BMW E46 Tensioner and Idler Pulley Replacment
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- Video demonstrating how to remove and replace the main serpentine belt tensioner and idler pulleys on a E46 3 series BMW. Specifically the BMW in the video is a 330xi with the 3.0 litre inline 6 cylinder engine. Tensioner and idler pulley bearings DO wear out over time and if your drive belts begin to make a "growl" or a "grinding" noise odds are that the tensioner pulley bearings are wearing or worn out.
I had to replace just the main serpentine belt idler and tensioner pulley and did not have to replace the air conditioning tensioner as the bearing assembly was fine in that particular pulley.
Always use HIGH QUALITY tools made from high quality hardened steel. Cheap bits will result in stripped or damaged fasteners.
When using your Torx #50 bit make sure you FULLY SEAT the bit into the centre of the bolt otherwise your risk damaging the "star" points on the screw head making future removal or de-tensioning of the belts very difficult.
It is worth mentioning that the tensioner pulley can only be replaced on motors that use a hydraulic tensioner. Early revision of the E46 employed a mechanical spring tensioner and if that pulley fails then you will need to change the ENTIRE tensioner assembly. Idler pulley are the same across the board for the E46s.
BMW part #'s are listed below
Main serpentine tensioner pulley: 11-28-1-748-131 (ADJUSTING PULLEY)
Idler pulley for serpentine belt: 11-28-7-841-228 (DEFLECTION PULLEY)
Main tensioner Torx #50 bolt: 07-12-9-905-534 (FILLISTER-HEAD SCRE)
This DUDE is too smooth! I would have liked to see the small sections you couldn't see; but all an all,the more I watch this, I feel like I CAN DO THIS!
We just did this exact job on my car last weekend. This video is perfect. A couple notes: I replaced the AC tensioner because of the mileage. If you replace it you'll need to remove the bottom shroud.
This job goes much faster with a 2nd person to remove the belt as you relieve the tensioner pressure. It took us 90 minutes and we were not hurrying.
I like your attention to detail and how careful you are. Your commentary is positively entertaining. Thank you for making and posting this video.
glad you liked my video. thank you for watching!
Excellent video sir. Thank you for taking the time to make it. You are a great mechanic.
Thanks for the kind words! I try to do my best given what I'm presented with. I wish I had an assistant to help me document all this work!
Rate: You presented the details well. I give you a 10 out of 10 for content.
Unfortunately at times I was unable to see what you were actually doing because of the position of the camera. But, your explanation help me to follow without seeing.
In your own words "a second set of hands is always helpful." So if you had an a camera person it would have been 100% perfect. Now you get only a 95 rating. A picture is worth a 1000 words. All said, I enjoyed it and thank you.
t.
+pam2147 Aww thanks for the high ratings. Yes unfortunately in my garage I am a 1 man show. I'm the cameraman, the narrator, the mechanic and the editor. Sucks actually b/c I need someone to hold the camera so badly to make better vids. I'll try my very best to con (I mean, recruit) someone to help me when they can for future vids. Great feedback. Thanks!
+piercedasian I am now in Japan I have a 2002 530i and am about to do the job idle and tension pulleys. There are an abundance of older cars here really cheap. Especially with the yen down. However it is hard to own cars here because of the rigid inspection system alle "shaken". And actually you must have a parking place before you can buy a car here. A lot of wasting going on here. Of course there are some in really bad maintenace shape because they are basically being driven for the 2 year inspection period and then put to out to garage. I had to to a lot of small things but it was worth it because I did it myself. Another thing is maintenance do not come cheep here, for example I had to import my O2 sensors because the dealer wanted 10 times the price in USA. Keep up the great work.
