Water pump options? Hydraulic belt tensioner?

Dickymint

Dickymint

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mrscalex

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Mike Trident

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just recently fitted a Meyle pump and pulley, along with new fan, viscous coupling, thermostat and belt. May as well do the lot while ya at it lol
 
Uncle_Clanger

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Mike Trident said:
just recently fitted a Meyle pump and pulley, along with new fan, viscous coupling, thermostat and belt. May as well do the lot while ya at it lol
Click to expand...
I'm thinking this brand is looking pretty good. Metal impeller etc.. Do you have any part numbers by any chance? Where did you get your bits from?
 
Uncle_Clanger

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mrscalex

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It was for my 2.2 and is fitted so is correct for that.

Always check realoem if in doubt.
 
Mike Trident

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I buy just about everything from the internet these days, pretty sure all came via ebay!

I changed all the bits on mine as it had done about 72k miles when I bought it in April. I have read that 70k ish is usually a bad time for pumps.

As it turned out my thermostat was faulty anyway. I had a code check done on the car the same day and it showed a thermostat fault that I had just fixed. I had noticed that it was slow to warm up and the temp gauge needle fluctuated a lot (too cool ) most of the time, which made the heater poor.

Now it is up to temp within about a mile or so from cold and the needle never moves from dead center.
 
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Uncle_Clanger

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Mike Trident said:
just recently fitted a Meyle pump and pulley, along with new fan, viscous coupling, thermostat and belt. May as well do the lot while ya at it lol
Click to expand...
The viscous fan and coupling must have pushed the price up a fair bit? Is there much evidence of them failing? I've not read much about people changing them?

The coupling is where the bearings are I guess? Do these give out?
 
mrscalex

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I replaced my viscous coupling. It was the most expensive part and I did wonder afterwards if I should have bothered. But it's all done now and I feel happy it's all a known commodity.
 
Uncle_Clanger

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mrscalex said:
I replaced my viscous coupling. It was the most expensive part and I did wonder afterwards if I should have bothered. But it's all done now and I feel happy it's all a known commodity.
Click to expand...
How much was the coupling? About £50 I guess? How about replacing the actual fan?
 
Mike Trident

Mike Trident

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I believe my coupling was about £30 ish , I swapped the fan as well, so it's all new.
even fitted a new meyle plastic pump pulley. I think the whole lot was only about £120
 
Uncle_Clanger

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Mike Trident said:
I believe my coupling was about £30 ish , I swapped the fan as well, so it's all new.
even fitted a new meyle plastic pump pulley. I think the whole lot was only about £120
Click to expand...
It's not crazy money is it for knowing you've not missed anything that could cause an issue... Interesting that the meyle water pumps have alloy components and look well engineered kit but the pulley is plastic? Less resistance on the water pump ? Or just a cheaper option?

I was watching a YouTube video about Evans coolant... It's supposedly engine life long stuff...has anybody used it?
 
Mike Trident

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I believe the main reason they use plastic is cost, it's very cheap to use injection molding.
I have read on the net that you can get replacements in alloy, with people arguing that with continuous heat cycles the plastic ones, and the thermostat housings for that matter can become "brittle". I figured that if my standard fitment plastic one had lasted 17 years, and even if it had become "brittle" in this time. A new plastic one should last at least another 17 years! Another reason I bought one though was the fact that I watched a few "youtube" video's of BMW water pump replacements, and noticed that in quite a few cases the plastic pulley had stuck onto the pump and could easily be damaged or broken when trying to separate it from the pump. I figured that in a worse case scenario, if mine wouldn't come off, I would have a new one to fit.
 
Dino D

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From first hand experience yes:
Thermostat housings do crack
Viscous couplings do fail (can fail open so the fan just doesn't work, been through 2 genuine ones).
Fan blades do snap off

Many peopled have not had issues. However I went through this cr@p around 90-100k miles piecemeal.

The viscous fan can simply be deleted if you have an aux fan fitted already (air con fan) and it is working at both low speed and high speeds.
 
Uncle_Clanger

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Is this still the same/correct link for top and bottom rad hose O rings? @mrscalex

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=371520868459&var=640554882896#ht_740wt_1037

I have:
schmiedmann reinforced water pump
ContiTech belts
Wahler Borg warner thermostat

I'd like advise on changing the belt tensioners. Europarts do INA which is supposed to be OEM standard and suppliers to BMW.

I'm confused about the choice of hydraulic tensioner or mechanical tensioner on the Auxiliary belt? Europarts have both types, same brand, INA

The aircon belt tensioner has no hydraulic option I guess?

Also need:
water pump pulley
Idler pulley (deflection pulley?)
Viscous clutch
Viscous Fan

Is that the lot? I'm doing the whole lot so trying to buy decent stuff but keep the price down as much as possible. Anyone think of anything else?
 
roadvoyager1

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I was watching a YouTube video about Evans coolant... It's supposedly engine life long stuff...has anybody used it?
Click to expand...
I used BMW coolant from local BMW dealer. Price was similar to alternatives from Halfords and I felt happier knowing that it would have the correct corrosion inhibitors for the engine.
 
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