New Pierberg water pump - same as originally fitted ?

[charlie8]

Hi

Can see these are the OEM parts to fit, however my question is, have these been modified from the original spec and so due to have the same lifetime as first installed ( which seems to be roughly 60K as a rough average ) or did the design improve via different mods, so that now these are more robust ?

I recall plastic veins were superseded with metal, but that that issues too - or and I am dreaming

Does fitting a new one of these today make the N52 engine more reliable regards sudden overheat and all the nightmares that goes with that .. or not

Regards

[Smartbear]

Hi

Can see these are the OEM parts to fit, however my question is, have these been modified from the original spec and so due to have the same lifetime as first installed ( which seems to be roughly 60K as a rough average ) or did the design improve via different mods, so that now these are more robust ?

I recall plastic veins were superseded with metal, but that that issues too - or and I am dreaming

Does fitting a new one of these today make the N52 engine more reliable regards sudden overheat and all the nightmares that goes with that .. or not

Regards

Hi, I think 60k is a bit pessimistic as they seem to reach 70k+ more typically. The plastic/metal veins were an issue with the early mechanical pumps (m54) as far as I’m aware & not the electronic ones (n52)
Even if the design is unchanged you should get ten years or so before it fails and a new replacement is around £200 these days if you avoid the bmw dealer.
Rob

[mr.tourette]

mine reached 90k and was still fine.. only changed as precautionary preventative maintenance

[philbo909]

As above mine was changed at 100k and ten years. So it's really not that unreliable

[charlie8]

Thanks, very interesting

Mine crossed 10 yrs a few months ago, ~80K , so will put in a new one in the Autumn when I will change the coolant anyway

Be nice to know why they fail, sounds like the electrics just give up, but wonder why/how - as a 'mass' issue, I might try the google

[ph001]

Be nice to know why they fail, sounds like the electrics just give up, but wonder why/how - as a 'mass' issue, I might try the google

Unlikely to find anything over and above the investigation I did back in September last year... viewtopic.php?f=2&t=99913

[charlie8]

So you did, looks like a very 'black box' story

Plenty of surveys out there revealing fail mileage, even one on this forum, but all seem inconclusive and a random spread, and as you seem to have found, there is no audit trail on the cause to help guide prevention. Although data suggests the engines are quite robust, not many die following such a sauna

Every car/engine has its weak points I guess and given BMW have never listed a service/warranty amendment to change the pump on mileage/time or fund fail repairs to stop a brand/model rage from owners, it still must be seen by them as rare enough normal wear item. Also why I started the thread originally, there is not an obvious design flaw to instigate a mkII version etc

Makes me wonder if the tornado rad fan ( if you ramp it to max in diag tool, it'll blow the garage apart ) was there for a reason to indeed stop any permanent scars post fail given its a binary fail point, not a mechanical ramp down

[ph001]

Makes me wonder if the tornado rad fan ( if you ramp it to max in diag tool, it'll blow the garage apart ) was there for a reason to indeed stop any permanent scars post fail given its a binary fail point, not a mechanical ramp down

...problem is, it doesn't matter how much air the rad fan pumps through the radiator if the coolant is not circulating.