I Think I Blew My Water Pump...

[318iEnthusiast]

so i'm driving down huntington to the mall and all of a sudden I hear this BANG! i'm like, WTF? so pull into the PL and all this steam is comming out of my engine bay.. and so i rush to go open the hood and it's just hissing and steaming and all... i look under the car and like 90% of my coolant has drained out  :confused:  I can't figure it out... but i'm heating up to the red line on my temp gague by the time i hit 4blocks...

any advice and how to replace it? my dad said it's prob just a hose... but i have a jack and stuff and i'm gonna lift it up and take a look tomorrow..

help please!!!

[M42boy]

Don't drive your car with no coolant, or you can do serious damage!  Overheating the car can warp the head and other nasty stuff.  Have it towed to a local garage if you have to.  

Water pump can be a PITA to change out.  Some people had thiers come right out, but mine (like many others) was corroded inside and was frozen onto the block.  Had to use an air chizzel to vibrate the damn thing loose.

[bmwman91]

I would put my guess on it being a hose.  A LOT would have to go wrong for the pump to be letting it come out.  Beyond that, if the pump had failed catastrophically then you would not have lost all of your coolant as there would be nothing pumping it.  Sounds like a hose.  Good luck, and I hope you didnt warp your head!

[e9nine]

When my water pump blew out on me it simply started to spill coolant. The coolant wasn't like your typical burst water hose. However, when a coolant line goes, there's a lot of pressure which causes it to hiss out etc.

Ditto on NOT driving our cars with heating issues, our heads warp very easily :eek:

Take a look at it and assess the damage, if it is indeed the water pump it will be leaking coolant from behind the fan clutch. It could also be your thermostat has shit the bed. If you need to drive it to a shop or whatever, just take the thermostat out.

Good luck

[318iEnthusiast]

ok I got it..

looked at it and assesed it... it's not the pump...

(looking over it from the left) there's a bunch of hoses under the cam head... the one that is blown/craked/whatever looks like it goes into the engine block.  It's right UNDER the throttle body and all... I can take pics if you want, lmk...

I can see it but i can't get to it.. damnit!!

[M42boy]

There's a plastic water pipe that comes out and runs along the block under the intake manifold that may have cracked.  You may need to pull the intake manifold too inspect it carfully, but check that piece and the associated hoses first then.

[e9nine]

That's one other common area at certain intervals to simply replace all related hoses. One hose junction goes to the head, another is along the plastic pipe as mentioned and the third goes to the throttlebody heater plates.

Just replace em all in one shot.

G.luck

[318iEnthusiast]

thanks, any advice on how to get to them?

[Eurospec]

You're going to have to remove the throttle body and upper intake manifold to access the lines.

I replaced most of the water/breather hoses in that area a couple weeks ago, wasn't terribly difficult, just took a long time. Here's a LINK to my thread.

If you plan on doing this work yourself, then this diagram (post #3) will help.

[Zoso]

While you're in there, replace that worn thermostat!

[318iEnthusiast]

i definently shall...damn i'm going out tonight and my dad won't be able to help me till monday afternoon....being 17 and not having a car sux...hell not having a car sux in general