DAMN waterpump seized today. When I did the head job last winter I replaced (damn near) everything on front of motor except for the waterpump. You guest it, the water pump seized on me today.

Was hoping to do the roof on the house tomorrow, but it looks like I'll be replacing the pump.


The car in question is a 86 300E. Please someone tell me that this is a fairly easy R&R?

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Richie
1986 300E

There are lots of posts (do a search) on WP replacements.
You will need real slender flex socket in 13mm with 12" extension and 3" extension. Snap on FLX 13 1/4" slender extensions have been recommended but I was able to reach the back bolts on my 300E with a craftsman flex socket and 3/8" ext. The fan pulley will require a small tool to hold the pulley while you unbolt. You might search for the posts I put up about re-using the belt tensioner and getting the right tension on a used unit. (I assume you might be re-using tensioner since you implied that you had replaced some things on the front of the motor recently).
Check my posts and those of others, then go for it. Fastlane here has the pumps. Everything including thermostat and new belt ran me less than $200 when I did mine recently.

DanielW

Did the water pump "speak" to you at all over the last few days/weeks or just go from functional to seized over the course of a few hours or so? Just curious.

No notice what so ever. I'm usually pretty good at hearing these types of things but, this time no notice it just went on me. I fixed it this morning, 4 hours it took me , but it's in and so far so good..They really should design those damn bolts better though. What a pain in th *ss to get to.

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Richie
1986 300E

I was wondering in general how many miles to expect out of a waterpump on a E320. A tech told me they could go 200k with MB antifreeze. Any rules of thumb out there?

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TomO
94 E320 Wagon, 170k, totalled in 2006
2002 BMW 525i Wagon, 75k
1991 BMW 318is (two of 'em)

The life of my water pump was 170K, but I don't know the early service history as it concerns antifreeze replacements and what brands were used. I did change MB antifreeze at about 150K and it looked like the color of normal MB fluid at that time.

I suspect that another important variable would be the serpentine belt tension, and perhaps more important yet would be the belt shock absorber and its upper and lower rubber bushings. If all of these are kept in good order I suspect that the resultant lack of vibration might help WP bushing and seal to last longer. Any noise or movement in the shock-tensioner mechanism at idling speed would be an alert to check for bushing and or shock wear.

Luck with your latest repairs,

DanielW