How Japan treats their cars is interesting. Their emissions laws are apparently quite crazy and they say to get the car re-smogged each year exponentially becomes more expensive where it gets to the point where owners are better off buying a new car to curb emissions maintenance costs. I'm a bit ignorant on what goes on there but that is my understanding. Yes parts for your car would DEFINITELY be CRAZY expensive. I swear Americans are VERY lucky to have a huge abundance of parts selection and availability because even in Canada parts are quite pricey. Good work on fixing your own car. Saves you so much money and I find it very rewarding :)
I have a 2004 330, I haven't jumped in an started any work on my car myself as yet. But your videos are great for learning and giving me confidence. I am a fan!
Glad you like my videos. Subscribe for more tips and tricks on how to fix your own car :)
I'm tackling this in the next week, best video I've seen on the process so far. Thank you.
excellent video, very professional and explained better than any other video I've seen on youtube. post new tutorials man!
@ Chris siska - Thanks for the encouraging words. Always a pleasure to hear that people are happy with what I've posted. I will always try to post videos whenever I can.
wow, glad i found your vid! Thanks very much. Will be doing this soon since my belt squeak when I start the engine.
When I get an E46, I will be changing out the cooling system and pulley's! Thanks for the DIY video!
@ Michael Lucas - You're very welcome. The E46 is a great platform and pretty easy to work on.
Best blue jacket video ever
Glad you liked the vid!
Very excellent video, great job explaining the process. Thank you for putting this up.
Nice video with excellent under hood details and great insight advice for the wrench-turners.
glad you liked watching my video. Yes, the goal of my videos is to train, help and inform those that are wondering how to fix things!
The best damn Asian I know...ha, great job in explaining, providing caution and warnings, and overall an excellent video.
lol thanks! Yes I've had people say I talk too much in my videos but honestly would folks rather assume my audience "already knows" what they're doing? They came to TH-cam for help so I choose to offer the best help I humanly can :)
Glad you liked the vids!
Fantastic job - very thorough
Thanks!
That´s what we can say! Very informative explained and very well filmed video! Great job! Thanx a lot!!
you're very welcome. Thanks for watching!
I agree, thanks for a very informative and good quality DIY video, thorough and clear explanations. I enjoyed it.
@ Yalewood - you're welcome. Glad you found it helpful.
Super professional grade help. Great video. Thank you for your time and efforts.
+Josiah Dewitt glad you liked my video. Consider subscribing to get the latest in DIY car repairs and other how to vids :)
Very helpful...I will use your video to replace my own pulleys........thanks!!!!!
@ Maureen Iglesias - good luck and don't forget to buy new belts in case your are worn.
Thank you for such a good detailed video
Glad it was helpful!
Great job, very professional! :)
Thank you so much. Very detailed and informative.
you're most welcome. Thanks for watching!
@ Jeremy Winter - you're very welcome. Glad to be of assistance :)
You go Asian! BREH, I actually paid attention. Need more vids BREH. Now I'm motivated to work on my tensioner assembly. I got the same problem.
Glad you liked my video! I am trying to make more vids but doing everything (producing, narrating, fixing and filming and editing is painfully difficult). I have admittedly gotten somewhat lazy in publishing new content due to the amount of effort thats required. I have a lot of new content to upload but just no time to edit...
Strange that in all these videos and DIYs, nobody seems to mention that if you replace the whole tensioner assembly (not just the pulley) it is virtually impossible to get the fan belt back on with only one person. You’ll need one hand to turn the breaker bar, one hand to hold the torx bit tight into the bolt to keep it from camming out and stripping it (because it's new, so you are applying a LOT of pressure), and a third hand to actually put the belt on. After trying to do it alone for over an hour, and completely destroying two of the three bolts I had on hand, I called a friend to come over and help and it was done in 30 seconds.
I guess it’s just because most of these DIYs are only changing pulleys or belts, not whole assemblies, so the issue doesn’t come up. For my AC belt I had only changed the pulley so that one was no problem to do myself. But there is a HUGE difference between the torque needed to move the pulleys on an old and a new assembly, and the tensioner and idler pulleys will actually be touching each other before you get the belt on. So just my advice, for those of you who are like me and live alone in the middle of nowhere: Be prepared to phone a friend.
interesting point Jon. Does your BMW use a single unified tensioner assembly where the pulleys cannot be replaced or is yours like the one in my video? Fortunately in my case the tensioner wasn't crazy tight as how you've described yours and it makes me wonder whether or not there is a difference in belt tensioner tension from the serviceable unit like on my car vs. one that isn't serviceable. Great tip nonetheless for those that encounter (or want to avoid) that problem.
