Repair Sucess Story

[WarlockNZ 0]

Ok, here's the deal,

Driving home on aucklands motorway last friday afternoon (16th Dec) .. temp starts rising ... oh crap says I and try to get off the motorway .. lol ..

Fat chance.

Bang goes the car and steam, lots and lots of steam wafts away on the fresh breaze..

First word out of my mouth, say it with me ... sh*t! ..

Call the insurance company and get a tow, towie stores the car overnight at his yard and drops it off the the Radiator Shop the next day, i have of course taken the day of work .. come on .. my baby's sick.

To make matters worse, the car is booked in for a service at 8am on saturday morning... say it with me now ... sh*t!.

One whole new radiator and thermostat later the car is still over heating and it's to late to call the insurance company to get aproval to do anymore work .. and again people but with more feeling .... sh*t!!

Good thing is tho, the service centre is just round the corner and the guys offer to drop the car off there in the morning for me ... hmm .. new word .. Awesome! .. i get to sleep in.

Car breazes throught service, but is still overheating.. hmm .. guy at service centre offers to drop the car back to the radiator shop .. another awesome.

I get a call on monday afternoon from the radiator shop, the dude is laughing and says that the 3 day estimate that I gave him was right and that my car's fixed.

I rock up and have a look at the offending water pump that managed to take out the radiator when it stopped working and holy sh*t.. it's screwed.. total cost to me with insurance .. $250 .. total cost without ... $800ish .. nice!!!

The guy from the service centre even dropped by the radiator shop to make sure I didn't have a blown head gasket!

Now that is Service, I tell you what.

These guys knew their sh*t and I reckon, deserve a mention for service and quality of work, they didn't even jack up the price, even tho my insurence was covering the repairs .. so .. i you reckon I got a good deal .. check them out.

Cameron Automotive in Herderson ( 09 836 5100 )and Western Radiators (09 836 1449, just round the corner) ..

I think they rock.

[Chris_guy 0]

good stuff

its good not all mechanics are dodgy fellows

bavarian motors are good 2 there shud b a bimmer directory thing for good mechanics n stuff

Edited December 19, 2005 by Chris_guy

[eritate 0]

nice man

Whats AA like ?

[ipwnyou 0]

Good job man - I had a very similar story a while back with my radiator. Bavarian motors is great stuff too - definately reccomend.

Just a random question warlock - do you play world of warcraft by chance?

[318is 0]

Good news mate - no engine damage!

Was the old pump one with a plastic impeller?

worst.idea.ever

[eritate 0]

Good job man - I had a very similar story a while back with my radiator. Bavarian motors is great stuff too - definately reccomend.

Just a random question warlock - do you play world of warcraft by chance?

haha i played wow

60 paladin and a 57 warrior

stopped now... got boring

[bumpstop325 0]

Good news mate - no engine damage!

Was the old pump one with a plastic impeller?

worst.idea.ever

please elaborate(sp) more.

i think the metal one is a bad idea. as it dissolves in the coolant.

[318is 0]

The metal impeller ones are the 'norm' in almost every other car, and last a long long time. Sure they rust to a degree if you neglect the coolant/addative levels, but even so, that takes a long long LONG time. Normally, the shaft will shear off or the bearing will collapse before the impeller rusts away enough to impair water flow.

I believe BMW went to a plastic impeller because of cost. They didn't last anywhere near as long, and even then premature failure rate was very high. I also believe they now replace them ( knackered plastic ones ) with metal ones as standard practice.

Scroll down here to "M50 Water Pump - E36 325i / 328i / M3"

http://activeautowerke.com/cooling/main.php

or this is a better description/reason to change it.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticl...-water-pump.htm

It's recommended that if you have a pump with a plastic impeller, replace it ASAP.

If you want more info:

http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=plastic%2...:en-US:official

[Dnz 0]

Mine owned me about 2 weeks ago too. It was long overdue to surprise wasnt huge.

[318is 0]

Edit: My bad - posted a reply in the wrong thread....doh.

:beer:

Edited December 20, 2005 by 318is

[westy 614]

Nice one Warlock,I love a happy ending.

[WarlockNZ 0]

Yep .. it was one of the plastic ones, the shaft still spun but the blades didn't do sh*t.

Don't Play WOW either dude.

[Muzzie 0]

How hot she get?

[WarlockNZ 0]

The needle on the guage tried to escape by bashing it's way out of my dash.

[Muzzie 0]

The needle on the guage tried to escape by bashing it's way out of my dash.

Ahhhhh.

Well that makes me feel a little more confident about buything this 318i thats got a bit hot lol (not as hot as that though)

[WarlockNZ 0]

just be sure and check for a blown head gaskit mate.

If you need a service/repair manual .. let me know.