scootermcrad

Hey everyone,

We just bought this 535I. Literally only 3 weeks or so into it. Over the past week or two, I've noticed some new noises coming from the around the alternator. Figured it was the alternator starting to go, since it resembled some of the sounds mentioned in other threads and videos. So I've been keeping an eye on it to see if it persists.

My wife called me and said that the car was blowing warm air and something didn't seem right. She was close by my work so she stopped by. As soon as she pulled in I noticed the car was much louder in that area. I put the AC on Max Cool to see what would happen and immediately I could hear it get louder. I popped the hood and smelled the burning smell and a bit of smoke, then POW! Belt shredded and we shut it off. SO GLAD my wife wasn't on the highway when this happened. Car was shipped off to my local Indy BMW mechanic and just waiting to hear.what they find.

I haven't done anything more to this car other than put it up on jack stands to pull the front wheels off. I haven't even had time to get to know this car AT ALL! So uncomfortable right now. The previous owner said he replaced the belt when he got it. Mechanic that received the car was saying something to my wife about a design flaw with the belts that can cause the to rub (whatever that means).

I'm hoping this is as simple as a belt just not being properly installed or tensioned correctly and NOT an AC compressor locking up on me. IF it IS an AC compressor, how easy is this job to do myself or what would I expect to pay an Indy mechanic to fix it? Anyone know anything about this so-called belt issue that was mentioned.

Going over to the shop to see the car in a couple hours. Just want to know what I'm up against. I just don't know enough about this car yet to know what I've gotten myself in to.

(big sigh)

Thanks!
S

audiophool

Ouch. There is a belt rub issue on the 3 series car due to routing, but I've never heard one on the 5. Sounds like the AC compressor might have seized - was it blowing cold OK before this?

With a belt replacement, it is strongly recommended to replace the idler and tensioner pulleys. Use the best belt you can find - Continental makes at least two grades. These engines are known to suck the belt through the front main seal when they shred. Have your mechanic inspect for any evidence of this.

kd7iwp

Agreed, I wonder if the mechanic is referring the problem of the snapped belt coming through the main seal into the timing chain area. I'm leaning towards thinking your compressor is toast. My thought process is that if it was locking up then the belt is slipping across the pulley and that's where the smoke was coming from (or from the compressor's bearings) and that caused the belt to snap.

scootermcrad

Okay! Got confirmation! Indeed the compressor is seized. YAY! Good news is, the belt was NOT ingested so the costs are pretty isolated to the compressor replacement. And indeed, the belt issue thing he had mentioned was just that they have a tendency to get ingested and take out seals. Sounds like I seriously dodged a bullet. So glad!

It was blowing cold air until this situation, yes.

The repair cost is looking to be around $1600. Not a great way to start off this relationship with this car. However, I think I'm going to let them do this one. This couldn't have come at a worse time for my wife and I with everything we have going on and we need the car fixed ASAP. At least I'll know it's done and safe.

In the mean time, I had them look at everything else and only found that the tension arms could use replacement, since the bushings are on their way out (figured that would have to be done eventually) and they also found a leaking fuel sender that was cracked. Car got a pretty good bill of health, otherwise. So I'm happy about that!

kd7iwp

Tension arms shouldn't be that bad for you to do. I just replaced the bushings in mine myself. It's obviously easier to just replace the arm than to press out the bushing, just costs more (but also replaces your ball joint if that's needed).

scootermcrad

Yeah. For the sake of getting the job done in a timely fashion (since I don't have a press) replacing the arms for less than $200 in parts seems pretty decent. Seems like a very straight forward swap. Much easier than doing an AC compressor, anyway! HAHA

Seriously. We're very thankful that the compressor seized when it did. This could have been much worse and my wife had our 2 year old and 6 week old in the car.

audiophool

Ball joint for the tension arm on the 535xi is separate from the arm. The arm can be R&R without removing the ball joint as it has a spherical fit rather than a taper. The ball joint fits into the hub, and as the hub is an iron forging, the joint will be fused into the hub with rust and is a bear to remove. If the ball joint is tight, leave it be. 535i has a taper ball joint as part of the tension arm.

scootermcrad

I believe the ball joint for the E60 535i is actually straight, not tapered, but has a tapered collar around the base of the stem to position/align and seat the ball joint. This is great, since you don't have to use any special tools to unseat the ball joint. Maybe this was different on various years and trim levels, not sure.

kd7iwp

I read somewhere (Bavauto maybe?) that BMW does not use tapered fit in aluminum arms. This is why it was fairly easy for me to remove them from my xi. RWD also have aluminum arms so I don't think should be too bad. I removed my arms from the ball joints (since they were still pretty solid) to press the bushings. I'm not sure how difficult it would have been to get the ball joint out of the hub if I had wanted to replace that.

audiophool

Might be right - I don't have the RWD. But with ball joints that fit in the hub, tapers could be used. First time I tried to R&R the tension arm on mine, I had to cut the ball joint out as the nut was seized to the threads so bad I tore up the Torx inner and had no way to remove the nut. The thing that really pissed me off was that the ball joint was perfect otherwise and I had to put in a new one which was a major pain since it was rust welded into the hub.