Whilst cleaning the maf sensor today I noticed what seems to be a missing belt at the front of the engine, I'm new to the BMW world any help would be appreciated.

Kinda hard to make it out

 

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all other pulleys have the bets attached just these two at the very front

 

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You didn't give us your model # e60. I'm assuming that is one of the diesels. But it looks like the crankshaft pulley, absent the accessory belt to drive the A/C compresser. Looking at your first photo, it looks like the compressor to the left, as youre looking from front of car, of the crank pulley.

 

Sorry mate yes E60 525 m sport diesel, thanks for the info that explains why the guy I've recently had it of said there's no A/C lol

Is it something that's needed other than to work the air conditioning

 

Realoem.com is your friend. This may be your car:
RealOEM.com - Online BMW Parts Catalog

Looks like the A/C compressor is on its own belt with nothing else.

 

sounds like maybe the compressor was shot and seized and he took the A/C belt off as a cheap fix rather than replacing the compressor.

either that, or he never needed the A/C and was hoping to get a few extra HP