My water pump went out today at 131k, what should I pay to replace it or should I try and do it myself?
There is a Bentley Manual for your car (http://www.bentleypublishers.com/bm...5-series-e60-e61-repair-manual-2004-2010.html) - If you're ambitious, have tools, workspace, time, and are mechanically inclined, there's probably no reason to think that, with the guidance of the manual's instructions, you might not be able to tackle the project. My familiarity is with the much older cars, where this type of task, although not the simplest, is still relatively straightforward - I would expect the job for your car to be a more complicated and time consuming, one reason likely being that a lot more needs to be disassembled and removed just to gain access to begin the r&r (removal/replacement) of the water pump. Bavarian Autosport (Bavauto.com) lists a water pump for a 2006 550i $252.95, with belt, gasket, & o-ring an additional $46 (note that I have no idea if that's all the parts that may be necessary - perhaps it's appropriate to do a thermostat, or hoses, or other things as well) - In any case, it would appear you're looking at parts being a bit more than $300 minimum, depending on how you source them and what all else you may need, not including coolant, and it may be recommended to use BMW's coolant. I would guess that would be at least a 4-hr. job for any dealer/shop (minimum, maybe it takes a day, and I might not be surprised if it took longer), so, looking at dealer rates, guessing, of $110-$130/hr, plus shop materials and waste processing disposal fees, so perhaps the labor/etc. r&r charge maybe runs up to $600 (if it's a 4-hr. job) - and, don't forget sales tax. Of course there's shipping/handling for parts you might buy. I think most shops may refuse to install customer-supplied parts for a whole host of reason, so if you're hoping to shop your own parts and ask somebody else to install them, you may want to check that before buying any parts. A phone call to any shop or dealer, and they should be able to give you an accurate estimate of what they have to charge for the job.
My wife's silver 2005 BMW 530i Sport (100K miles) was leaking coolant on the driveway. Took car to Independent BMW / German car repair shop (IRS), they replaced the water pump and thermostat - $700. After only 1 month, coolant leaking was observed again. Returned car to the IRS. They replaced a few hoses and claimed leak was again fixed. $400. One month after that, we observed leaking coolant again!! Bit the bullet, took car to local BMW dealer who found that the aftermarket water pump installed by the IRS was leaking! Replaced with genuine BMW pump for less than IRS charged for his pump & labor (!!) and gave us a Lifetime Warranty on the pump! $350. I contacted IRS and they said they had a 2 year warranty on their parts. Oh really? This was never mentioned or written down on our invoices and the IRS had an opportunity to replace the leaking (new) water pump and missed it completely. So now 6 weeks after dealer repair, no leaks have been observed.
