Proper Way to Seat Water pump?

[Rich022]

So I THOUGHT the proper way to seat the water pump into the block would be to use the water pump bolts and tighten them down and that would press it in.. well, apparently NOT. (Had to replace my 3 month old GRAF waterpump as it began leaking.... I assume bc car overheated from broken plastic pipe)..
Anyway, I stripped the threads from the block of one of the smaller M6 bolts. Even though I was going slow and didn't really put much of any torque on them. very strange. I'm hoping 3 bolts +RTV sealant will hold it in from leaking.. really don't want to figure out how to re-thread the block.
1997 318is.. 226K miles.

So how do you guys press in your new waterpump? beat is with a rubber mallet was my other option. :mad::mad::mad:

Cheers,
Calypsored

[BlackBMWs]

Massive Brute Strength till I got too the o-ring, then balanced, sequenced, progressive tightening of each of the four bolts. Gotta make sure the pump is straight going in.

I was kidding about the brute strength. A note, I do clean the area around the pump and had lightly coated the o-ring with dielectric grease to help it slide in when it got to that point. :cool: