[KClemente]

So my continental water pump is finally starting to go at the ripe old age of 130k miles. To get my through the winter, I sealed up the crack with some jb weld and it's holding up.

While watching a youtube video, I saw some guy had an aluminum water pump for his 335i.

I'm surprised that there hasn't been much talk about these. (Couldn't find anything with a simple search)

Last time I bought a water pump from o'reillys was about a year ago for a friends car, and they sold us a plastic continental one. So these had to have come out recently.

[KClemente]

Here's the video if anyone wants a close-up of the pump. Skip to 5:20.

It seems to be made in China. Lets see if our friends in China make better pumps than our best friends in Germany...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oblo33jJdD8&t=335s

[feuer]

I'm on 3rd replacement. Only one leaked due to crack. Rest failed internally. From the look of it this Import Direct pump might be just painted to appear all aluminum. Is over 10y old now so probably patent rights are all out. I guess we should expect more alternative soon. Let's hope they will be good!

[Igor_M5]

Def plastic painted silver like feuer mentioned. If the pump was made of cast, they definitely wouldn't make the plug as part of the mold, especially with such thin walls. The plug is supposed to be a separately plastic attachment, the the hose ridges / fitting would be polished.

Yeah, China's getting real smart... at suckering us in. Lol

Edit: lol... the guy in a video... "I bought it from o'reilly, so I'm assuming it's an o'reilly brand..." Dumbass.

[Igor_M5]

Btw, peep this...

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1358214

Tell me if you see anything suspect lol

[feuer]

Originally Posted by Igor_M5

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1358214

Tell me if you see anything suspect lol

Repackaged as they can't sell it in Siemens VDO continental box. They might be OK but for the price better to purchase one from FCP https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...caAsuTEALw_wcB

[KClemente]

Just got my pump in today. 100% not plastic. I'll give you the title to my car if you bring it to a metallurgist and confirm lol.

Build quality: ?/10 (because longevity)
Fit: 10/10
Warranty: Lifetime replacement (just warrantied my old pump at o'reilly. Got this one.)

Again: I verified myself that it's aluminum. Scratch it and it leaves behind more metal. Now it's just the pump motor that we'll have to see.

Edit: Didn't take a photo of the plug, but each pin was insulated from making any sort of contact with each other and the housing.

Finished the bleed cycle and the pump sounds exactly like a new continental pump. No leaks anywhere so that's a start

[KClemente]

Here's a photo of the outlet of the water pump. Inside it looks fairly rough in photos but I cleaned out the what i'm assuming is dried quality control fluid. At the top of the photo you can see some casting burr that's definitely aluminum.

[mweisdorfer]

I'd probably buy the OEM replacement from FCP with a lifetime warranty & wrap it in DE reflective gold tape before I install it.


Design Engineering 010397 Reflect-A-GOLD High-Temperature Heat Reflective Adhesive Backed Roll, 2" x 30' Roll https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039Z1V1K..._CJHcEbS72JHPP

I've used it & can verify it definitely works.

A firm believer that the demise of the water-pump is largely from the excessive heat cycles created by the two turbos, which are extremely close to the water pump.

[riczon.335i]

I'll have to try this once I replacement my pump in a few months. Also what part of the pump were you wrapping the gold tape on? Plastic part? Thanks!

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

I'd probably buy the OEM replacement from FCP with a lifetime warranty & wrap it in DE reflective gold tape before I install it.


Design Engineering 010397 Reflect-A-GOLD High-Temperature Heat Reflective Adhesive Backed Roll, 2" x 30' Roll https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039Z1V1K..._CJHcEbS72JHPP

I've used it & can verify it definitely works.

A firm believer that the demise of the water-pump is largely from the excessive heat cycles created by the two turbos, which are extremely close to the water pump.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by riczon.335i

I'll have to try this once I replacement my pump in a few months. Also what part of the pump were you wrapping the gold tape on? Plastic part? Thanks!

I'll probably try and wrap the whole thing.

[KClemente]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

I'd probably buy the OEM replacement from FCP with a lifetime warranty & wrap it in DE reflective gold tape before I install it.


Design Engineering 010397 Reflect-A-GOLD High-Temperature Heat Reflective Adhesive Backed Roll, 2" x 30' Roll https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039Z1V1K..._CJHcEbS72JHPP

I've used it & can verify it definitely works.

A firm believer that the demise of the water-pump is largely from the excessive heat cycles created by the two turbos, which are extremely close to the water pump.

While yes the gold tape will work, there's no protecting the internals of the pump from the much hotter coolant. You are just insulating the pump from radiant heat.

It's a design flaw in its core and no fixes will remedy that. The flaw stems from a manufacturing seam near the top casing bolt that will crack as it's the weakest point of the pump. By having a fully metal pump, the last weak point will be the motor. Which only time will tell.

I prefer this pump as O'reillys warranty is no questions asked, and it's also lifetime. That's how I got this new pump. Returned my 2 year old Continental pump at my nearest oreillys and they gave me this metal one.

Note: I'm not affiliated with O'reillys. Just sharing my experience with their warranty.

[feuer]

Happy New Years! Far more pumps fail internally then failure due to crack causing leak so unless this pump have better intervals it won't be much of an improvement.

[Jeef]

what's wrong with the OEM ones? some last 100k miles

[Jklad]

Originally Posted by Jeef

what's wrong with the OEM ones? some last 100k miles

It's exactly that - they only last 100k miles or often far less. Water pumps in general shouldn't fail so soon.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by Jeef

what's wrong with the OEM ones? some last 100k miles

Any OEM pump on an N54 motor that lasts 100,000 miles is probably in the top 10% of all water pumps when talking about longevity. Anything over 75,000 miles on an OEM water pump is borrowed time.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by Jklad

It's exactly that - they only last 100k miles or often far less. Water pumps in general shouldn't fail so soon.

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

Any OEM pump on an N54 motor that lasts 100,000 miles is probably in the top 10% of all water pumps when talking about longevity. Anything over 75,000 miles on an OEM water pump is borrowed time.

It will be depend on where and how the vehicle is being driven. Not mileage. I'm on 3rd replacement. So 4th pump on 2008 with 115k. I do a lot of stop and go. Probably 50 track says. Brutal winters too as I drive it literally every day.

[oilcrankinject]

My water pump was done at 54k. Warranty replacement. Replacement water pump is still ok at 108k.

[ProjectN54]

Lately seeing these aluminum WP pop up , being metal takes stress of your shoulders about cracking the plastic oem pumps.

I'd say 50% of pump fails are because of a crack on the housing.

My e90 had 2 cracked pump failures both exactly 5 years apart, I'd say that's about the limit of the plastic housings. It would've lasted longer if it hadn't cracked obviously.

The reason why these fail internally is because they are brushed motors which will always fail in time.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by svtfast

My water pump was done at 54k. Warranty replacement. Replacement water pump is still ok at 108k.

You've probably got another 25,000 miles before you should just replace it proactively

[feuer]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

You've probably got another 25,000 miles before you should just replace it proactively

lol are clairvoyant or something?

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by feuer

lol are clairvoyant or something?

Just a semi-educated guess