[delmarco]

Originally Posted by robthewrench

The waterpump failed on my 2011 N55 e90 at ~55K miles.

Same here. I just got the false red ENGINE HOT dash warning that precedes the imminent water pump death. My car is barely over 50k miles on the odometer and just 7 years old.

In my 14 years of driving I am on my third BMW 3 series (I also had countless other cars come and go in my household) and I've never had or heard of a water pump failing so prematurely!

My 1995 318i went almost 20 years and 164,000 miles and not one water pump issue (and that car had the dreaded green corrosive coolant when I purchased it).

My 2001 330i went almost to 100,000 miles and 10 years of rough North East driving before I preemptively replaced a working stock water pump with a Stewart EMP water pump.

Those water pumps, as parts, are cheaper, simpler and last the expected average lifespan of a serviceable water pump!

So I'm not sure why the complicated computerized high tech self aware water pump in my new car has to die in such a relatively short time.

Basically it is a crappy water pump and I dread spending the $1000 to $2000 replacing it since the replacement pump may last 50k miles or 5 years!

At this rate if that is the case I may as well buy an cheap $300 aftermarket water pump from Alibababa or eBay! At least then I won't be disappointed!

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by delmarco

Same here. I just got the false red ENGINE HOT dash warning that precedes the imminent water pump death. My car is barely over 50k miles on the odometer and just 7 years old.

In my 14 years of driving I am on my third BMW 3 series (I also had countless other cars come and go in my household) and I've never had or heard of a water pump failing so prematurely!

My 1995 318i went almost 20 years and 164,000 miles and not one water pump issue (and that car had the dreaded green corrosive coolant when I purchased it).

My 2001 330i went almost to 100,000 miles and 10 years of rough North East driving before I preemptively replaced a working stock water pump with a Stewart EMP water pump.

Those water pumps, as parts, are cheaper, simpler and last the expected average lifespan of a serviceable water pump!

So I'm not sure why the complicated computerized high tech self aware water pump in my new car has to die in such a relatively short time.

Basically it is a crappy water pump and I dread spending the $1000 to $2000 replacing it since the replacement pump may last 50k miles or 5 years!

At this rate if that is the case I may as well buy an cheap $300 aftermarket water pump from Alibababa or eBay! At least then I won't be disappointed!

The OE water pump kit is $350 with a lifetime warranty on FCP Euro.

[antonmn]

197,000 on my n54. It's on its second pump, replaced at about 110,000.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by antonmn

197,000 on my n54. It's on its second pump, replaced at about 110,000.

Damn that's a good ammount of miles!

[BimmerNugget]

Originally Posted by Nickco43

The OE water pump kit is $350 with a lifetime warranty on FCP Euro.

$335 from eBay seller PartsContainer. For N51/N52, not sure about N54/N55.

Includes Pierburg pump, Wahler thermostat, Aluminum bolts, and BMW genuine coolant.

[Choicest Hops]

The pump in my 2009 335i lasted 128k. It started mildly leaking from the housing and then within a week was spewing out coolant like crazy.

[whyzee125]

I'm on water pump #4 on my pre-LCI. My last one lasted 3 months and 2k miles. I don't think the newer design is any better at all lol

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by whyzee125

I'm on water pump #4 on my pre-LCI. My last one lasted 3 months and 2k miles. I don't think the newer design is any better at all lol

How can that be? Must have been defective

[BimmerNugget]

Originally Posted by whyzee125

I'm on water pump #4 on my pre-LCI. My last one lasted 3 months and 2k miles. I don't think the newer design is any better at all lol

Are you sure you didn't buy cheap chinese waterpumps off eBay/Amazon/AliExpress? I've seen them for dirt cheap, only $150 for pump, thermostat, and 3 aluminum bolts. They must be garbage.

[whyzee125]

Originally Posted by mecheng77

How can that be? Must have been defective

Originally Posted by BimmerNugget

Are you sure you didn't buy cheap chinese waterpumps off eBay/Amazon/AliExpress? I've seen them for dirt cheap, only $150 for pump, thermostat, and 3 aluminum bolts. They must be garbage.

OE Continental pump installed at a highly respected indy. Didn't leak for the first few months, but did after about 2k miles. They actually charged me $607 for just the water pump but I'm glad to pay a bit more markup for a 4 year warranty on all parts and labor. They covered it without a hassle and I had the warranty replacement done at a shop closer to me. So far so good.

[PhaseP]

Conti pumps (used at N54/N55 and X70 (X5) N52) having plastic propeller housing has tendency to crack. And it looks like a design issue plus luck of how much bending/shear stress the plastic housing experiencing due to production tolerances and even maybe how much torque applied when bolting it up to the pump body. It has a strange bolt pattern. So some pumps may fail early on, some may last long. Lots of people with N54/N55 changing these often. If you found one lasting long don't change it
N52 Pierburg pumps don't have this problem having full metal propeller housing.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

Conti pumps (used at N54/N55 and X70 (X5) N52) having plastic propeller housing has tendency to crack. And it looks like a design issue plus luck of how much bending/shear stress the plastic housing experiencing due to production tolerances and even maybe how much torque applied when bolting it up to the pump body. It has a strange bolt pattern. So some pumps may fail early on, some may last long. Lots of people with N54/N55 changing these often. If you found one lasting long don't change it
N52 Pierburg pumps don't have this problem having full metal propeller housing.

