[Basis swap]

Thank God for that BavAuto video! Gave me the courage to try this DIY (by far the most involved I had ever done prior to this)

My experience

1. E93= having to also undo the cross-bars that reinforce the frame. Luckily, you only have to undo them in the front and at the midway points. This gives you enough leverage to push the sway bar down once you undo its 4 bolts. Push the sway bar right onto the cross beams. They flex nicely.

2. I spent way too much time under the car disassembling all of the parts,carefully. Better safe than sorry.

3. I am lowered on H&R and Konis. Even with the Rhino ramps, the car is quite low to the ground. Don't expect to be doing this on your side

4. That plastic 90 degree elbow hose which connects to the pump is a real bbbbbbbbbbtch to undo and put back on. To get it off, hold it and yank it back and forth until it comes off the water pump flange. Took me a while to do this, given that the car is an '08

5. Putting back this same elbow-shaped hose was a torture. First time around I forced it, but it did not come on fully. After bolting everything up and testing the car on local roads, this piece disconnected and all of the new coolant came right out. SO...don't try to force this hose back onto the pump. If you have pliers with long handles, flip your pliers upside down and use the long handles to clamp this hose at its flange. Once clamped, just apply a bit of pressure to snap the hose right onto the pump. You'll hear a click. After trying to force the damn hose for an hour, doing this took 5 seconds and was so easy, I literally jumped for joy. Finesse is everything!

6. Some of the clamps on the thermostat and pump may face away from you and at such an angle that it's close to impossible to get a ratchet on them. Still, it's possible, so don't give up.

[IN54NITY]

Originally Posted by Basis swap

Thank God for that BavAuto video! Gave me the courage to try this DIY (by far the most involved I had ever done prior to this)

My experience

^ Good post right there

To your points:

1. ... Yeah, I wasted about 10 minutes thinking I could get by without moving the sway bar, and all the sh!t you have to do so that you can move that. Future advice to DIYers, you have to move the sway bar. Period. (Exception: you have elf hands.)

2. ... good advice.

3. ... I don't know how you all do it on ramps, I jacked up the car so I could take off the right front wheel and fender liner. Much better access to back of pump and thermostat.

4 & 5. ... Somehow it came right off for me, but yep, a biiiotch to put back on.... correctly. I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but laughing at your story of the new coolant coming out, only because I could imagine the pain...

6. ... I spent time to set them up right for the next H20 pump replacement.

I got the wrong bolts, I cut them down to 26mm. See pic. Also, maybe obvious to everyone, but I'll post anyways. When you get the new pump and thermostat, you can temporarily bolt them together and then set up the hose between them so it's angled "just right" for the thermostat. I had no problems putting the pump in (holy f it's tight) even with the hose already attached. You will have to set up the tensioner screw so that you can access again, but you don't have tighten once it's in. Again, see pic (top of hose goes to thermostat, I took pic after I disconnected the thermostat from it.)

[garyhgaryh]

Beginning of this week I hit 63k miles on my 08 335i.
I told myself I should replace the waterpump since people start having failures at about 60k.

Today, after dropping my daughter off at preschool, my car over heated. I figured it was probably the water pump and had AAA tow my car home.

I'm going to order a GATES 41504E tonight. It's just a Continental OE pump.

[Prolifik]

The 90 degree plastic "quick disconnect" hose on the back of the water pump is impossible to remove..... I've taken the circlip completely off Aswell.... Any tips?

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by Prolifik

The 90 degree plastic "quick disconnect" hose on the back of the water pump is impossible to remove..... I've taken the circlip completely off Aswell.... Any tips?

Patience, and keep working it. Wiggle, twist, pull and repeat. Eventually it will break free.

[Prolifik]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

Patience, and keep working it. Wiggle, twist, pull and repeat. Eventually it will break free.

man, seems like ive been doing it for hours....
at first i thought maybe the circlip was not fully unseated which makes sense, so i just removed it completly. But it still barely budges....

As you know its tight in there, so getting a good grip on it is difficult.

I shall keep trying.

[Prolifik]

Got it. Ended up using a pry bar.
Fuck it was on tight

[PhaseP]

[RobertRichy]

My pump just went bye bye : (

Luckily I have Route 66 coverage so I am not too bummed about it. With that said I am wondering if there would be any additional labor or savings to install inlets/outlets.

