been fine for 40k miles.

Mine went soon after fitting DP's. The water pump had a crack in it but was otherwise fine...

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by E90F30er

You don't have a mpg gauge but a temperature gauge instead? How?

All 335s have a oil gauge instead of mpg, drive the thing hard and it doesn't take long for you to hit quite high oil temp. It helps you to know when the car is properly warmed up, both the JB4 and Procede piggy back tunes have 'cold protection' where they keep the car in stock map until the oil temp is about 70....also if it was a mpg gauge the range wouldn't need to be very high and a bit depressing, considering when you really push the car you often see single digit figures

Originally Posted by Subzero2003

Also, hope the AA man drove slowly as i was under the impression you could only tow an automatic for 30 miles at 30mph max.

The AA guy was really good, actually worked out what was wrong with the car before going any near the OBD port to look for codes. Infact the car threw no codes at all initially, I would imagine if I had called BMW they would have said not to worry because the computer said everything was ok

My indep is only 3 miles from where I broke down, I don't think we did more than 20mph, felt a bit bad because in the rear view mirror was a massive line of traffic.

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

Dunno mine has been fine for 40k miles.

Mine went soon after fitting DP's. The water pump had a crack in it but was otherwise fine...

This sounds about right, have noticed the coolant level dropping very very slowly over the last few months. Good news is inde has already sourced a water pump from BMW, bad news is it's at full list price...looking around could get it cheaper but need car for work etc so might just go for it.

Cheers for all the info guys, glad to know its something relatively common and simple, as long it's not actually a problem with the engine block i am happy.

[Josh1a1h]

Issues seem to crop up after 60k... But others have had theirs go on as long as 160k in the states.

But the majority fail between 60-100k

I will just get mine done when it does fail.

[old grey steve]

Seen a few of these pumps fail over the past 6 or so months including mine. First thing I knew about it was the electric fan was constantly on, coolant wise there were no issues with mine but this did come as a surprise, literally an hour later I got back in to the car to drive 3 mikes to work and within half a mile I'd lost my throttle and the car limped along for more wallet plundering. My car has just gone over 71k.

Labour wise to get the pump out it takes a good 3.5 hours to do as it's bloody tight on a 335, the pump itself is a good £370.00 plus VAT.

We've also had 330's X3's in with the exact same issue the last X3 we had in had done around 105k, while the last 330 we had in had done 84k.

The part is a superseded part meaning in a nut shell the unit installed in our cars had a weak point, the fittings have been altered slightly when I compared the new one with the knackered one in mine.

Finally a bit of common spence advice from me would be to change the thermostat at the same time you're in the area and you never know!

[danzo_m]

Mine has just gone over 70k sitting on a 56 plate with warranty renewal this month, I definitely think I will take the BMW extended warranty on....

[gangzoom]

Well just ordered the pump off eBay and the latest HPFP off BMWminiparts. Hopefully the bits will arrive quickly and car be back on the road in a few days .

Looking at the item order numbers, looks like both parts have been revised quite a few times in the last few years...so hopefully it means they are not to break again for a while yet.

My other half has been gently pushing me to get a more 'sensible/economical' car especially since one our family friends has just decided sell his E90 M3 for something cheaper run. I would say now that I've replaced so many bits of the car it's all the more reason to keep the car for a long time yet

[RobCrezz]

How big a job is the water pump change? Worth getting it done when in for service?

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by RobCrezz

How big a job is the water pump change? Worth getting it done when in for service?

Don't think it's a straight fowards job but there's really no warning when the is about to fail, and when it does the car is basically immobile.

I'm going to have a cheap new pump forsale soon. Ordered one from the states but delivery is going to take too long so have ordered one from BMW at much higher cost because I need the car back on the road ASAP.

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by M4rius

sadly it's oil temperature not coolant

Why sadly? Coolant warms up in no time on any car and I think there is a warning if it over heats?

[gangzoom]

Car now sorted, new water pump and HPFP fitted

Have now decided to go for hybrid turbos, if am spending this much on keeping it on the road might as well go the whole way on mods ...but need bigger oil coolers first.