Water pump replacement on an E61 is rough!

[DaHose]

So I went ahead and replaced the water pump in our 06 E61 this last weekend. We did not experience a failure, but with so many folks talking about failures past 100K (ours has 128K) I decided a preventative approach was best.

HOLY COW! That was such an odious, unpleasant task! It's NOTHING like replacing a pump on an older model. There is no room to work in there, and things don't come off without spraying coolant everywhere. The biggest hassle is getting to the two hose clamped hoses on the thermostat housing. I also discovered that my pump was bolted on with regular hex headed bolts, and two stacked washers, NOT aluminum 12 point, shouldered bolts. I think my existing pump might not have been the original, and replacement might not have been needed. At any rate, I am keeping the old pump, as a functional spare.

What prompted the decision to tear into the job, was that the temp. sensor on the lower radiator hose was leaking badly. It turned out to be the o-ring on the sensor, but since the leak had pretty much drained the system, I decided to just swap the pump. I refilled the system and forgot to swap out the sensor, but I just put a shop vac on the overflow tank to prevent coolant draining out, and replaced the sensor. That worked great. Now the system is sealed back up, and appears leak free. No coding/clearing needed after replacing that coolant sensor either.

I have a mid-rise lift, but doing this on stands would have been SOOOOOOOO much worse. I totally understand anybody wanting to just take the car to a shop to get the pump replaced.

Jose

[pbonsalb]

Would the electric water pump on an 08 E61 be worse? I plan to do mine preventatively this year.

[interalian]

The worst one is the AWD xi model. RWD cars are a breeze.

[pbonsalb]

My 08 is AWD. I need to do the oil pan gasket as well. I might cut the gasket or I might wait and do gasket, WP and turbos all at once.

[DaHose]

Oh man ..... oil pan. YUCK!

Mine is an XI, and that front transaxle results in everything just crammed into that lower passenger wheel corner. Doing the oil pan on an XI would be an absolute drag.

Do you have a 2-post lift pbonsalb?

Jose

[pbonsalb]

I used to but had to sell it when I moved because the new old house has a wood floor carriage house. I changed to a 4 post lift but have about 41” between the runners. I can drop an engine or transmission so I should be fine for the oil pan job.