GREAT ADVICE!
piercedasian Yep, mine is the same as yours - I have an 02 330Ci. I just had to do an extra step of replacing the whole unit because it wasn’t keeping tension properly. There’s a huge spring inside the assembly, and because this one was brand new and wasn't broken in at all, it was really hard to get it to move. Even with a brand new Torx bolt, it was too much to do one-handed without slippage. The old tensioner on the AC belt was nice and broken in (I only had to change the pulley) so that one was very easy to do, just like your video.
Awesome DIY, man! It really helped - even the part about the fan clutch tools and which direction to turn them. Didn't matter that you couldn't show it, the explanation was perfect. Thanks!
I love it, "...if you decide to break them."
lol
Excellent, informative video. Thank you!!!
Thanks for watching!
very detail description.....
when are you going to do the oil pan gasket?
I just did my oil pan gasket on the 325xi, and it's not easy at all
I likely won't be doing an oil pan gasket video anytime soon as I haven't had the need to do it yet. Yes the pan gasket would be a HUGE pain to do since the pan is so large and if my memory serves me correctly either the rear subframe or exhaust system gets in the way of easily removing it.
In case if anyone is wondering, this is the bolt: M10x25. The number is: 07-12-9-905-534. Cheers
thanks for sharing that! I'm sure our viewers will find that information useful.
excellent video
+Rene Auburn glad you liked my vid. Thanks for watching!
+piercedasian i have ina f-226 228 2300 pulley, will this fit my car 11281748131?
hmm I can't confirm that as I don't work on enough BMWs to be familiar with what will swap over from another model.
@ SeverdSeouL - I agree that the parts being plastic are rather cheap considering the engineering marvel of the car. Given that the cost of this car back in the early 2000's was well over $55, 000 CAD that I would expect a LOT more from this vehicle. Indeed plenty of plastic parts BUT I will say that BMW's for the most part aren't actually that difficult to work on (at least the stuff I do anyways).
I felt my fan and It seems flat like the manual one you mentioned but I have an automatic. I don't want to buy those tolls if I don't need them.
hmm if it an automatic chances are you'll need the tool Double check...
It felt flat so I don't see where I would put it. And I saw one taken out on a video that looked flat too.
maybe you're one of the lucky BMW owners that have an automatic but have the fan configurations as the manual transmission equipped cars!
piercedasian can you specify what that wrench was please
so when changing my serpentine belt i should also buy a tension pully, idle pully, and AC belt just to be safe?
How do I know if I have a mechanical tensioner or hydraulic? I drive a 2001 BMW 325i
Brilliant thank you
You are very welcome
I found that my tensioner bolt was stripped as well. However, I couldn't get it out with the T50 bit and wrench. Any suggestions? The other bolts are very hard to access with the pulley still in the way...
stripped as in the head is stripped? You may need to get a bolt extractor where you can jam that over the head of the bolt and it will "bite" into whatever is left on the head and you hope to god that it turns and comes out.
very good thanks
+martin norman you're welcome!
Thanks for watching :)
hi whats the difference between mechanical and hydraulic belt tensioner?
what would you recommend for 2001 bmw 330ci
I know there's no way of knowing but how many miles do you think is still safe for it to be driven that way until I'm able to fix it? What could happen if it is not fixed? Thanks
There technically isn't a mileage limit for bearings per se because each bearing on your car or others cars are all operated in different environments. If bearings get wet, run hot, run out of the factory applied lubrication all of those can contribute to premature failure. I've had bearings go 500, 000 kms without a hitch and I've seen bearings go bad after 3 months. I would say if it makes noise you probably don't have too much time before the failure occurs although generally bearings make more and more noise as they get closer to failure. Sorry I couldn't provide you with a more concrete answer.
