Best place to get a water pump?

[Redline]

So noticed that drop top was leaking a bit of water, & sure enough water pump appears to have given up the ghost.

Now I have heard that that you get two types of water pumps one with a plastic impeller & one with a metal impeller.

Is this true, which is the better & which distributor sells a better quality for reasonable price in the CPT area for a 328 E36?

 

[maximus]

So noticed that drop top was leaking a bit of water, & sure enough water pump appears to have given up the ghost.

Now I have heard that that you get two types of water pumps one with a plastic impeller & one with a metal impeller.

Is this true, which is the better & which distributor sells a better quality for reasonable price in the CPT area for a 328 E36?

Plastic impellers were the stock factory ones...and it deteriorates over time.
My one had the plastic stock impeller water pump and it blew up at around 220k km.

So I went to Masterparts in Kenilworth and got a metal impeller one for R298.77 ex vat. It fits all M50 and M52 engines. and while you're there you might as well get a aluminium thermostat housing :thumb:

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Have a lookey look on my DIY thread:

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=28135

Here's some pix:
The waterpump is the one on the far left

The stock plastic impeller (good for about 220 000km)

As you can see its F'ed - and it's not suppose to freely spin around so freely

Comparison

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This was installed in February 2012, and it's still running good :thumb:

 

[Baron]

Nice comparison pics!

Not sure about the E36, but I know the E46's have composite impellers (black hard plastic / resin) which are much better than the straight plastic and are supposedly recommended over the metal ones since they are OEM and built with finer tolerances, not tack-welded together and have a better reinforced outer housing (the guys were counting the number of 'fins' on the metal part behind the pulley).

Looks to me like the same part as above, whether or not the metal ones are any worse than the composite, I'm not sure...

 

[Raybimmer]

The metal impeller will rust over time , so BMW used plastic , which gets brittle and breaks and becomes loose on the shaft .
If the water and antifreeze mix is changed every two years the cooling system should not corrode away .
An aluminium thermostat housing will be better than the plastic one that cracks when tightening the nuts when refitting .
Good luck

 

[Charlie Brown]

If you can find a GMB, that would be first choice, second would be Saleri. But to my knowledge GMB do make BMW pumps. I have a Saleri in my 318i and it's fine, about 2 years and 35 000kms later.

Do buy a Meyle - mine leaked from new !!!

 

[moranor@axis]

If you can find a GMB, that would be first choice, second would be Saleri. But to my knowledge GMB do make BMW pumps. I have a Saleri in my 318i and it's fine, about 2 years and 35 000kms later.

Do buy a Meyle - mine leaked from new !!!

what do the GMB go for?

I dont like the metal impellers because when i replaced my pump the bearings were shot and im sure if the metal one touched the sides inside the engine block there would be damage that would be difficult to fix making every pump that went in after less efficient...

 

[Raybimmer]

Gmb here in East london were about R500 last year .
I think the bearings pack up due to various reasons , most failures should be overtensioning of the belts .
I would not expect an impeller to damage the block , the bearing would be very worn to allow the shaft to have sideways movement of say 3 mm or so .
We all do not flush and refill our cooling systems as per requirements.....I have some one litre containers of BMW antifreeze....better get my arse into gear before summer .

 

[moranor@axis]

Gmb here in East london were about R500 last year .
I think the bearings pack up due to various reasons , most failures should be overtensioning of the belts .
I would not expect an impeller to damage the block , the bearing would be very worn to allow the shaft to have sideways movement of say 3 mm or so .
We all do not flush and refill our cooling systems as per requirements.....I have some one litre containers of BMW antifreeze....better get my arse into gear before summer .

mine had 3mm or more play on it and only started making a noise a week before i took it out... but yes i guess the chances of it touching are low...