The earlier 3 (and 5) series are infamous for their 60 thousand mile water pumps. My 2000 E46's lasted until about 80K. Happily (?), I heard it failing and drove to my mechanic's where the car puked at the entrance to his shop, whereupon my wallet puked out about $400. My E92 just blitzed past 50K and now I'm wondering if I have to worry about replacing the water pump soon. Anybody know if BMW has remedied this or are we still to expect failures every 60K? Thanks for any inputs.
I am well familiar with the water pump issue. Ours in our '00 528i puked at 90k. Mike Miller (techtalk@roundel.org) recommended preventative replacement on those models (and some others) at 60k. I don't know if the new pumps are any better. Shoot Mike an email at the email address I listed above and ask him. He is typically back at you very quickly. cheers.
I have heard that the Stewart brand water pump is superior to the OEM but it is pricier. You might check that out if you want. Link is below and I know Turner Motorsports sells them. http://www.stewartcomponents.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=BMWHPWP
Thanks for the responses. I took M3 's suggestion and emailed Mike Miller. Different pump completely. The one on the N51 engine is an electric pump rather than a mechanical one as in the old E46 and E39. There have been some failures but it is not known if they are because of defective pumps or a trend to be concerned about. New engine, new pump, more data needed. What a great resource Roundel, the Tech Talk forum and Mike Miller are. Thanks again, folks.
