[toddbeav]

Hey guys, so I got my 2008 335i coupe's rear bumper repaired at a body shop after I got in a little fender bender. Last week when I went to pick up the car I noticed that the light switch was in the far right position (i.e. "On") rather than the far left position I always keep it at ("Automatic"). I thought hmm, that seems odd but whatever. I stuck the key in and started it up fine and drove off the lot.

Then within 10 minutes a message popped up saying my engine was running hot (a yellow message) and then within 30 seconds it said it was overheated (a red message), and then 5 seconds later it said something about my battery being low or having some other issue (I didn't read the whole message because I pulled over and shut the car off immediately).

I called the body shop and told them what was going on and they got me a tow back to the shop. I told them about the light switch being in the "On" position and how maybe when they had the bumper off and the doors open/lights on, that they may have drained my battery and it was causing my car to have all these other issues all the sudden (I have never seen any of these alert messages about the engine or the battery since I've owned the car). The owner ran a diagnostic and it said that the "electric water pump communication [was] disrupted" and another message popped up that said there was a "footwell module" issue.

So now the owner thinks I need a new water pump and all this other stuff, and I feel like I may be getting screwed over a bit. Could it really be a coincidence that all these problems just happened out of nowhere after my car was in their possession for two weeks? Seems unlikely, given that I have never had any hiccups with this car and regularly have it maintained. I even got an oil change at a BMW dealership about a month ago and they checked the car top to bottom and said there was no issues at all with it.

It's worth noting that this was the most recommended body shop in the area as it was recommended by two different BMW dealerships and a Mercedes dealership, so I don't think they're necessarily "shady" or anything like that. Maybe a young, dumb tech drained the battery on accident and now they're trying to cover their asses? Or maybe it's just bad luck and these issues having been brewing for a while? I'm honestly unsure what to believe...

Does anyone have any experience with these issues or have any recommendations about what I should do in this situation? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

UPDATE:
I bought a brand new OEM water pump from BMW and had a mechanic install it, but he said the coolant bleed procedure wouldn't start (you should turn the heat up all the way, fan on low, and hold the gas pedal down for 10 seconds to initiate it) and that his scanner was saying the water pump was "missing" and he couldn't actuate the bleed process through his scanner like he normally should be able to either.

Do this mean that the battery messed up the computer system in my car and now it's not "talking" to the water pump?

Any help is much appreciated!!

[Underground6t9]

Sounds like bad luck, when I did my water pump I did not have to do what you mentioned. It was just plug and play.

[John 070]

It does sound as if the car does not know it has a water pump? I had experience with removing the DSC hydro and foolishly turning the ignition on (wanted to grab the mileage), and the car went crazy. Wipers went onto full blast and could not be turned off, etc....probably we would need to know what codes are present, because in my above case, the list was longer than my two arms, but it all focused around velocity....as if the car could not determine what speed it was traveling at, even if 0 mph...

[toddbeav]

Yeah it seems like the water pump may have simply been bad luck but I wonder if this footwell module issue stems from the battery getting drained, which then may be causing the system to think the new water pump is "missing".

[toddbeav]

Does anyone else have any thoughts?

Thanks a ton everyone!

[ZeeVaughn]

Originally Posted by toddbeav

Does anyone else have any thoughts?

Thanks a ton everyone!

Hey exact same thing happened to me early this year. I went on a deployment and unfortunately my battery completely drained. I replaced my water pump for a different reason but the bad battery fried the new one. My indy mechanic diagnosed the bad battery which in turn fried something in the engine bay that regulates the water pump. New battery, fuse or something like that (can't remember) and new water pump and now it runs perfect.

[toddbeav]

FIXED UPDATE:

I was able to actually fix it with my dad, there was a terminal/fuse metal plate thing (best way I can describe it) hooked the the battery in the trunk and the power line for the water pump was connected to a port that for whatever reason wasn't flowing power through anymore... There was two open ports on that same metal plate that weren't being used so we hooked the water pump line up to one of those ports and bleed procedure initiated and now the car is working perfectly.