Can I do brakes and water pump on clubman

[Quickstep192]

Greetings all. This is my first time on the BMW Mini forum; I've been on the 911 forum for years. I just found out that my 2008 clubman needs rear brakes and a water pump. Ordinarily, I'd just suck it up, but the $1,200.00 cost combined with the need to replace the water pump on a car that only has 50,000 miles just feels like a rip. I'm considering doing it myself instead of paying the $1,200.00 the dealer wants. I'm a reasonably competent mechanic, but also a reasonably lazy one, so I don't want to undertake a job that's too complex. The parts appear to be readily available from Pelican, so I'm wondering if these replacements require any special knowledge or special tools. Any guidance is greatly appreciated. Also, the service advisor says the water pump is leaking from the weep hole. Is there any way to renew the weep hole seal without replacing the entire pump?

Also, does anyone else think a water pump needing replacement at 50,000 miles is nuts?

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

An '08 Clubbie should be a 2nd-gen car. Rear brakes should be straight forward, except for resetting the brake wear indicator. There is a sensor on one rear brake that I think is two-stage. The first gets worn through and tells the service indicator "replace brakes soon". The second wears through and says "replace brakes now!" You need to swap out the sensor if either one has been tripped, and there is a reset procedure you (eventually) can get to through the on-board computer.

There's a good chance you will need to replace the rotors as well; that seems to frequently be the case on MINIs.

I haven't paid as much attention to information about the pump, so I can't really tell you anything about that.

--DD

[gtxtom]

Brakes are pretty straight forward, but you need a tool to turn the rear caliper in. You can't just press it in. Other than that, you'll need a T50 torx, 13mm socket, and some pliers. You don't have to take the caliper bracket off to remove the rotor, you can wiggle the rotor out.

As for the water pump, it's a little difficult, especially without a lift. I do it by undoing the front half of the wheel well liner and putting the friction wheel in service mode. Then take the 3 10mm bolts for the water pump pulley off. Then there are 5 10mm bolts holding the pump on. I use a ratcheting 10mm wrench and a 10mm shallow 1/4" socket and the shortest extension to get at the bolts. It sounds relatively easy, but it's very tight between the motor and the frame.

These water pumps are sort of junk on these cars, sorry. I've done water pumps on 2011 and 2012 model year cars with under 15k on them. It's crazy.

BTW, I'm a MINI tech in the Philadelphia area.