One place to look for impeller parts is the heat exchanger/oil cooler on top of the engine. Just remove it and poke around.You may see smaller parts inside the heat exchanger.
That is where I found some when I rebuilt my M96. But how do you know there are not other parts elsewhere ? Answer - you save every little broken piece and try to match them to the corpse of the old w/p. If you can't accumulate enough bits to 'reform' the worn/broken blades - keep hunting.
The whole debate on plastic vs. metal seems to overlook the option of routine, preemptive replacement of a metal impeller w/p. Yes, I know it will destroy the crankcase half if it fails but broken plastic impeller parts that plug the cooling system may do worse. Pick your poison ?
Whatever you choose, it seems wise to replace the w/p frequently. Question is -how frequently? 40-50K miles?
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