Drive belt

J

Jamturbo

Member
Hi,

After I had removed the electric fan for the vanos job I noticed that the drive belt (furthest away if you are looking at it) was quite cracked.

Is this a straightforward simple task to replace or is it complex.

Would appreciate any 'watch out/tips'.

Thanks
 
Can't remember which engine you have tbh, but I changed mine on the pre-facelift M54 while doing the Vanos and water pump.
Simple job to pull the tensioner over then it lifted off. Plenty of you-tube views of it too.
One note though...................draw a map of it's route first!
You only have to look away for a second and you forget where it went.
 
Hi there Jamturbo. I agree with all of what enuff_zed says above. I would add that I think changing the belts is easier done from underneath the car. I drive the car up onto a pair of inspection ramps and then whip the engine undertray off giving much better access to the belts and tensioner. It will take you longer to drive/jack the front of the car up than it will to swap the belts :D
Assuming you have the M54 engine but would imagine things aren't much different on the N52 :thumbsup:
2 photos of the belts from below:20200508_113012.jpg20200508_113034.jpg
 
Deffo what these guys above said!

I also cocked this up first time round- on both pulleys (aircon and main drive) the tensioners have two ways to release the tension- both work as well

You can either use a torx 50 in the centre of the tensioner (under the plastic cover) or you can use a socket on the bolt- you can see them in the photos from Patriot66

I didn’t know this before doing mine- but the sentiment of it being a quick job is spot on

Just draw the diagram! It’s not intuitive when you go to refit

Good luck
 
bigwinn said:
Deffo what these guys above said!

I also cocked this up first time round- on both pulleys (aircon and main drive) the tensioners have two ways to release the tension- both work as well

You can either use a torx 50 in the centre of the tensioner (under the plastic cover) or you can use a socket on the bolt- you can see them in the photos from Patriot66

I didn’t know this before doing mine- but the sentiment of it being a quick job is spot on

Just draw the diagram! It’s not intuitive when you go to refit

Good luck
Click to expand...

Stuart gave me this advice and I'm glad I listened, especially about the map!
I used the Torx bit on the aircon tensioner, but a socket on the serpentine belt tensioner.
Simply lever over until the belt goes loose, pop the belt off and gently let the tensioner go back to it's stop.

I also had the bottom tray off at the time and found it much easier to see what I was doing. Popped the belts off from underneath, but putting them back on I found it easier from the top.

Refitting, as Mr Haynes would say, is the reverse of removal. :thumbsup:
 
Thanks. Picking up both belts tomorrow and will look to tackle this weekend weather permitting. Will certainly draw a picture
 
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