Hey great videos..."As such", thank you.
Great and helpful vid!
I have a 20006 BMW 116i (Manual) and it looks like I will have to change the power steering pulley as it has seized completely.
Question: Will the fan assembly on my car be as straightforward as yours considering mine too is a manual gearbox?
I don't have those tools you demonstrated as necessary for the automatic cars so it would be great to confirm before I even attempt the job.
Thanks!!
I would go onto amazon and buy the tools. They're not overly pricey but it will save you a lot of aggravation. What's your time and frustration worth? To me it was worth having the exact tools needed to get job done right.
piercedasian Hey. Thank you so much for replying. However, upon closer inspection I realised the pulley in question was actually my AC compressor clutch mechanism that had broken apart.
So yeah ... problem was worst and more expensive than initially thought. I have opted to use a shorter serpentine belt and bypass the AC compressor completely as a temporary fix. (I can do without having to shell out $1500.00 this summer.)
sadness. Yeah anything to do with failed a/c components almost always = expensive fix. Do keep in mind that you CAN replace the compressor clutch but typically that needs to be done with specialized tools but I theoretically can be done with the compressor on the car. I would honestly consult with a BMW specialist in your area to see if they can help you out as I am sure the stealership will gouge you on the fix and say you need a brand new compressor at a cost of probably $3K. Not having a/c would suck.
Hope things work out for you,
piercedasian Yep. I have done my research and you are spot on with your summation.
I have found a compressor clutch online but won't have the time to really look at everything until september - hence the temporary bypass.
Thanks so much once again!
phew at least I know I still have SOME logic left in me. Hopefully you will be able to get your a/c woes resolved soon before the next heat wave strikes.
The ones I have seen have a tensioner off to the side and not in the center so if the tensioner is in the center how do you remove the whole tensioner?
Depends on the tensioner design. If the tensioner has an obvious bolt at the pivot point then chances are you can just unbolt it. If there is no spring tensioner to be seen that can be easily removed then I'd question if the pulley bearing you're thinking of replacing is really an idler pulley which can be unbolted by undoing the screw in the middle of the pulley.
could you list all the tools required to diy. i want to attemp this at home
+Humanity Insanity Yikes I'm not sure if I remember all the tools I used.... I believe I do state them in my video but most if not all the tools used were basic hand tools that can be purchased almost at any hardware store.
good video well thought through
glad you liked the video. Yes I had to make sure it was presented properly otherwise I'd be totally misguiding people.
No worries, i got the job done a lot easier cheers!
glad to hear it worked out for you!
Hi I have a bmw 335i (2009) and had this issue a few days ago but my mechanic has decided to take off the whole front end and lights to try and gain access to the pulley that needs replacing. Would this be the correct way to repair this?
you're mechanic doesn't sound very competent in fixing the E46's if he feels that he's got to remove the front bumper. Replacing pulleys on the E46 has got to be the easiest thing to perform that most shade tree mechanics can do on their own. Follow my video tutorial and you should be able to easily replace them on your own. The only exception is if you have a hydraulic fan clutch - if you do then you'll need to purchase a fan clutch tool off of amazon.com (they're cheap) to hold the water pump and use the included slim wrench to loosen the clutch retaining nut. Sounds complicated but it is honestly a joke to remove IF you have the right tools.