Kind of a..."hey while your under there"

It's in the hands of a BMW Master Mechanic if that makes a difference.

[garyhgaryh]

What's the secret to removing the electrical connector to the thermostat? Everything else seems easy so far except that connector. I don't want to break it. I slide a small screw driver up the connector until it caught and then I pryed the top away from the connector and tried to pull the connector straight out. No go. Will try again.

[garyhgaryh]

Originally Posted by garyhgaryh

What's the secret to removing the electrical connector to the thermostat? Everything else seems easy so far except that connector. I don't want to break it. I slide a small screw driver up the connector until it caught and then I pryed the top away from the connector and tried to pull the connector straight out. No go. Will try again.

Oh nice! I figured it out after using a flashlight to ID the clip and looking at the new thermostat. I was pulling on the thermostat housing thinking it was the connector. The electrical connector goes INSIDE the connector housing of the thermostat! That took the longest to figure out for me!
Gary

[Built My Way]

Originally Posted by RobertRichy

My pump just went bye bye : (

Luckily I have Route 66 coverage so I am not too bummed about it. With that said I am wondering if there would be any additional labor or savings to install inlets/outlets.

Kind of a..."hey while your under there"

It's in the hands of a BMW Master Mechanic if that makes a difference.

You might as well change the thermostat at the same time. They don't cost very much.

[Built My Way]

Originally Posted by garyhgaryh

Oh nice! I figured it out after using a flashlight to ID the clip and looking at the new thermostat. I was pulling on the thermostat housing thinking it was the connector. The electrical connector goes INSIDE the connector housing of the thermostat! That took the longest to figure out for me!
Gary

Glad you got it solved.

[RobertRichy]

Originally Posted by Built My Way

You might as well change the thermostat at the same time. They don't cost very much.

Yup...it's on the list. Thanks. How about inlets or outlets?

[Built My Way]

Originally Posted by RobertRichy

Yup...it's on the list. Thanks. How about inlets or outlets?

The inlet/outlet tubes were in pretty good shape so I didn't bother.

[garyhgaryh]

Originally Posted by Prolifik

Got it. Ended up using a pry bar.
Fuck it was on tight

Yeah I had to pry it off. It was easy with the pry bar. My pry bar was tire iron for my tire changer:

http://www.harborfreight.com/24-in-g...ron-61603.html

Gary

[FirstBMWLA]

About to give this a go next week when parts arrive.
Got the overheat message this week...
For anyone who's done this and downpipes, is it as hard as a downpipe install?
Hoping if I manages the DPs I can get this one done.

[FirstBMWLA]

Originally Posted by FirstBMWLA

About to give this a go next week when parts arrive.
Got the overheat message this week...
For anyone who's done this and downpipes, is it as hard as a downpipe install?
Hoping if I manages the DPs I can get this one done.

I'll answer myself.
After doing both I can see water pump definitely easier IMO.
Reinstall was much quick than removal

[Wolf 335]

Guys is 11 51 7 632 426 still the latest revision of the water pump?

Are these also prone to premature failures?

[IN54NITY]

Originally Posted by Wolf 335

Guys is 11 51 7 632 426 still the latest revision of the water pump?

Are these also prone to premature failures?

Yes, I think that is the latest. It's made by Continental. It does _not_ have the rubber grommet/insulator the original had, and thus it requires shorter bolts. I got the wrong size in my kit (31 mm) and had to cut them down to 26mm (with a dremmel tool) otherwise the bolt gets "stopped" by the block before your pump is adequately torqued/sealed.

My replacement seems to be fine, though it has only had 12k of use. FYI, my old water pump bearing was still silky smooth, it was either the electric motor itself or electronics that were kaput.

[quinones28]

I'm picking up an 08 335i next week and this will be my first "mod"

[FPsN54]

So I just finished this job today. Took my time and followed a combination of the BavAuto videos and the DIY write up.

This isn't a hard job, you just have to be patient. The hardest part was removing the awful fittings with the spring clip. You cant twist them because they are keyed, you have to rock them back and forth just enough to the point where you can get a flat head screw driver into the hose to crack them (You'll know what I mean when you get to that point). My dad really wanted to help as he knows nothing about mechanic work and was willing to do most of the steps as long as he was given clear directions.

I also drank a mouthful of coolant and got it into my ear.