After slow coolant loss over time, it started dripping a lot last week. Car is over 103K miles and sure enough I saw a whole mess around water pump area.
I ordered the Pierburg all aluminium water pump from fcpeuro (part of kit). Hopefully it holds up better!
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...rg-11519455978
Thank you for this addendum on XI (mine is 2011 335XI). Wheel, liner and exhaust fan has to come out. And the PS mounting bracket on driver's side is a real b*tch. Took me 1 hour to remove using a standard 10mm box wrench. Highly recommend getting a ratcheting style. I am half way there and will continue tomorrow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by scorp508
I got the stuff out tonight and I'll install the new parts tomorrow. I haven't read all 11 pages of this thread, but on my 335xi there is a lot more stuff in the way and a lot less room to maneuver. The BavAuto video makes the area look like acres of lush grasslands compared to what I have. 
I started following someone else's thread and then was able to fill in other steps with the BavAuto video.
I'm tired so forgive me if something here is missing. I'm doing my best to remember what I did.
- Put the front wheels up on ramps.
- Loosened expansion tank cap and bleeder screw.
- Disconnected the coolant hose that goes into the AT cooler on the driver side of the intercooler, drained as much coolant as would come out. This one is one of those quick connect ends.
- Reconnected the hose connector once it finished draining.
- Disconnected power steering hose on passenger and driver side. These are those annoying rubber isolator things. One of the bolts snapped on mine so I guess that'll be zip tied back into place. :/
- Removed four sway bar bolts on the front of the cross member.
- Removed the two 10mm bolts that hold a plastic cooling line to the front of the cross member just under the sway bar. This cooling line has the sway bar held captive and you cannot rotate the sway bar down out of the way without disconnecting this from the cross member.
- Once that cooling line is disconnected from the cross member I removed the two (one per side) small brackets the power steering hose isolators were connected through. This is a major PIA. Each bracket is one 10mm bolt that is on the top of the cross member. The passenger side one isn't too bad, but the driver side one is out of sight. A short ratcheting 10mm wrench makes it a lot easier or else you'll be turning the bolt 1/8 a turn at a time with a conventional combination wrench and doing it all by feel.
- Once those brackets are out the sway bar can be convinced to rotate down out of the way. It will rotate behind that plastic cooling line if you push the cooling line towards the front of the car.
- At this point I removed the radiator fan as it looked like a tight fit to try and pull the water pump out the area I had free. It isn't too bad to do.
- I then put the right front of the car on a jack stand and removed the passenger wheel and fender liner to try and get an eye on all of the hoses. It is TIGHT in there. Be aware of the sensor on the fender liner you have to disconnect before you can pull it off the car.
- Remove the one electrical connector from the thermostat. It has a clip on one side that you need to lift gently wile pulling the connector off.
- I then started disconnecting hoses from the thermostat. I couldn't see how I would get the water pump out first like so many other people do. This is just a slow and steady (and annoying) step as the hoses with the traditional clamps will be stuck on rather well. I coaxed them off with some convincing from a screw driver. It took a while, they were crusty.
- Once the hoses are disconnected you can remove the two 10mm bolts holding the thermostat to the water pump.
- The thermostat should come out pretty easy at this point. Don't dump coolant on your face like I did.
- With the thermostat out you should now have access to the water pump electrical connector. Gently push the tab on the passenger side of the plug in while gently nudging it off with a screwdriver.
- With the plug off the final hose clamp should be accessible and pointing straight down. I used a short 6mm 1/4" drive socket and a very small ratchet coming in from the right wheel well.
- Note: I did not disconnect the hose that connects the thermostat and water pump from the water pump side. I pulled that hose out while still connected to the water pump.
- After loosening the last hose clamp I was able to use a screwdriver from the front of the car and coax off the hose.
- Push the loose electrical plug up and out of the way so it does not get caught inside the u-shaped thermostat to water pump hose when you pull out the water pump.
- Disconnect the ground wire from the front of the water pump. It is an E12 torx bolt.
- Remove the bottom two E12 torx bolts from the water pump
- Remove the top E12 torx bolt from the water pump
- Coax the water pump out. I had to (looking up from the ground) clockwise a bit so the host attached to it would clear some stuff and come out.
- Don't disconnect the hose from the water pump once you have it out so you can see how it is oriented and put your new thermostat to water pump hose on your new water pump.
You'll absolutely need a 3/8" swivel joint to get the lower E12 torx bolts off of the water pump as they point right at the cross member so it is impossible to get on them straight without a swivel.
I don't have one of those flexible hose clamp drivers so I used flat screwdrivers and a 6mm socket. |