Can we talk about water pumps and fan clutches?

[EuroGeorge]

Before we get started, my car has accumulated about 43K miles since 2001 when I bought her. Total miles on the clock is 147K. I am looking to do a refresh on the cooling system (radiator, water pump and fan clutch).

This will be the second radiator, 3rd water pump and 3rd fan clutch in 43K miles. I have used Geba or Graf pumps, Sachs or Behr clutches. I have always used BMW coolant and distilled water. I know there are some other choices for pumps and clutches.

This seems a bit "frequent" for pump and clutch replacement. Curious to see what you all think.

Thanks in advance.

[tschultz]

Before we get started, my car has accumulated about 43K miles since 2001 when I bought her. Total miles on the clock is 147K. I am looking to do a refresh on the cooling system (radiator, water pump and fan clutch).

This will be the second radiator, 3rd water pump and 3rd fan clutch in 43K miles. I have used Geba or Graf pumps, Sachs or Behr clutches. I have always used BMW coolant and distilled water. I know there are some other choices for pumps and clutches.

This seems a bit "frequent" for pump and clutch replacement. Curious to see what you all think.

Thanks in advance.

Definitely frequent compared to me!

In my 95k miles in my 535i since '09 I have only replaced the fan clutch once and thermostat once.
Generic green coolant.

633csi turbo, one water pump (due to gasket seepage) and one fan clutch (noticed higher temps at idle). 6000 miles/3 years

635Csi euro, I think I need to replace the thermostat, 20k miles/7 years.

[EuroGeorge]

Definitely frequent compared to me!

In my 95k miles in my 535i since '09 I have only replaced the fan clutch once and thermostat once.
Generic green coolant.

633csi turbo, one water pump (due to gasket seepage) and one fan clutch (noticed higher temps at idle). 6000 miles/3 years

635Csi euro, I think I need to replace the thermostat, 20k miles/7 years.

Tom, If you remember, what brand pump and clutch did you use?

[LarryM]

I just had a manual conversion done on my car, and will be re-doing my cooling system including a new radiator (for a manual tranny car), all new hoses, and rebuilding the heater valve. I ordered a Behr radiator; some E28 guys tell me they're OE and quite good. However I've heard that Sachs fan clutches are better than Behr. I installed a pump from BavAuto about 15 years/ 20K miles ago; I think it was a BMW pump but not sure; they were much cheaper then. Anyway, no problems so far. You can get a factory reman pump for under $200 and given the hassle involved in changing them, I think that's the way I'd go. I always use BMW coolant/distilled water.

[tschultz]

Tom, If you remember, what brand pump and clutch did you use?

Saleri water pump.

For fan clutch, I tried URo but dimensions weren't exactly the same and I don't have that many miles on it yet.

[Dschart]

I had a URO fan clutch and that one didn't make it 6 months. It has a very soft seal with the flat bi-metal spring, and the seal puked all of the fluid out. The quality of the seal is very bad. I replaced the fan clutch with a Hayden 2591 which in my opinion is a better design using a torsional bi-metal spring. It has run a year so far, and I hope much longer. I got it for $50 from RA... a bit more than the Chinese parts. The Hayden, is made in Germany.

If I have to replace this again, guess I will need to fork out the big bucks for a factory part.

Same opinion on water pumps. The Chinese parts flooding every retailer these days are in my opinion not worth the labor for installation.

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