Idler Pulley Replacement? Aux Belt broken

[jfritz27]

Originally Posted by jmciver

Yes, that is the bolt that connects the tubes to the oil filter housing. But before you can pull out the tubes, you also need to unscrew a bracket that also holds the tubes in place further down (you can see that bracket in the eBay pic a few posts up). When you pull the tubes out, there should be a pair of o-rings on them. If you don’t see them, they are still in the oil filter housing. You can stick your finger (or a pic tool) to get them out if necessary.

Technically (according to BMW) you are supposed to replace those o-rings, but I did not and did not have any issues or leaks when I put everything back together (the o-rings looked fine and were not deformed).

Awesome, thank you. Last question -- if changing the serpentine belt and tensioner, is there a certain method/sequence to manipulating the tensioner related to engaging/disengaging overall tension on that belt (analogous to what needs to be done on the water pump pulley to get that belt loose). I watched both of Burgess' videos on this. The tensioner I know will rotate, and when new comes with that pin that locks it in place, so I feel like that's somehow important but don't quite fully understand it. Probably have to just take it apart to see, but was hoping to be as prepared as possible before doing so! Thx again

[jmciver]

Originally Posted by jfritz27

Awesome, thank you. Last question -- if changing the serpentine belt and tensioner, is there a certain method/sequence to manipulating the tensioner related to engaging/disengaging overall tension on that belt (analogous to what needs to be done on the water pump pulley to get that belt loose). I watched both of Burgess' videos on this. The tensioner I know will rotate, and when new comes with that pin that locks it in place, so I feel like that's somehow important but don't quite fully understand it. Probably have to just take it apart to see, but was hoping to be as prepared as possible before doing so! Thx again

Having the tensioner pinned makes new belt installation much easier. However, leaving the pin installed makes installation of the new tensioner difficult, if not impossible, due to the tight space if you decide to keep the electric fan installed. So what I did was remove the pin on the new tensioner so I could install it. Once the new tensioner was bolted in place and ready to install the belt, I pinned the tensioner for belt installation.

On previous cars, I could hold the tensioner with one hand (using a ratchet) and use my other hand to slip the belt in place. This proved more difficult on the S55, hence my method above. The tensioner, even my old one with 50k+ miles on it, is very strong, requiring quite a bit of force to rotate (even with a long ratchet or breaker bar for leverage) - which I guess is not a bad thing.

[jfritz27]

Originally Posted by jmciver

Having the tensioner pinned makes new belt installation much easier. However, leaving the pin installed makes installation of the new tensioner difficult, if not impossible, due to the tight space if you decide to keep the electric fan installed. So what I did was remove the pin on the new tensioner so I could install it. Once the new tensioner was bolted in place and ready to install the belt, I pinned the tensioner for belt installation.

On previous cars, I could hold the tensioner with one hand (using a ratchet) and use my other hand to slip the belt in place. This proved more difficult on the S55, hence my method above. The tensioner, even my old one with 50k+ miles on it, is very strong, requiring quite a bit of force to rotate (even with a long ratchet or breaker bar for leverage) - which I guess is not a bad thing.

That's super helpful, thanks much

[jfritz27]

So I've got the other thread in Engine subforum describing my unfortunate on-track overrev with resulting fubar'd balancer with a CBC in place, hopefully I'll get away with just replacing the balancer/crank pulley. I'm going to have them replace all my belts/tensioner/pulleys for me while they're there.

But in regards to this thread, it occurred to me that if you've got a CBC in place, you wouldn't be able to get a socket on the crank bolt to turn over the pulley (as required to rotate and subsequently release tension on the water pump pulley).

For future reference, any ideas on how to circumvent this? Would rotating the crank pulley (or water pump pulley) by hand work? Or maybe finagling a strap wrench onto the crank pulley?

[MattRST]

Hope you don't mind me jumping on this thread Jason

Any views on this tensioner on my 2019 M4?

https://youtube.com/shorts/hnHeJUTLL-8?feature=share

BMW are collecting tmrw from my house however I don't know if I'm being overly cautious . Any thoughts ? Car has 17k mileage

Thanks

Matt

[alexdaoe]

I'm looking into doing this to my M4 but I'm facing a problem with the part that you have to manually turn the engine in order to take the pressure of the water pump belt as I'm running a VTT Crank Bolt Capture and I can't put a wrench to my crank bolt. What solution is there to this problem? Can I turn my engine manually in another way? I'm thinking maybe by the flywheel gearbox window (if there is one) or maybe from the actual water pump pulley bolt?

[jfritz27]

Originally Posted by alexdaoe

I'm looking into doing this to my M4 but I'm facing a problem with the part that you have to manually turn the engine in order to take the pressure of the water pump belt as I'm running a VTT Crank Bolt Capture and I can't put a wrench to my crank bolt. What solution is there to this problem? Can I turn my engine manually in another way? I'm thinking maybe by the flywheel gearbox window (if there is one) or maybe from the actual water pump pulley bolt?

I forget where, but someone chimed in to my query on this same question stating the water pump pulley bolt could be used.

