E30 Water Pump Replacement

How-To Credit

This how-to is a Classic Bimmer Bits original, with much credit due to the many members of the community who have helped us learn along the way!

Parts

Water Pump (varies)
Water Pump Gasket (varies)

Tools

13mm socket
Socket wrench extension
Socket wrench
Razor blade
Clean rag
Brake cleaner

Torque Specs (ft-lbs):

Water pump bolts: 16 ft-lbs (22 N-m)

Prodedure

Follow steps 1-25 of timing belt replacement. This should now be your view of the front of the engine.
Place a catch pan under the front of the engine to collect the coolant that will drain from the block when you remove the water pump.
There 3 bolts holding water pump to the block. Use a 13mm socket and extension to remove them. They can be difficult to see, but are located here:

Here (looking from underneath):

And here:
The pump may or may not fall off at this point. If it doesn’t, grab the shaft of the pump and pull up or push down to break the gasket loose, and you should be left with a pump in your hands. A fair amount of coolant will pour out of the block, just make sure your catch pan is in place to avoid a mess.
If your car is anything like ours, the front of the block is covered in crud. You’ll need to clean this all up to properly install your new water pump. However, you don’t want grease or cleaner getting into your coolant passages. Stuff a clean rag into the opening in the front of the block (circled). Use a new razor blade and brake cleaner to clean the front of the block, removing all grease and remnant of gasket from around the water pump area. When you’re done, remove the rag, and soak up as much coolant as you can; you need the coolant level to sit a little below the edge of the opening. It should look like this when you’re done.
Place the new gasket on the new water pump and find the orientation and rotation that line up with 3 holes on the pump. It will only fit one way.
Start a bolt through one of the holes, and carefully place the water pump into place. Use the bolt to help align the pump, and thread it in by hand to hold the pump in place. You need to avoid getting coolant on the gasket before it’s tightened. Add the other 2 bolts and hand tighten all 3, then torque to spec. It’s worth going around the bolts a couple of times to make sure everything stays torqued as you compress the gasket. To help with orientation, here’s a pic of the new pump installed.
Follow steps 26-47 of timing belt replacement.