Ok some back ground, I am looking for a water pump, I found several brands and a oem. The mini brand is easily the most expensive, but I ask you is it worth the extra money? If not what brand have you had success with?

 

BMW/MINI does not make many of the parts on the car. Tritec was the Gen1 engine and Prince was the Gen2. I don't know off the top of my head right now, the names of the companies that make the waterpump.

Some people swear by BMW/MINI parts while others do not. On a R53 changing the waterpump is a PIA as you put the car in service mode and either remove the supercharger or need to loosen up the BPV upper bolts that are one royal PIA to get to.

 

Thanks coop, I just noticed the wide range of prices. From $40-150 and every maker from Gmb to heff and many more...

 

Here is th car with the pump off

 

The pump



Is it supposed to have rust outside?

 

What allot of people do not know is that you should remove the 2 bolts from the female transition that is on the motor block before you take the water pump off. You are able to remove those bolts with the water pump in place.

You should also replace the transition with a new one when you replace the water pump. Be sure to put some silicone type lube on the o-ring before you put the pump male end into the transition.

 

Transition? Where can I get one ?

 

Is there really a difference between oem and other brands?

with regard to your original question/tag line

YES

this comes into play mostly for body panels. Believe it not most of these molds have a copyright and when you buy an 'aftermarket' there are slight differences so as to avoid copyright issues ..... they are NOT exact ..... how far off these parts are is a part by part question

 

With some pumps, the transition comes with the order, others you have to buy separately. Also be careful with aftermarkets as some are only the outer half of the pump. The pump is held together with small torx screws and there is a rubber o-ring gasket involved as well.

 

And be sure to clean the motor surface where the transition bolts to or you will end up with another leak. Are you replacing the tstat and housing as well?

 

Okay, thanks for the good advice... yes I was just thinking the tstat should be replaced as I am already there.

 

Guys is there a method to clean the engine inside a garage without using a water hose, as I don't have a drain?

 

The R53 Water pump is one of those parts we never use anything but the original MINI box pump. They do cost more, but also have a 2yr warranty.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/r53-water-pump.html

OEM, stands for Original Equipment Manufacture. Meaning they are the company that made it for MINI. In this case it's Gates. So if one is listed as being OEM it should be a Gates pump. They are cheaper than the original, but we've tried using them in our shop and they always came back failed. Then we would have to do the entire job all over for free under warranty. So we decided years ago to NEVER install a non original MINI water pump on an R53. And we've not had to replace one under warranty since. So I would NOT get anything but original MINI pump.

FYI, people often think that because gates makes them both they are the same. This is not true. They may have been made in the same factory, but MINI has their specs and standards that the pumps have to be made to. Often when these "OEM" parts are sold by the manufacture as they didn't meet the specs MINI required, but the manufacture considered them good. That is where the difference comes in between the two parts making them NOT the same part or quality.