Snapped drive belt

[cooa99]

The drive belt on my e53 3.0D snapped off 2 days ago. I did not know what it was but I lost power steering and had to drive 3 miles like that home. I would have towed it had I known it was the belt. Any possible issues that might come to light or to look out for after this folly?

It's never been changed so that's 200k miles on factory belt!. Are there any other items that need changing that I should be aware of?

Can I drive half a mile to the mechanics or not worth taking the chance?

Assuming I have to sort this out myself, it's impossible knowing how the old belt was fitted round each pulley. I was wondering if there are any write-ups with pictures?, assuming that I don't need any special tools. The front is up in the air at the moment while I change the front pads & discs


Thanks

[X5Sport]

Write up with piccies……best I have and not terribly good resolution…sorry

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The only special tool is the one for getting the AC Compressor belt on/off as you need something to stretch it over the pulley edge.

[Leslie]

Just cut the aircon pulley belt off saves any hassle they are usually stretch belts now so you can't release the tension, it will be old anyway.

[Leslie]

If engine is cold can drive half mile no issue but steering will be very heavy and battery not charging so make sure its charged before leaving, cant think of any other issues, once you start fitting the belt run will become clear start at crank pulley, smooth side of belt on smooth pulley, grooved on front etc.

[cooa99]

Thanks X5sport for the instructions.

The belt has been ripped to bits and spurn round 1 or 2 of the pulleys. a complete mess. It was dark by 4pm today and raining heavily so did not have enough time to try and get the fan shroud and under tray off fro more access to unwind the mess from the pulleys.

I can see another smaller belt that still looks intact. I guess this needs to be replace as well due to age? but require a tool to replace?

Leslie, If I can't get all the bits out, I will have to give the car a full charge as you said and drive to mechanic. This horrible weather is not conducive for DIY outside

[Leslie]

Smaller belt is the aircon belt but it must come off to get to main one usually ,hopefully there is no further damage like bent tensioners etc and yes terrible weather to have to work out in Just wondering did the belt break or something else as the e70 had a recall for a bolt that could snap and throw the belt off .

[Alan Gunn]

If i remember rightly when i changed mine the air-con belt comes off easy.
It's spring loaded sort of just pull on the spanner and the pump moves and belt slackens to take off.
Also you can feed the main belt round the fan without taking the shroud off.
All in all les than 30 minutes job.
Well on my e53 3.0d 2002 it was.

[cooa99]

Smaller belt is the aircon belt but it must come off to get to main one usually ,hopefully there is no further damage like bent tensioners etc and yes terrible weather to have to work out in Just wondering did the belt break or something else as the e70 had a recall for a bolt that could snap and throw the belt off .

I think the belt snapped due to old age. I will have to inspect to see if anything else broke off.

If i remember rightly when i changed mine the air-con belt comes off easy.
It's spring loaded sort of just pull on the spanner and the pump moves and belt slackens to take off.
Also you can feed the main belt round the fan without taking the shroud off.
All in all les than 30 minutes job.
Well on my e53 3.0d 2002 it was.

I certainly can't feed my fat hands through the limited opening


The weather is still crap today as well and not sure I can wait any longer. Out of curiosity will any competent mechanic shop be able to do this?

[marti]

Just wondering did the belt break or something else as the e70 had a recall for a bolt that could snap and throw the belt off .

Got the T shirt for that one

[Alan Gunn]

You don't need to get your finger in the small gap just the belt and turn the fan as you go.
I just found it easy and saved time and the messing taking the shroud ?? off.

[cooa99]

You don't need to get your finger in the small gap just the belt and turn the fan as you go.
I just found it easy and saved time and the messing taking the shroud ?? off.

The old belt shredded into treads and has wounded round 1 or 2 of the pulleys. I can’t even pull the old belt free so need all the access i can get to cut and pick every last bit out.

