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What is your question?
My 2004 BMW X3 never registered that it overheated ever! I had a water light come on. Filled it with coolant and saw the coolant coming out in the middle of engine out the bottom. Got onto this site and saw that this was commmon for my car and went to a German auto repair and told them I suspected waterpump. Sure enough I was right, or all of you were right... Anyhow, this guy is trying to tell me that he won't know the extent of the damage of the overheat till the waterpump is fixed. My car never overheated once according to the gages. He tells me that gage only registers coolant and since there wasn't any in the car there was nothing to register so the car could of been overheating and I would have never known it??? Does that sound right? The minute that water light came on we put coolant in it within 10 minutes. Also I am told the belts were completely saturated not frayed or cracked just wet and need to be changed. Does this all sound right?
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My shop specializes in BMW repairs. Coolant leaks are very common because every hose connector (radiator, thermostat, reservoir) are plastic. You will eventually replace them all, including the plastic radiator. The temp gauge is actually an idiot light and it will only indicate cold, normal and hot. there is a coolant level sensor inside the reservoir that will turn on a dash light if it is low and if the sensor works. If you are driving 70mph and you have a coolant leak, you cannot drive to the curb fast enough to avoid engine damage. I would insist that you also replace the themostat along with the water pump and use only BMW blue coolant---yes it is different. And yes, coolant will contaminate the rubber in the belts; replace them as well. Once all this is done, be sure he checks the fan clutch is okay. It is essential that this works in hot weather, or it will overheat in stop-and-go traffic. Welcome to the world of BMW!