When I purchased my '87 325is, I had been told that the timing belt & water pump were relatively new, so those were areas that I neglected until now. Recently, I was driving the car when the low coolant level light went on and the next day I had a puddle of coolant on the floor of my garage. To my surprise, the leak appeared to be from the gasket of the water pump. I had never seen that before. So I bought a gasket and tore the pump out using my Bentley manual for reference.
The manual tells you the sequence of water pump bolt removal in order to accommodate the timing belt idler spring pin, but gives no directions for how to reinstall the water pump and spring pin. I spent an hour trying to reinstall the water pump with the spring pin and found it extremely difficult.
If I had removed the timing belt, installing the water pump and spring pin would have been much easier. But the belt appeared to be relatively new. With the belt in the way, installing the idler tensioner spring pin seemed impossible.
Finally, I removed the pump and pushed the spring pin as far as possible into its proper location in the idler bracket. Then I locked needle nose vise grips onto the end of the pin, so that it was held in its bracket. That allowed me to install the water pump with the spring pin pulled up and out of the way. Once the pump was bolted in and torqued, I released the vice grips and directed the bottom of the spring pin into the detente of the pump.
There may be another, or even better way to install the pump and timing belt idler tensioner spring pin. I would love to learn how other people do it. It would also have been nice if the service manual had given directions. How do you do this job? I'm interested in knowing how mechanics do it.
The manual tells you the sequence of water pump bolt removal in order to accommodate the timing belt idler spring pin, but gives no directions for how to reinstall the water pump and spring pin. I spent an hour trying to reinstall the water pump with the spring pin and found it extremely difficult.
If I had removed the timing belt, installing the water pump and spring pin would have been much easier. But the belt appeared to be relatively new. With the belt in the way, installing the idler tensioner spring pin seemed impossible.
Finally, I removed the pump and pushed the spring pin as far as possible into its proper location in the idler bracket. Then I locked needle nose vise grips onto the end of the pin, so that it was held in its bracket. That allowed me to install the water pump with the spring pin pulled up and out of the way. Once the pump was bolted in and torqued, I released the vice grips and directed the bottom of the spring pin into the detente of the pump.
There may be another, or even better way to install the pump and timing belt idler tensioner spring pin. I would love to learn how other people do it. It would also have been nice if the service manual had given directions. How do you do this job? I'm interested in knowing how mechanics do it.
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