[E36] Water Pump Disaster (long)

["jeuculano" <jeuculano@xxxxxxx>]

To all you E36 owners out there, be wary of the water pump.  It has been well documented that these 
things tend to take a crap around the 60-80k mile mark - I figured, OK, I just turned 67,000, so this spring I'll 
do a little PM and replace the pump, hoses, belts, etc on my 1993 325is.

So I'm heading from Allentown PA to State College this afternoon (ended up being a good thing I had a 
half day off of work) and I'm just before Exit 34 (Bloomsburg) when I head a snap and see a bunch of 
crap being shot out behind my car in the rear view mirror.  OK, calm down, right signal, exit immediately 
(good timing for a failure, here).

I started looking under the car, checking tires, etc and didn't see anything.  Popped the hood and 
couldn't see anything.  Crawled under to check the belts and they felt decently tight, so I'm confused - 
nothing obvious.

I get back in and start her up and it just felt "different".  Ok.  Kill the engine and start over.  Pop hood - wait, 
why aren't there any blades on my fan anymore?  Oh, so that's what the black crap was that was 
distributed across Rt. 80.  

Ok, what would cause the fan to shear off all the blades.  Belt is still there, no damage to something 
coming through the radiator.  Didn't remember running over something that would pop up and snap off 
the blades... hmmmm.

So I started it up and got it to a Texaco just off the exit.  As I was pulling in, there goes the power steering, 
battery light lights.  Whoa, Nellie!  Found out there's some garages about 10 minutes drive into 
Bloomsburg, and a guy was nice enough to give me a lift.

Stopped at a Monro shop, and told them what was up.  We thought maybe the belt was coming loose 
somehow, got tangled up with the blades and snapped them off.  Got a lift back to my baby and there's a 
bunch of fluid coming from underneath - Wait!  Water pump failure!

We were able to limp it back to the Monro shop (I kept a strict eye on the temp gauge and we stopped 
three times to let her cool down), and the output shaft of the water pump could be wiggled side-to-side a 
lot.  I figure the shaft allowed the fan blades to make contact, which is what sheared them off.  Definitely 
need a new water pump.

The belts were cracking so they'll be replaced, the hoses were getting a little soft so do them too.  And 
the fan was toast to that needs a new one.

Only thing is that the radiator has some minor damage - looked like some of the fins bent over and there 
may be damage to the core.  There's a place down the street from the Monro shop that will take a look 
and see if it can be repaired or if it needs to be replaced.

Way expensive night, not to mention a few harried hours waiting for a ride back to Allentown (I have a 
spare set of belts here that I'm taking back to the shop tomorrow).  I figure the whole bill will approach 
$600 if no new radiator is needed - not sure how much they are if I do need a new one.

The shop can't get parts until Monday, so I'm without the 325 for quite some time.

This isn't griping, I just wanted to share a story with the Digest, and hopefully, all you guys and gals with 
similar mileage on your E36 will think about having that PM actually performed instead of pushed off until 
spring.  I knew it was a potential for disaster, but thought, nah, my car is good - won't happen to me.

Well, it did.

I'm just glad it happened in a reasonable location - There are stretches of Rt. 80 without many exits 
along there.  I don't have AAA, don't have a cell phone, was traveling alone and could have been 
seriously stranded.  

I'm also seriously re-thinking my cell phone position - typically I hate them, b/c I see way too many mini 
van drivers, etc yapping on the phone and cutting me off, but one to keep on hand for emergencies may 
be a damn good idea.

Yes, this was long, but I hope it helps just one Bimwad not be stranded in a worse situation than I was.

- - Jason Euculano

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