HELLLLP PLEASSSSSE!?!?!?!

[BmWwHiPPin]

Okay guys my ti is down and it is going on 2 weeks now... me and my dad cannot figure out what is wrong... so heres what happened... i was at the mall turned off my car and got out and i hear liquid trickling so i go and look and antifreeze is pouring out of my radiator... so me and my dad put in a new radiator, new radiator cap, and it still overheated...so we put in the new thermostat and still over heats, and im not sure what else my dad has done but maybe this has happened to someone before?! thanks to anyone that can help!!

[mnbimmerchic]

Did you check the water pump?

[stormos]

a common failure.... ^

[Etienne]

Maybe air-bubbles? These can sometimes be a real pain to get rid off... I've never done radiator fluid in the ti, but in my brothers camaro it took quite a few tries...

Good luck with getting your ti back on the road...

[BmWwHiPPin]

no i didnt thank you for that info, i actually bought a new one of those a while ago and never put it in...is it a big job to put in?

[mnbimmerchic]

It's not too bad. Mainly just draining the coolant, taking off the rad. fan and some belts to get to it. I'd suggest going here for instructions: http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/E36-Water-Pump/E36-water-pump.htm

Good luck!

[318tibimmer]

Not to big of a deal to replace it. I would say if you have all the tools maybe take you about 30 mins. DO NOT remove the water pump the way it says in that guide, you will break something. Just a short how-to:

1: Loosen (don't remove) 4 bolts on waterpump pully
2: Remove AC Belt
3: Remove Main Serpentine Belt
4: Remove waterpump pully
5: Remove the 4 bolts holding in the water pump.
- If I remember correctly there are 3 short and 1 long
6: Take 2 of the shorter bolts and thread them into the removal holes
- If you look at the pic, it is the hole marked (there are 2,one on eachside)
http://vortex.digitalxtremeinc.com/wpremoval.jpg
7: Tighten each side slowly back and forth, to walk the waterpump out.
8: Put the new pump in the hole
9: Walk all 4 bolts in (Do not tighten all at once)
10: I would call BMW to get a Tourque spec on the waterpump, but I have just done it to where it was tight/snug.

[BmWwHiPPin]

Thanks for all the help everyone!

[J!m]

Torque is low- under 10 ft/lb if I remember correctly...

[318tibimmer]

Yea, Like I said tight/snug - be careful you don't want to stip the threads out of the head. If you have a tourqe wrench, use it.

[Mothman]

You guys are awesome!

[Etienne]

I love pictures of how-to's that contain hammers :).

[denissef]

Okay guys my ti is down and it is going on 2 weeks now... me and my dad cannot figure out what is wrong... so heres what happened... i was at the mall turned off my car and got out and i hear liquid trickling so i go and look and antifreeze is pouring out of my radiator... so me and my dad put in a new radiator, new radiator cap, and it still overheated...so we put in the new thermostat and still over heats, and im not sure what else my dad has done but maybe this has happened to someone before?! thanks to anyone that can help!!

This sounds very familiar to me, I changed my radiator, thermostat, my belts are new, replaced hoses, and the car still overheats. Then we noticed the fan wasn't turning on, we tested it to make sure it was broken but the fan worked. So we replaced the temp. sensor, and guess what... it still not working! It's been a month since this happened, and we can't figure out what is the real problem, I wish I could give you some positive insight but I'm afraid I can't. Good look!

[sflier]

This procedure is great but I'm still having problems getting the water pump out. It's original with 135,000 miles on it and I'm changing it out since it's starting to squeal. I put the bolts into the walk-out holes but they just ended up stripping the threads on the water pump without pulling the pump out. I've tried tapping it on each side with my rubber mallet to loosen it ... but it just won't come out. It moves out a bit but snaps back like the o-ring has seized in there over the years. Does anyone have a trick to getting this out when the normal procedures fail? Thanks

[Bam2002]

The other comon failure spots are the plastic cooling hose elbows. There is one on the back of the head, between the engine and firewall. This will crack an leak slowly.. untill it breaks. Then you will warp your head if you dont catch it. The plastic parts get brittle at 100k miles. Oh yea the other one is under the intake manifold

So if the pump doenst fix it check these parts. If you have not replaced these parts you should.

