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Originally Posted by wired2ten
After reading 7 pages of unfortunate water pump failures, I don't think I can pin what's been happening to my car solely on the water pump. Here's what's been going on...
We live in Tucson and the first time we had an overheating issue was when we were driving back from California to Arizona on I-10. Got the yellow high temp light along with a low coolant indicator, followed by the red light, then the car went into limp mode. Opened the hood and the reservoir and motor cover had coolant on it. Waited 20min, opened the reservoir cap and coolant level indicator was as low as possible. Added water (didn't have coolant) and limped back home after the same course of events happened 2 more times. I chalked this up to low coolant. Drove it around the city with A/C n full blast for several hours (running errands) and never had a problem. Thought all was good, fast forward a month.
We drive to vegas w/o issues but on the way back, same events happened several times again and we got it home. Both times, the top coolant hose was hot and the heater was blowing HOT air (using this to prevent overheating when we were driving the car in between overheating episodes). Read the forum and since the car has almost 70,000 miles, I changed out the coolant myself. Water pump worked during the bleeding process. Coolant level was not low and no signs of leaks either. Dealer here is TOO $$ for me and no availability for over a month anyway so I didn't go. Now fast forward 2 months.
Weather has been over a 100 degrees F here and again in city stop and go driving with A/C on, no issues. BUT I do notice that within 5 seconds of starting the car after its been sitting overnight, the fan comes on. We head to Phoenix yesterday and within 40min, yellow light, red light, then limp mode. Reservoir wet, right front wheel well is wet and on the bottom of the passenger door. Now wondering if its time to take to dealer before engine, transmission damage occurs from all this, replace water pump/stat and or reservoir since all this high pressure had probably made it a weak link.
The functioning heater and hot rad hose lead me away from a pump failure BUT the intermittent failing episodes some have mentioned is a possibility. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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It is very easy to diagnose the water pump failure. Just have the car scanned with a BMW scan tool. If the pump has been failing, codes 2E81 and possibly 2E82 will be present in the ECU. The pump fails because the electronics that control it are in the back of the pump housing and overheat. Once they cool down the pump will work again until at some point the electronics totally fail.
What you described is exactly what the conditions are once the pump fails: overheat warning and coolant all over the engine bay. There is no doubt your pump has been failing. Get it replaced.