[alexdaoe]

Originally Posted by jfritz27

I forget where, but someone chimed in to my query on this same question stating the water pump pulley bolt could be used.

Can somebody confirm that this is possible like that? I'm about to pull everything apart and would hate to find that this method doesn't work.

[JAI///M3]

Push come to shove you could just remove the CBC plate temporarily, yeah…?

[alexdaoe]

I've seen on Youtube a video of a Crankbolt Bolt Capture installation that at one point he turns the engine with a flathead screwdriver turning something that looks like the flywheel.


https://youtu.be/DhDVHFE7KpA

at 3:35 you see the flywheel window and at 5:20 you see the water pump pulley being retightened

[Alpine_F82]

Originally Posted by hC1001

Torque specs attached.

I am changing all of them which torque spec is for the idler pulley, and the lower deflection pulley near the oil pan it has a metal bracket attached to it

[Alpine_F82]

Bump

[Driver407]

Just spent the last few hours researching everything to do the pulley and belt service DIY.
Put together this legend for the pulley torque specs and bits used. Hopefully this will save someone down the road. Took me a good while to get this all verified and figured out.

[Driver407]

Originally Posted by jfritz27

So I've got the other thread in Engine subforum describing my unfortunate on-track overrev with resulting fubar'd balancer with a CBC in place, hopefully I'll get away with just replacing the balancer/crank pulley. I'm going to have them replace all my belts/tensioner/pulleys for me while they're there.

But in regards to this thread, it occurred to me that if you've got a CBC in place, you wouldn't be able to get a socket on the crank bolt to turn over the pulley (as required to rotate and subsequently release tension on the water pump pulley).

For future reference, any ideas on how to circumvent this? Would rotating the crank pulley (or water pump pulley) by hand work? Or maybe finagling a strap wrench onto the crank pulley?

I also have a VTT Crank Bolt Capture. Have not come across a proper answer as to how to de-tension the waterpump with a CBC.

My plan of attack for removing and installing a new water pump/crank belt with cbc is:
1) Cut off the old belt carefully. Think this is overlooked on many discussions
2) Remove the four bolts
3) Put new belts on
4) Apply pressure to the pump pulley with a screwdriver in the recess of pulley. (see pic)
(Someone did a good cutaway video of this area and a demo of the screwdriver method mentioned. My screenshot is from that video. Linked below)
5) Thread the 4 water pump bolts in. Keeping tension on the pulley and off bolts.
6) Torque down the 4 bolts.
7) Should have belt installed and proper tension.

If anyone has feedback related to this process or if this will work out. I'm all ears. Will be doing the job in the next week or two.

[dzxy]

Just an fyi everything can be done up top without removing anything from the bottom. And it wasn't hard at all. DM me if you have any questions.

[Driver407]

Just as a follow up. I did complete my service over the weekend.

For those of you with a crank bolt capture.
The most annoying part of the entire process was getting the 4 pulley bolts and belt tension back onto the water pump since you cant follow the normal crank rotation procedure.

My 2016 F80 did not have the lip on the water pump to rest the screwdriver into. This must have been updated over time. This makes it VERY difficult to get the bolts in. Had the lip been there this would have not been an issue.

After a few hours of fighting just those 4 bolts.
The answer was to drop the fan about 1-2 inches out of the bottom of the car.
This provided that extra room to jam a screwdriver in at an angle that would actually allow you to install the 4 bolts with tension on the pulley/belt.

I tried to rotate the water pulley bolt to rotate/click it into place but I didn't like the way it felt trying to rotate the last half of the rotation. Wasnt going smooth and i didnt want to mess it up. A few posts mentioned this process but didnt work for me.

I even messed the threads up on one of the bolts trying to get it in. Had to use a thread chaser to fix it. Be careful with installing and torqueing them to 8NM. The alignment of the holes is tricky.

[jfritz27]

For anyone's future reference, the Kies capture plate has a 32mm hex machined into its central hub

[gerri]

Originally Posted by Driver407

I tried to rotate the water pulley bolt to rotate/click it into place but I didn't like the way it felt trying to rotate the last half of the rotation. Wasnt going smooth and i didnt want to mess it up. A few posts mentioned this process but didnt work for me.

I even messed the threads up on one of the bolts trying to get it in. Had to use a thread chaser to fix it. Be careful with installing and torqueing them to 8NM. The alignment of the holes is tricky.

FromTIS

[Driver407]

Originally Posted by gerri

FromTIS

Well aware of the proper procedure. Read the thread.
That cannot be followed when you have a crank bolt capture installed.

[hC1001]

Originally Posted by Driver407

Well aware of the proper procedure. Read the thread.
That cannot be followed when you have a crank bolt capture installed.

Just rotate the waterpump bolt clockwise to get it back into the loaded position. Everyone has to this when they install a CBC without any way to rotate crank bolt.

[jaylazy2020]

Just waiting on water pump belt and bottom end pulley and for circa €350.

Bmw Ireland quoted me €3800 to change all the belts and decided to include a vibration damper for €700!

So doing everything except the damper would be around €3k

Hopefully I can get it done myself and torque everything to spec for €350 oem parts and a few hours of my time!