OT: I had a fun day today... (Long rant)

[e34.535i.sport]

AAARRRGGGHHH! I'm at my wits end with this bleeding car! I doubt anybody wants to read this much whining but it'll make me feel a whole lot better so here goes!

I always carry coolant and a 3L bottle of water with me wherever I go, but yesterday I check on my water bottle under the spare wheel and it's leaking so i took it out...

Conincidentally today, as I'm on the motorway getting up to speed (at about 70mph by now) I see some lights come up on the dash. I've been here before (a few times with this car!) so I pull over quick and turn the engine off while I know the temp is still at dead centre and ok. I open the bonnet to see what's happening and as expected it's threw the Alternator/fan belt off... Then I look down. I'm standing in a nice puddle of hot coolant and the resevoir is empty.Boo. And to make things worse as I'm looking around for where the coolant has escaped from a nice 18 wheeler flies past and nearly takes my bonnet with it. The belt had ripped a big hole in the lower radiator hose (pics to follow) about an inch or two long. Marvelous...

I go for the trusty coolant and Wa.... Nope - got none! GGGRRRRRR!

Luckily enough I had replaced the hoses a few months back and I kept the old one I had in the boot - and I had a couple of bottles of coolant... The Captain was kind enough to assist by bringing me some water so I could sort it there and then.

We got underway removing the undertray and replacing the burst pipe - and then set about getting the belt back on. This is a lot more difficult when you've got cars and trucks flying past at 70mph+ blowing dust in your face and firing stone bullets! .Getting the belt back on wasn't without it's problems as the teeth on the belt tensioner stripped off as I tried to tighten it up... I knew at this point it wasn't my day.

Then the motorway police turn up... Just when you want them most. Fortunately he wasn't one of the many officers that like to make life difficult for no apparent reason... I told him I'd have it done and be home watching Maurey Povitch by the time the breakdown truck would even arrive at the scene so he decided to go away which I appreciated. The car had already got on my last nerve and I didn't want him pushing me over the edge!

The belt would have to remain loose so we scrapped that and proceeded to fill the coolant and begin bleeding the system. I don't know how many times I've changed the coolant on this car (mainly due to total loss!) but I've never had air in the system when bleeding and it's always been easy... This time however I've ended up with a mass of air in there and it's going to take a few cycles to get rid I think.

I drove home not exceeding 2500revs just incase it threw the belt again, and also I wasn't convinced the cooling system was bled fully at all so I didn't want it to overheat again. Like it did last time.

I have no idea why it keeps losing the belt, it's done it a couple of times now. Normally after I tighen it up. It's weird because I would expect it to stay on better if it's tightened up rather than dislodge easier? I'm sure Idon't overtighten it, there's always some slack. If anyone's got any tips on how tight to have it then please chime in.

I've got a new one now which is going on tomorrow and hopefully this one will stay on. A new tensioner is on order to Tuesday and a new pipe will be in in about a week.

I hate my car right now, it's on thin ice! (The scary part is it's taking me and some family on a 500 mile round trip in 4weeks time and I'm trying to get it up to scratch!).

[nirvana19]

I might have responded with this to one of your past posts.. but my car threw that belt once right after me changing the belt. Ever since it was towed to the shop and the belt replaced the problem hasn't happened though the alternator slips during the winter. It seems like the shop set the belt slightly loose but I refuse to touch it since everything has been working. I think this HAS to be due to the engine moving, might be time for engine mounts. Either the pulley system is shot (I checked it to the best of my ability and found nothing abnormal) or the engine shifts which twists and shreds the belt. I'm guessing with a little slack this won't shred the belt but it might slip and get a bit glazed. With a tight belt the force just destroys it. I remember when my belt shredded half of its width was completely gone and had turned to pieces of rubber all over my engine bay, while the other half was partially over the pulley. This seems to imply some sort of twisting of the belt ( the belt was also rather twisted).

Just a hunch but engine mounts might be a good idea.. though with the maintenance you do you've probably already done those. If someone with more knowledge has an idea please share.. I hate when something as simple as a belt disables and overheats our E34s.

[Jon K]

Jeez, I need cliff notes

[Paul in NZ]

isnt the belt confined to entirely engine mounted devices....

[whiskychaser]

Did you check the alignment of the pulleys? If one is off a tad it could cause the belt to hop. Anything on the hard shoulder is a magnet for something to hit it:(

[525i winter driver]

for a while until i noticed it my fan blades were occasionally rubbing up against the top heater hose... once i looked for it i could see the fan wobble although my belt wasn't throwing itself. i think there are a couple things my fan blades could hit if they weren't on tight and properly yours would be a bit different of course. what clued me in was the wear on the fan blades i might not have noticed otherwise. bummer about your hood too that is really unlucky... unfortunately in this case you can't say "that could have happened to any car", which is what i try to tell myself as often as i can.

