Stuck Water Pump? This may help.
 

Thought I would add some useful info here about water pump replacement and maybe help someone in the future. I hope this is the right place for it. The pelican parts diy is pretty generic and makes things sound much easier than it can be. I hope you have less trouble than I did, but my wp was stuck. And by stuck I mean afraid-of-destroying-the-block/removing-metal-housing-in-pieces stuck.

The jacking screw holes are a great idea because you really don't want to be prying on the pump while using the timing cover for a fulcrum. A great idea until the flange snaps off anyway. Then your day goes south really fast. I blame the old WP design(sorry I didn't check brand before tossing) because I couldn't get a screw in the lower jacking hole to apply pressure evenly. (You should go from one side to the other with only a couple turns at a time on each side.) I tried tapping with a rubber mallet. I tried tapping with a 3lb blacksmith sledge. I used a pry bar on a 1x4 to spread the load across the front of the engine. I used half a can of PB Blaster over maybe 20 hours, evening to next afternoon. And I tried the monster channel-locks twisting the pump to break it free method. The POS may have laughed at me but it didn't budge.

What we (I called in reinforcements by this point.) discovered was that the battery hold-down bolt was the same size/thread as the water pump bolts and was long enough that the head did not hit the wp body. With constant tapping, while slowly cranking down the jacking screw, the pump FINALLY popped loose. Well, most of it anyway. Some parts remained behind:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B...s800/photo.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-F...s800/photo.jpg

It took some careful tapping and prying to get the remainder of the housing free then digging by hand and 45* and 90* needle-nose pliers along with sorta back-flushing through the small coolant hose to get all(or most) of the impeller pieces out. We reconstructed the pump like a puzzle so we would know how close we were. Some tiny bits washed down the driveway but I think it was mostly there.

Hope this helps someone before they get to the blown headgasket stage.

Yes, that's my next step since I'm pumping exhaust into the coolant now and cylinders 2 & 3 are nice and shiny looking from the spark plug holes. I really let my ADD get the better of me with this purchase. I'm having fun anyway but the whole point was to spend more money on the M5.

Good Luck,

You kicked that pump's ass!

nice lappy...I've got a T-61

LOL! It was a feat of restraint that I didn't take the big sledge hammer to the whole D@*% thing. I was so pissed at that thing. In the end I proved I need a headgasket though. That's a good thing right? :mad:



:cool: Yeah, I bought it to run GT1, INPA, or whatever else I need in the garage or the stuff the phone can't handle. It's not the fastest laptop in the world but it's rock solid.

My stock pump came out hard I'm hoping the Graf comes out easier.

I just put a Graf in and I hope this thread about the Saleri with composite impeller doesn't haunt me in the future. I was thinking composite was the same as plastic in the ads I saw.

Live and Learn.

This thread isn't too old, so thought I'd chime in rather than starting a new thread looking for help... I've got a similar situation, working on removing the water pump and the thing is stuck. The top jacking screw point snapped off, and I haven't tried the battery hold-down screw trick yet, but just looking for other ideas to get that blasted thing out. It feels like the O-ring has a good grip on the engine block, because I can put a pry bar on the flange and move it a tiny bit, but it goes right back to where it came from. Won't budge a bit. I've been thinking of cobbling together something that might make it possible to put a standard three-arm puller on it, but also worry about putting pressure on the timing cover.

I found one thread elsewhere on the 'net where the guy took a drill to it and cut it up; I really don't want to do that. Any other thoughts?

More suggestions...

DJazz, I don't now if you're still on these boards, but I want to say thank you for the battery hold down bolt tip! It saved my butt tonight in changing the water pump. I had all the same problems as you with bolt clearance on the bottom of the wp because of housing and broke off the top part. Thanks!

I kinda forgot about this thread. I did succeed in getting the pump out, but it took some doing. The trick that worked was to use a three-arm puller on it... The puller of course needs something to pull against, so I used a 6" ID laminated paper roll core to brace against the engine with a Wonder Bar straddling across it; the center post of the puller rested on the Wonder Bar. It took a surprising amount of force to get it out. I had cranked on the puller quite a bit and stopped to reassess things, and suddenly it popped out on its own, spilling coolant all over the garage floor. The o-ring gasket was holding it back, and when it finally gave way, POP!

The paper roll core might be hard to find, but I suppose a couple of wood blocks could be used in its place. It takes about three or four hands to get it all lined up though.

I got mine out with the battery hold down bolt and a brake adjustor tool. just levered and screwed in the bolt. Then it shot out with coolant when it let go, just like yours.

Glad to hear the success stories. The more tips we get the more time we have to enjoy the rest of the "ti experience". :biggrin:

Indeed! Now if I could just get my AC to work . . .

Just wanted to add that I, as many others, tried to remove the water pump by conventional method, but broke off both places where bolts were inserted, big channellocks didn't help either, then, after spraying the pump with WD-40 equivalent from Seafoam (Deep Creep) I've used crowbar method shown there:

https://youtu.be/BTs5ZN0fTrk

but putting some wood between crowbar and block.
Worked as a charm.