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Thank you BMW, thank you so bloody much!

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Basil

Basil

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So I'm in the process of repairing SWMBO's BMW Z4, which broke a serpentine belt last week. I decided that as long as I am in there I should change the water pump, the thermostat and idler pullys. Everything was going swimmingly until I got to the job of removing the water pump. The pump was easy enough to unbolt from the engine, but, because the brilliant BMW engineers put a big cross member right in front of the water pump, it is impossible to get it out without unbolting the engine from the engine mounts and jacking up the engine. Yes, I can do it, but what a Pain! It would have been so easy to design that cross member in such a way so as to accommodate the removal of the pump. But nooooooo!

thankyousobloddymuch.jpg
 
Now that pic is one I've never seen. Can you imagine someone who has never seen that engine before, trying to find the starter! That surly is at the top of the list. :thankyousign: :winner1:
 
Always thought that Northstar engine would be perfect for a mid-engine racing effort.
 
DrEntropy said:
Always thought that Northstar engine would be perfect for a mid-engine racing effort.
Click to expand...
That could possibly be a fair choice Doc, you don't always need a starter in a race car! :devilgrin:
 
DrEntropy said:
Always thought that Northstar engine would be perfect for a mid-engine racing effort.
Click to expand...
Interesting you say that Doc. I had a friend several years ago who had a little business doing that. He put them in the Toyota MR2 and some other little mid engine car that was around at the time, I can't remember which.
 
Pardon me for getting this thread back on topic - but I just managed to successfully remove the old water pump! Yaaa! With the car up on jack stands, I had to undo a nut on the left-side motor mount (from underneath), then I put a floor jack with a piece of 3x3 wood under the front-left of the oil pan. At that point I had to jack the engine/ motor mount up off the frame about 3 inches, which was enough to allow the water pump to clear an opening in the front cross member. Wasn't too bad, but still a pain when it would have been so easy to design that cross member to accommodate pump removal. Now I just have to wait for the new pump and other parts to put it all back together.
 
My old girlfriend's Saab 900 had the waterpump up against the firewall. Fun to drive (turbo version) but man I hated working on it.
 
When my first brother was in grad school I was asked to change the water pump on his Ford Mavrick. Was the original and when I grabbed the fan blades the ends could move forward and back about two inches, he was lucky it hadn't come completely apart. Anyway, the pump was rusted on so well that I had to take a mallet to it to break the seal after the bolts were out.
 
mikephillips said:
Anyway, the pump was rusted on so well that I had to take a mallet to it to break the seal after the bolts were out.
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The water pump on SWMBO's BMW water pump has bolt holes on either side so as to accommodate bolts that can be run down, pressing against the block and thus cause the water pump to be separated from the block. Luckily, I didn't have to use those bolts as I was able to just man-handle the pump to get it loose.
 
Must have been "Wrench Day" yesterday. Had a six hour battle with the neighbor's V6 Altima alternator. No YouTube video gave us a good answer.
The engine design is elegant, I'll admit. But "serviceability" when stuffed into that chassis/body configuration makes for some really colorful utterances when trying to work on it.

How much of the Zed car did you need to disassemble before you could actually R&R the pump? Hope it wasn't as involved as the Altima.
 
DrEntropy said:
How much of the Zed car did you need to disassemble before you could actually R&R the pump? Hope it wasn't as involved as the Altima.
Click to expand...
I had to remove the upper shroud that covers the radiator and fan assembly, then had to remove the electric fan assembly. I would have had to remove the serpentine belt except, well, it was already gone. Next was the upper radiator hose (which was damaged from the belt breaking). Finally, I removed the very weird looking thermostat housing, and lastly was able to undo the four bolts holding the pump. As already mentioned, I had to then remove the main nut on the underside of the left-side motor mount and then jack up the engine, which caused it to twist to one side just enough to allow the pump to clear the front cross member that had been blocking it.
 
Sounds about the same drill. Shrouds, fan motors, right front wheel off to access the front of the engine, belt only partially cooked in this case and we didn't need to raise the engine. A blind thru-bolt about six or seven inches long had to be accessed from under the car, at the rear of the alternator. Just about enough room between the A/C compressor and exhaust header to put one hand far enough in to pull it out, with only two fingers. Did manage to get the unit out from the top, JUST enough clearance to do that with a lot of turning and twisting it. Lining up the replacement unit to get that bolt in was frustrating. Took well over an hour of fetteling and fuming. No way to "sight" it in, just a lot of trial-and-error. The Braille method. Didn't get the coolant in until this AM, it started raining just as I tightened the screws to hold the engine cover in place yesterday afternoon. Chimed it up and checked all for leaks, malfunctions, etc. with fingers and all else there were two of crossed. All good (so far!).
 
This is why my latest car was a 94 Jeep. I got tired of this kind of ordeal on my Toyota.
 
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