[Ross]

Tim,

Even if the adjusting rack or screw are stripped(usually because folks forget to loosen the clamping bolt) and you manage to get the belt tight with a pry bar, lock down the bolts and you should be good.
Cheap belts stretch, sometimes a lot requiring retensioning. Maybe when replacing the hose it was positioned a bit close to that belt, if the mounts are worn the motor can move, etc.
Kiss and make up now

[nirvana19]

isnt the belt confined to entirely engine mounted devices....

Good point.. I'm thinking moving around in the engine bay dislodge something or cause something to rub. Pulley is the likely culprit, but I've never been able to find anything wrong. I suppose the stress caused by the tightened belt could cause all the problems.

[525i winter driver]

Tim,

Even if the adjusting rack or screw are stripped(usually because folks forget to loosen the clamping bolt) and you manage to get the belt tight with a pry bar, lock down the bolts and you should be good.
Cheap belts stretch, sometimes a lot requiring retensioning. Maybe when replacing the hose it was positioned a bit close to that belt, if the mounts are worn the motor can move, etc.
Kiss and make up now
:D:D:D we're tolerating each other at the moment, have to see how my upcoming road trip goes you know how things go when you're on the road with your sweetie things can either go really well or really badly there is no in between in relationships like this. thanks for the tip - it was the as you said the hose positioned badly it has been repositioned and given the added security of a plastic tiewrap along with a kiss for good luck.

[Ross]

:D:D:D we're tolerating each other at the moment, have to see how my upcoming road trip goes you know how things go when you're on the road with your sweetie things can either go really well or really badly there is no in between in relationships like this. thanks for the tip - it was the as you said the hose positioned badly it has been repositioned and given the added security of a plastic tiewrap along with a kiss for good luck.
You're my idol.

[e34.535i.sport]

Hey guys... I changed the belt yesterday and used a pry bar to adjust the tensioner: I can't believe I didn't think of that because I've done it before!

The belt I had on was a dealer part - it didn't rip only frayed the edge luckily... I replaced it with a Goodyear belt which has a slightly different design on the 'teeth' so we'll see how that goes. I left it looser than the Haynes suggests I should but I'm scared to tighten it up as everytime I do I end up with a situation on my hands!

I also checked the alignment and action of the pulley's while I was there cheers, all seemed perfect.

A couple of other things you guys mentioned were interesting - my engine mounts DO need doing so I wonder if it could be related? It happened when I put the hammer down so possibly? I'm putting this one off because I hate the idea of jacking the engine up that far, it seems risky!

Also, my Viscous fan coupling is wobbling about a bit, I doubt enough to cause any adverse effects though.

Anyway, thanks for everything guys.

[525i winter driver]

... all seemed perfect.



nice to hear - the worst problems are the problems where you can't figure out what the problem is. i'd be scared to leave the belt loose tho myself. when i'm really nervous abouit my car i take it for demanding drives very close to my home.



You're my idol.

lmao - i just saw this - i hope you are aware it's really been you fixing up my car the whole time (except for some scratches i left) i just follow instructions. :) cheers!

[e34.535i.sport]

Here's the pipe that went...

http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/3/8/7/f_Image013m_b83d698.jpg (http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/3/8/7/f_Image013m_b83d698.jpg&srv=img33)

http://img34.picoodle.com/img/img34/3/8/7/f_Image014m_32d2144.jpg (http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/3/8/7/f_Image014m_32d2144.jpg&srv=img34)

And here's the little hidey hole I use for coolant etc...

http://img29.picoodle.com/img/img29/3/8/7/f_Image012m_a6361b6.jpg (http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/3/8/7/f_Image012m_a6361b6.jpg&srv=img29)

[Tiger]

If your belt has keep coming off, there is something wrong! Fix it! Look at the alignment of the belt in relation to all the pulleys... if it is off, the belt will come off.

[e34.535i.sport]

If your belt has keep coming off, there is something wrong! Fix it! Look at the alignment of the belt in relation to all the pulleys... if it is off, the belt will come off.

Yeah I did that on Whisky's recommendation but it al looks well aligned. I don't know if I was setting the belt too tight, as with it a bit looser the car 'feels' better strangely enough. I also loosened off the PS belt a bit and the pump hasn't groaned since so I'm happy!

The interesting part for me is that the belt that came off was a dealer part both times, and I never thought it fitted quite right - as in the 'teeth' on the belt were a little too thick if you know what I mean. I have a diff belt on now anyway as I've said and I think it looks a bit better fit if that's possible!

Took the car out for a GOOD run close to home (By that I mean I hammered it) and no belt slip or anything, it ran well so I'm hoping the belt problem is a thing of the past! :D