Hi, this is my first post and I have scoured the internet but get varied answers.

Ive recently had an overheating issue on my E46 318ci and I noticed that there was water escaping from the expansion bottle. I had that replaced but when it was replaced, there was a few little bits of plastic in the old bottle.

The garage that replaced it said that they think the water pump is gone but I'm not entirely convinced as the car now seems fine and no longer overheats.

One thing though, the top hose that comes from the engine back to the expansion bottle does get hot and the hose from the radiator to the engine is a lot cooler. I would think this is quite normal but the garage also said that that was a problem.

Please can someone advise on anything I can do to see if the water pump is indeed broken?

Thanks in advance.