B

[jaimito79]

This sounds very familiar to me, I changed my radiator, thermostat, my belts are new, replaced hoses, and the car still overheats. Then we noticed the fan wasn't turning on, we tested it to make sure it was broken but the fan worked. So we replaced the temp. sensor, and guess what... it still not working! It's been a month since this happened, and we can't figure out what is the real problem, I wish I could give you some positive insight but I'm afraid I can't. Good look!

Just curious? Did you check the fuses to the fan or sensor. Sometimes it something as dumb as that. Just asking:smile:

[weezer]

This procedure is great but I'm still having problems getting the water pump out. It's original with 135,000 miles on it and I'm changing it out since it's starting to squeal. I put the bolts into the walk-out holes but they just ended up stripping the threads on the water pump without pulling the pump out. I've tried tapping it on each side with my rubber mallet to loosen it ... but it just won't come out. It moves out a bit but snaps back like the o-ring has seized in there over the years. Does anyone have a trick to getting this out when the normal procedures fail? Thanks


The instruction in Bentley specifically tells you to use a M10 bolt to push/back-out the water pump. The O ring makes it snug and produced a vacuum seal to keep the coolant out of the water pump housing.
I'm having this problem right now, per my thread (Overheating Again).
Now my radiator busted/leaked after I've done the water pump and thermostat replacement.
The M44 engine (96-99) uses a completely electric fan, unlike the M42 (1995) engines where the fan is activated by a clutch running with the water pump pulley. So, replacement is very easy and quick.
BUT...............remember to bleed the radiator (using the bleeder screw next to the reservoir cap on the radiator) when refilling he coolant............otherwise air bubbles get stuck in the system and coolant will not circulate properly causing the engine to overheat.
Good Luck!

[campaiar]

The M44 engine (96-99) uses a completely electric fan, unlike the M42 (1995) engines where the fan is activated by a clutch running with the water pump pulley. So, replacement is very easy and quick.
BUT...............

I haven't seen a M42 with a waterpump driven fan, only electric ones. The six-cylinders have waterpump driven fans.

I had this problem on my M42, fan never comes on during an over-heat condition. As a hillbilly fix, there is a coolant sensor in the passenger side of the radiator. You can use a jumper wire in the electrical plug to "hotwire" the fan on. There are two speeds to pick from, low and wind-tunnel.

[marko]

+1 - Yes! make sure you change these now (reagrdless of miles on car) - they are cheap & fail easy.

The other comon failure spots are the plastic cooling hose elbows. There is one on the back of the head, between the engine and firewall. This will crack an leak slowly.. untill it breaks. Then you will warp your head if you dont catch it. The plastic parts get brittle at 100k miles. Oh yea the other one is under the intake manifold

So if the pump doenst fix it check these parts. If you have not replaced these parts you should.

B

[sflier]

Well I ended up getting the water pump out. I ended up placing a small block of wood next to it and levered it off with a small pry par ... it popped off using that method. Figured I let you all know what ended up working for me in case you face the same issue. Thanks everyone for your help.

[Charlie]

Well I ended up getting the water pump out. I ended up placing a small block of wood next to it and levered it off with a small pry par ... it popped off using that method. Figured I let you all know what ended up working for me in case you face the same issue. Thanks everyone for your help.

What did you brace the block of wood against?

I'm in the middle of this exact same situation right now, that SOB is seized in there tight, the screwholes stripped and also cracked.

-Charlie

[sflier]

I ended up taking a 3" piece of 1x2 wood block and placed it on the cover bolt heads next to the water pump (timing chain cover?). I used one arm of a 3-jaw puller (or any very small pry bar that you can find would probably work) and pulled the water pump off by levering the arm of the 3-jaw puller on the wood block and under the outer flange (the piece the pulley bolts to) of the pump. There isn't much room to work with so that's the biggest challenge. It popped right off once I used that method. Before I figured out that solution, I was trying to pull the thing off by hand from under the hood and under the car ... neither worked of course. As I’ve already mentioned, I was not able to pull the pump off using the “proper procedure” of alternating turning bolts on the extra holes provided in the water pump … the threads in those holes just quickly stripped out rendering them useless as removal aides.

Hope this method works for you too.