Recommended water pump brand?

E28 technical advice asked and given! Troubleshooting, modifications and more.
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a2058
Posts: 38
Joined: Jun 02, 2022 12:12 PM
Location: New York, USA

Recommended water pump brand?

Post by a2058 »

I just noticed the weep hole on my water pump is starting to drip a little coolant... what is the current recommended brand?
I see Graf, HT, Saleri, Uro, Hepu, basically, not sure what is considered currently the best...
Any recommendations would be appreciated, thanks!
Mike W.
Posts: 26872
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: California Whine Country

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by Mike W. »

I was a longtime fan of GMB, but they have outsourced to China and no longer produce that pump, regardless of the part number. So I would not go with them. URO is out, Hamburg Technique is out, they both have a terrible reputation. I'm not sure what I would use, just that I would not use the ones I listed above.
austin8753
Posts: 1444
Joined: May 16, 2010 1:37 AM
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by austin8753 »

a2058 wrote: Aug 14, 2022 4:31 PM I just noticed the weep hole on my water pump is starting to drip a little coolant... what is the current recommended brand?
I see Graf, HT, Saleri, Uro, Hepu, basically, not sure what is considered currently the best...
Any recommendations would be appreciated, thanks!
Graf, HT, Uro and GMB are all chinese garbage. Graf used to be quality, until about 5 years ago, when they got bought by Precision Parts (a low end brand). the last handful of Graf pumps i've used, had bearing failure prematurely, so unless i don't have an option, i don't use them. the others, i wouldn't even waste my time with.

Saleri, i don't have a ton of experience with, but my mentor often used Hepu pumps with good results. either of those two would be a fine option.
LarryM
Posts: 1222
Joined: Feb 01, 2008 11:40 AM
Location: SoCal

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by LarryM »

In cases like this where all the aftermarket suppliers are now selling Chinese junk, I’d just go with a new BMW part. A new M30 water pump from any one of our favorite OE suppliers runs a little over $200 which isn’t that bad considering you’re avoiding the hassle of having to do the job over again, plus you’d have the peace of mind knowing your pump’s not as likely to fail on a road trip.
Federico
Posts: 545
Joined: Sep 16, 2013 6:38 PM
Location: Argentina / California

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by Federico »

My Hepu pump has been working fine since 2014. Dunno if they are still made in Germany.

At least they are easy to swap out in an M30. Draining/bleeding the coolant is the worst part.
a2058
Posts: 38
Joined: Jun 02, 2022 12:12 PM
Location: New York, USA

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by a2058 »

Thanks for all the info. I decided to give Saleri a try. We will see how it looks... I will report back with my observations... on the FCPEuro page, the Saleri picture looked suspiciously similar to the BMW reman unit they sell for close to 5x the price... let's see how it goes
a2058
Posts: 38
Joined: Jun 02, 2022 12:12 PM
Location: New York, USA

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by a2058 »

Saleri pump came in, its made in Italy as its inscribed on the main shaft part. Impeller is metal, coated in black coating, turns with nice smooth but heavier resistance as it should. Graf pump I had sourced but now returned had no coating on the brass impeller, turned with much lighter resistance overall. Time will tell I guess. Not sure which pump I put on there a long time ago, might have been a Bosch pump when they still made them back in the early 2000's...
vinceg101
Posts: 4802
Joined: Jun 20, 2007 2:40 AM
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by vinceg101 »

a2058 wrote: Aug 18, 2022 8:51 PM Saleri pump came in, its made in Italy as its inscribed on the main shaft part. Impeller is metal, coated in black coating, turns with nice smooth but heavier resistance as it should. Graf pump I had sourced but now returned had no coating on the brass impeller, turned with much lighter resistance overall. Time will tell I guess. Not sure which pump I put on there a long time ago, might have been a Bosch pump when they still made them back in the early 2000's...
Are you sure about the Saleri having metal impellers? It's listed on all other online sources as having a composite impeller. It's this reason I shied away from Saleri and always went with Graf being they were essentially the same price.
I just bought a Graf as a backup (along with new sensors and thermostat) as I try to bring my engine temps down (it's running hotter than normal under loads especially and in traffic). First part of this exercise was to replace the radiator and thermostat (Nissens and 71 degree t-stat); testing these over the next few weeks for my long hot road trip.
The water pump in there now is a Graf from 2016 with just under 20K miles on it. On this information I may return it and get a Hepu instead although I'm really hoping not to have to break into that whole assembly to replace the water pump on a guess. Next time I expect to replace that water pump is not until it's closer to 60K miles on it; which at my driving frequency with this car is like a decade away.
Ju@n
Posts: 702
Joined: Apr 27, 2013 1:11 PM
Location: Uruguay

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by Ju@n »

Bought a KS not long ago, KS seems to make "good" parts
a2058
Posts: 38
Joined: Jun 02, 2022 12:12 PM
Location: New York, USA

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by a2058 »

Yes, Saleri unit I bought just a few days ago from fcpeuro came with a black coated metal impeller, definitely not composit. I was afraid of that too as I saw in other listings elsewhere that it had a composit impeller... but this one is definitely metal...
Mike W.
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Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: California Whine Country

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by Mike W. »

From what I've read, the composite impellers weren't the problem, it was the earlier Lexan/polycarbonate ones. The only impeller failure I've had was a M5x where the sheet metal impeller was twisted up like hell. It didn't manifest itself as a problem, I just found it when I preemptively did a 100K changeout. But it was ugly as hell.
vinceg101
Posts: 4802
Joined: Jun 20, 2007 2:40 AM
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Recommended water pump brand?

Post by vinceg101 »

^^^
^^^
:up:
Good to know.
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