power steering pulley went out...

[Ferret]

O realy?

*Cough* sorry, post whoring again.

[Scott C]

dude, replace the belts!

Replaced an idler pulley, serp belt, s/c belt on a old db7 girl...idler pulley seized...it was cool

New Idlers and NEW FLUID in the PS system solved my whine and squeal...
I was afraid I was going to have to replace the pump but this fixed her up (and I did it over 1 year ago - still fine)
Scott

[Boone.Msi]

when your idler pulley seized what were the symptoms of it failing, what led you to believe it was the pulley?

Should i get the belt and what else:

Tensioner spring


and/or the tensioner assembly


or just the pulley?


If i pull on my belt will i be able to tell if the cause is of loss of tension, how tight should the belt be?

[Scott C]

when your idler pulley seized what were the symptoms of it failing, what led you to believe it was the pulley?

Should i get the belt and what else:

Tensioner spring


and/or the tensioner assembly


or just the pulley?


If i pull on my belt will i be able to tell if the cause is of loss of tension, how tight should the belt be?

I replaced the tensioner assembly AND the pulley for the A/C if I remember correctly. I don't recall if pulling the belt off allowed me to determine if the were bad. I think one was a little rough and loose so I just ordered them and installed them. It was PM on my part as much as anything else.

[Boone.Msi]

well on my way to class for finals this morning and my belt slipped off...

Didn't even hear it or notice, first indication was my battery light came on, so im like WTF? then my temp starts to rise, then as im going around a curve, i....cant...turn... OH GOD WTF IM GONNA DIE! i finally manage to slow down, pull over and check it out. By this time i know whats happened, sure enough my belts laying there all cozy in the engine bay...

Anyways, lucky me my friend is driving not to far behind me and picks me up, i make it to class 5 minutes late(professors cool, so im good) left the car sitting there 10 minutes from school. I managed to stretch the belt back over the pulleys, thank god its easy to figure out the directional pattern. Im figuring on atempting to drive it home, its a 30 minute drive, what do you guys think?

So the question is, should i just get a new belt and see if that fixes my problems or go ahead and buy the tensioner arm/pulley while im at it. Would the pulley make the clicking/squeeling noises rather than the belt and cause my power steering to groan because the belts loose? I thought it would be the other way around, belt screeches/whines when loose, pulley stays quiet...

lemme know guys, thanks like always...


EDIT: is the tensioner adjustable or self adjusting?

[Boone.Msi]

well, made it home, On my way to pick up a new goodyear gatorback belt thats on sale!


EDIT:
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...38&hg=11&fg=18

ok, did a search and that answered a few questions. Assuming that i tighten the nut to the farthest left of the lever, that would be the tightest position correct? #10 and 8 on the diagram