[AVI-8]

I can advise you on this one as I’ve just done mine recently
Firstly I had all of the front end stripped off so I had good access, by that I mean radiator, fan, air con rad and front bumper. You don’t have that luxury,
I’d suggest that you remove the fan and fan housing, you’ll need 2 spanners, I think they’re 32 MM and one will have to be narrow, I used a viscous coupling spanner, unscrew the fan using a normal spanner on the water pump pulley and the viscous fan spanner on the fan end, it’s reverse threaded so you’ll turn it clockwise to unscrew.
Once the fan is loose let it fall down into the housing. You’ll have to remove a few screw on panels on top of the radiator once you’ve done that pull the fan and housing upwards and out together this will allow access to the belt.
The front belt is the air con compressor belt you’ll have to cut it off with a Stanley knife as it’s a stretch belt with no adjuster, once that’s gone you’ll be able to remove the old belt.
The small pulley with the big nut on it is the adjuster pulley thread the belt around all of the pulleys except the adjuster pulley and pull it tight there’s just enough space to get the socket on the nut through the belt, turn it anti clockwise and it’ll move the pulley over so you can slide the belt over it then release the tension.
When replacing the air con belt get an original BMW belt, it’s about £23, I bought an aftermarket and it was a few MM too long so had to cut it off and get an original.
When fitting the air con belt feed it over the air con pulley and over the top of the crank pulley then turn the crank clockwise, this will feed the belt onto the pulley, use a blunt object to hold it in place while you’re turning the crank, I used the handle end of a hammer, you just want to apply enough pressure to keep it engaged on the pulley while you’re turning it.
To turn the crank my pulley was held on by 4 “M” bolts, they are like an inverse torque bolt, I think it’s an M14 but don’t hold me to that.
Some crank pulleys are held on by a single 26mm bolt so you’ll have to check.
Hope this helps

[AVI-8]

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Here’s a couple of pics of my belts and pulleys for orientation

[cooa99]

I can advise you on this one as I’ve just done mine recently
Firstly I had all of the front end stripped off so I had good access, by that I mean radiator, fan, air con rad and front bumper. You don’t have that luxury,
I’d suggest that you remove the fan and fan housing, you’ll need 2 spanners, I think they’re 32 MM and one will have to be narrow, I used a viscous coupling spanner, unscrew the fan using a normal spanner on the water pump pulley and the viscous fan spanner on the fan end, it’s reverse threaded so you’ll turn it clockwise to unscrew.
Once the fan is loose let it fall down into the housing. You’ll have to remove a few screw on panels on top of the radiator once you’ve done that pull the fan and housing upwards and out together this will allow access to the belt.
The front belt is the air con compressor belt you’ll have to cut it off with a Stanley knife as it’s a stretch belt with no adjuster, once that’s gone you’ll be able to remove the old belt.
The small pulley with the big nut on it is the adjuster pulley thread the belt around all of the pulleys except the adjuster pulley and pull it tight there’s just enough space to get the socket on the nut through the belt, turn it anti clockwise and it’ll move the pulley over so you can slide the belt over it then release the tension.
When replacing the air con belt get an original BMW belt, it’s about £23, I bought an aftermarket and it was a few MM too long so had to cut it off and get an original.
When fitting the air con belt feed it over the air con pulley and over the top of the crank pulley then turn the crank clockwise, this will feed the belt onto the pulley, use a blunt object to hold it in place while you’re turning the crank, I used the handle end of a hammer, you just want to apply enough pressure to keep it engaged on the pulley while you’re turning it.
To turn the crank my pulley was held on by 4 “M” bolts, they are like an inverse torque bolt, I think it’s an M14 but don’t hold me to that.
Some crank pulleys are held on by a single 26mm bolt so you’ll have to check.
Hope this helps

Thanks very much for the write up. I came to same conclusion as well that the fan needs to come out. The bolts heads on the under tray have rusted away and I did not want to start messing with those in case full access is not assured. I noticed on your pump pulley (similar to mine) that you don't have 2 extra small bolts on them as indicated by several write ups that in mention using a tool to straddle the two bolts.

Any chance of links to the spanners you used?. I have just ordered https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laser-1144-Vis ... B003AMVWS4 off amazon but not sure what to get for the 2nd spanner. I'll order the smaller belt from bmw. Thanks

[AVI-8]

That’s the Laser viscous coupling spanner I used, pretty sure that it was a standard 32mm spanner for the water pump pulley also, I’ll go out to the workshop later this afternoon to check for you and I’ll also check the size of the socket required to turn the crank pulley and provide a link, you’ll see from the picture I posted that there’s a groove on the water pump pulley that the spanner fits and the Laser spanner goes on the fan hub.