Belts are the culprit. The car needs new belts, water pump and radiator. He opened the hood and checked the fan, it was wiggling a little bit and he said that he is right, the water pump went. He said that the plastic impeller inside the pump usually crumbles to pieces and drains through the radiator. I seem to have heard this before at the previous thread. But will quote me the price today. Will keep you guys posted........What do you think???? Shragon does this sound familiar???

Sounds like you guys should try to start a support group...they might already have one in the E36 Forum :devillook

I'm still debating over whether or not to put the black plastic pump in mine or get another metal one... The black one is supposed to be redesigned so it doesn't have the problem, and it IS a BMW part...dunno

Abakos why would you want to chance it..........its your engine.......I change mine out myself. Just takes somne time and Bentley's manual.
It's not that hard but if the plastic has shreaded already better off leaving it to the shop and eat the cost. At least you might be able to hold them responsable.


theDogger
95 525iA 120k
'SHaRKED' (But not for long.........)

Dogger-

It's not that I want to chance it, that's the reason I bought the other water pump. The fellow who sold it to me told me it was metal, but it is in fact plastic. I asked about it in the E36 forum and I was told that the Black pump was good, I'm still debating. Either way I'm stuck with this pump. I might just keep it as a spare and get a metal one anyways.

I'm not pushing it off on purpose, but it's been cold and I don't have a garage to do the work in. I also have a new thermostat to put in, mine's been acting up. I have trouble getting up to temp and staying there... The asshole who lied about the pump lied about the thermostat too. He told me it was an 88 degree thermostat, but it's a 92. Minor detail...but when I track this beast (eventually) I don't want to have to worry about it. It's hard enough to get up to temp in the winter around here.

You mix in my recent discovery of my coolant leak...and well I think I'm going to set out to just replace the whole damn system at this rate.

I've got the Bentley manual...just need the time and place to do it. A buddy of mine has a 1.5 car garage that is good for working in, so I might head up to his place in a few weeks. He's out of town right now, I'm out of town shortly after he gets back...<sigh>

This is borderline thread piracy... ;)

manny,

it sure does sound familiar. but you seem to be one of the lucky ones, where coolant didn't explode everywhere into the engine compartment.

my advice, DO NOT REPLACE IT WITH A PLASTIC IMPELLER! when i got mine done, they used another plastic impeller because there were not able to locate a metal one from their supplier. since i really needed the car badly, i went ahead with the repair using a plastic impeller. i'm planning on getting that one replaced soon with one that has a metal impeller.

m50 water pumps with plastic impellers = ticking time bombs

Yeah..I guess I am lucky but remember last time, in fact last month they had to replace the thermostat in my car because coolant exploded all over the place....Man....he said because I had to drive the car to the side of the road I even got coolant all over the exhaust...go figure...I feel that with this job--new belts, new thermostat, new radiator, new anti freeze and coolant (mechanic will bleed the system) everything else should be OK. Damn are there other things I should now about???? from experience guys????

the two major things i can think about that went wrong on my car is water pump & thermo stat and thrust arms. i guess that could be seen as three things. other than that, i find my '95 525i to be very reliable. i'm at 102k miles.

Thanks for the replies.....till the next time something happens.

Ditto on Shragon. I did Upper Control Arms last fall. I'm at 94k.

I did adjust my steering box a little last year...but maybe that's just me :)