turbo_lew

Well i think this started yesterday while on a run to the airport when i lost power/drive from the engine for a few seconds. engine fault came up on the dash but by the time i looked over to the idrive it had gone and was all back to normal.

Today if been out for a 60mile running (weathers great and i enjoy driving.) with no problems. got home and parked, then went out about 10 mins later and had no power steering and an "insurfficant charge" warning. I assumed that the belt had snapped so went to check, guess what i found.

the belt was fine and the crank pulley had stopped with the engine still running. not good.

I've done some looking on realoem and think i've found the problem.

Looks like itmight be item 3 below or if im lucky 4


http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...17&hg=11&fg=18


I'm going to start stripping it down tomorrow morning to get a better look-see.

Has anyone had this problem? anyone got any diy's for stripping the front end out to access the pulley.

Any help would be great thanks. forgot to add it's a 530d uk pre-lci.

JasonH

Apparently not an uncommon problem. Here are my notes for replacing the belts (which you'll need to remove). At that point you can just unbolt the crank pulley and replace it. It's secured by 4 x E12 bolts.


Remove the fan

1. Remove the acoustic cover (5 allen bolts) (and oil filler cap temporarily).
2. Remove metal panel above radiator (10 torx screws) and put to one side, leaving the bonnet pull cables attached (don't short the battery charging point with the big metal panel). I covered the engine with an old towel to protect everything.
3. Remove plastic panel under that (5 torx screws, careful not to drop them).
4. Reach down to bottom of fan and unclip the 1" hose that runs across the bottom of the front of the car. It just pushes into two U shape bits on the fan cowling.
5. Unplug the two plugs to the fan.
6. Unclip the huge air intake hose where it enters the EGR and tuck it to one side.
7. Wiggle the fan up and out.

Remove the air con belt

There?s no tensioner on my belt so you need to ensure you buy a special stretchy belt, not a standard one.

The crankshaft pulley technically needs a special tool to turn it, but I found that if you take it slow you can turn it with a E12 torx socket.

Turn the pulley (clockwise) and pull the belt off.

Remove the auxiliary belt

1. Make a sketch of the belt route; it?s not obvious.
2. 24mm socket on the tensioner and attempt to tighten it. The tensioner will compress and the belt can be slipped off.
3. Gently release the tension.

Replace auxiliary belt

1. Thread a new one on.
2. Compress the tensioner and slip the belt over it.

Replace the air con belt

Fiddly.

? You need to wind the belt on.
? You need something to clamp one belt into the grooves whilst you guide the other end on whilst simultaneous turning the crank pulley.

Put the fan back

Make sure the fan frame pegs slot correctly into the slots at the bottom of the radiator.

turbo_lew

Thanks for the info, that's great.

I didn't realise it was a common fault. I'm glad it went on the driveway and not on the way home, I was in a tyre smoking/racing mood and probably would have ended up in a ditch lol.

If I remember i'll take some photos and write a DIY with picture, belt change and crank pulley all in one.

Thanks again.

Lewis

pcy

I am trying to understand the problem...
How can the crank pulley be separated from the engine without removing the 4 (or 6) bolts that hold the crank pulley to the crank shaft. Are you saying, all those bolts broke?

turbo_lew

The pulley has a metal out and inner and rubber between the two.
I now have my one off and the rubber has ripped apart to allow the engine to run without the pulley or belts moving.
I have a replacement which I will be fitting in the next hours or so.

I'll upload some photos when I get back to my pc.

pcy

ahhhh... I understand. Yes, harmonic balancer has rubber part sandwiched between two metals parts.

turbo_lew

All fixed now. I'll recheck the bolts tomorrow at work.

I have to say that its a simple job to do. The hardest part was getting my credit card out to pay for the pulley.
I went with a pattern part that was £267.30 BMW want £390 for the same part.

Fingers crossed nothing else go as I'm running out of money

Thanks again for the help with the belt and fan remove instructions.