And no other pumps 3rd party with a proper housing was made yet? Why are we still stuck to buy a shitty pump ~ 10 years after the first cars are out.

[unrulyteach]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

And no other pumps 3rd party with a proper housing was made yet? Why are we still stuck to buy a shitty pump ~ 10 years after the first cars are out.

Money

[hassmaschine]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

And no other pumps 3rd party with a proper housing was made yet? Why are we still stuck to buy a shitty pump ~ 10 years after the first cars are out.

because you have an N54 and that's part of the fun?

FWIW, I bought one of those stupid cheap ebay N52 pumps a while back, it was so cheap I just wanted to see what it looked like (I want to say it was $50 shipped). Actually, it looked pretty good, so I kept it on my shelf. At 130k when my original pump started to go, I used it (because why not?) and it's been fine for a year now. It still has an aluminum housing, it may even be remanufactured - IDK, it works.

On the other hand, I also got a stupid cheap $10 thermostat (again, just to see what the quality was like), but it looked like total garbage, so i threw it away, opting to leave my original thermostat instead. I wouldn't recommend them at all - especially since new OEM ones aren't that expensive anyway.

[6ixSpd]

My August 2008 build waterpump finally started throwing shadow codes at 159k miles on my N52. I replaced it before it actually showed any other symptoms of failure, it didn't actually give out but I had a replacement sitting around and made the swap. Such a trooper!!

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

because you have an N54 and that's part of the fun?

FWIW, I bought one of those stupid cheap ebay N52 pumps a while back, it was so cheap I just wanted to see what it looked like (I want to say it was $50 shipped). Actually, it looked pretty good, so I kept it on my shelf. At 130k when my original pump started to go, I used it (because why not?) and it's been fine for a year now. It still has an aluminum housing, it may even be remanufactured - IDK, it works.

On the other hand, I also got a stupid cheap $10 thermostat (again, just to see what the quality was like), but it looked like total garbage, so i threw it away, opting to leave my original thermostat instead. I wouldn't recommend them at all - especially since new OEM ones aren't that expensive anyway.

I’m thinking to do a similar experiment with the DISA flaps on eBay. With OEM so expensive and the rebuild nearthe same cost I figure why not. As long as I don’t think it will explode and send shrapnel into the motor, I figure why not?

[bsmoov]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

because you have an N54 and that's part of the fun?

FWIW, I bought one of those stupid cheap ebay N52 pumps a while back, it was so cheap I just wanted to see what it looked like (I want to say it was $50 shipped). Actually, it looked pretty good, so I kept it on my shelf. At 130k when my original pump started to go, I used it (because why not?) and it's been fine for a year now. It still has an aluminum housing, it may even be remanufactured - IDK, it works.

On the other hand, I also got a stupid cheap $10 thermostat (again, just to see what the quality was like), but it looked like total garbage, so i threw it away, opting to leave my original thermostat instead. I wouldn't recommend them at all - especially since new OEM ones aren't that expensive anyway.

I was just about to post this. I bought a eBay waterpump when my old factory pump went out. It was good quality and the build was very nice and very similar to the OEM one. It was still going strong two years until my car got rear ended and total lossed. I bought a non running e90 from someone for stupid cheap saying that it needed a waterpump and thermostat, pulled the USED eBay one from my rear ended one and swapped it to the new e90 and it's still running strong. It has to be at least 3 years now (on 2 different e90s) and still good to go. I just bought another one from the same seller for another project I have.

[BimmerNugget]

Originally Posted by bsmoov

I was just about to post this. I bought a eBay waterpump when my old factory pump went out. It was good quality and the build was very nice and very similar to the OEM one. It was still going strong two years until my car got rear ended and total lossed. I bought a non running e90 from someone for stupid cheap saying that it needed a waterpump and thermostat, pulled the USED eBay one from my rear ended one and swapped it to the new e90 and it's still running strong. It has to be at least 3 years now (on 2 different e90s) and still good to go. I just bought another one from the same seller for another project I have.

Hmm...I guess chinese manufacturers are stepping up their game. Do you mine sharing the seller or link you bought it from?

[bsmoov]

Originally Posted by BimmerNugget

Hmm...I guess chinese manufacturers are stepping up their game. Do you mine sharing the seller or link you bought it from?

This is the one I bought: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Electric-En...frcectupt=true

I'm pretty sure they're all coming from the same source/factory, but I bought it from that seller because he sold over 200 of the waterpumps alone and over 300 of the wp/ts combo kits, that's over 500 sold and all the buyers gave it good reviews.

YMMV, but I had great success with it. Like I said, I ran one for over 3 years on 2 different e90 cars (same used waterpump transferred) and it's still going strong.

[hassmaschine]

in reality the PCB of the original pumps are probably made in China anyway.

I would probably buy a Pierburg if this one failed, but I'm leaving it in there as long as it works.

[CTinline-six]

A China pump probably would work fine, but the water pump is such a PITA job that I'd rather shell out the money for the Pierburg and hopefully not have to do it for a while, especially on an XDrive car.

[Hoody007]

2009 335i LCI sport here (12/08 production). 102,000 miles, original water pump, runs fine, knock on wood.

Both me and the second, long term owner drive predominantly highway miles, though, so this might be why its lasted as long as it has...