September / October 2016
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cause major issues in terms of a cracked
head. Not good and not cheap to fix!
While the failure above is extreme, it could
have been prevented by replacing the origi-
nal pump, and most importantly, when the
car starts making a weird noise, stop driving
it and get it checked out! There is no doubt
this motor will have pieces of that water
pump stuck in the cylinder heads which can
eventually cause cracking of the heads, and
will require cylinder head removal to repair.
This is what a healthy water pump looks
like! It is much better than the pictures
above. While bleeding the system can be a
chore in the M96/M97 engines, replacement
of the pump is very straight forward with
nothing more than some bolts, hose clamps,
and a drive belt. No timing belts to worry
about, and nothing overly complex either.
So what is the recommended interval for
water pumps in these cars? Ideally, every 4
years or 60k miles they should be replaced.
This also allows you to flush the cooling
system, which while having a "lifetime"
coolant, doesn't exactly mean lifetime of the
car. Remember, even though your car may
be low mileage, your water pump has been
in service every second since coolant was
added into the car at the factory.
- KARL