100% agree. I have yet to come across an 335XI to work on. Too new for it to need work... give me a few years and I'm sure I'll come across a few :) but yes, you're mechanic shouldn't have to remove all that front end stuff to replace something so straightforward.
i have a loud squealing sound when turning the car on. pretty much goes away as soon as i start driving a minute or so... i replaced the belt tensioner pulley today and still the same sound. it sounds like its from that side of the engine (towards the air box), any ideas? idler pulley?
it very well could be the idler. Are you sure your belts are "tight"? Just because you replaced the tensioner doesn't necessarily mean that the spring or hydraulic tensioner is apply the proper down force onto the belt to prevent slippage on all the pulleys. I'd check your belt tension to see if it really is tight. Go check out some other vehicles (not necessarily BMWs) to get a reference "feel" for what a typical serpentine belt should be and if yours is loose I'd suspect that the tensioner assembly might be getting weak.
piercedasian so i replaced the idler pulley and the squealing is gone (the old pulley barely even spun)... when i started the car to check it, it seems like the fan isnt spinning very fast. i can stop it pretty easily with a finger. is this normal on cold start? or did i tighten it wrong? (auto trans stye fan)... thanks again for the videos
Delaney Williams fan clutch??
hmm, when you had the serpentine belts removed did you give the pulleys a spin to see if they are either seized or are way too easy to spin? A new bearing will spin but will not spin freely like a well worn bearing. I would remove the belts and give the pulleys a spin and a wiggle to see if there is excessive play. If all is good then the next step would be to not re-install the fan clutch (if you're car is an automatic) and see if the squeal is there. If it's gone then chances are you have a bad fan clutch although I doubt that is the case.
I have a 323ci is it possible to use either the hydraulic or mechanical tensioner regardles what was oem? Example mine stock is hydraulic which the hydro arm and pulley both need replaced and its cheaper for the mechanical tensioner and comes with the pulley attached im not worried about ease of removing/installing the belt seense its a rare event.. Any input greatly appreciated
@ mmaners2010 - hydraulic and mechanical tensioners are not interchangeable. My understanding is that they have to be replaced with what came from the factory. Mechanic tensioners are serviceable vs. the hydraulic ones aren't. Kinda stupid why they designed it that way. Cash grab from BWM I think.
Thanks for sharing this video . In order if I need to change the belt do I need to mark the direction of poly or anything befor I move the belt.
Aram Taylor nope, belts are not directional. Just remove and replace.
Thanks so much for the help
you're very welcome. Thanks for watching!
Start of video: gotta be carefull with those plastic rivets they are delicate and like to break
End of video: if they don't want to go back into their place just bang 'em hard enough until they do
*:D*
lol, yep not sure what the clips are like in other areas of the world but for cars in canada it only takes a year or two of road grime and our somewhat harsh winters to make those clips brittle and/or jammed to the point where you have to break them apart to get them out or shove them back in.
About how long do you think it would take a shop to do something like this?
honestly for most mechanically competent folks with the RIGHT tools should be able to do this in probably 1 - 1.5 hours tops. Permitted you have the tools to properly remove things without breaking parts it should be a breeze.
piercedasian Awesome! Thanks. I've been doing a bit more diagnostics and mine is throwing P0301, P0304, P0300 codes in that order. Prior to running the codes I thought it might be the pulley but after getting these codes I think a novice like myself can dive into this issue and trouble shoot to figure out which coil/spark plugs are bad. Thanks for your fast response!
how did you learn about bmw engines and repair?
@ Mentalities - I started out at an extremely young age (think 4 years old) working with my dad on all sorts of things which helped me develop a pretty good logic and memory on how to dismantle everything without forgetting how to put it all back together. BMW cars aren't anything special or different than any other car so the dismantling and reassembling logic is really all the same. Car repairs are not brand centric but rather design centric that will ultimately govern how one would take things apart for repair. But like all things, practice makes perfect and this skill didn't come overnight and certainly didn't come without screw ups. I've been wrenching for over 19 years now and I still occasionally get stumped on things! :)
50skid youtube channel is for you if own a e46
My 2000 e46 doesn't have a idler and tensioner cap with it, is that okay?
Depending on the year and build of your BMW you may or may not have the same setup of pulleys as the one in my video.
where did you purchase tge fan clutch tools at? Great vid!!!!
amazon.com
I just purchased a fan clutch tool set from Bavarian Autosport. It cost $29.00
Perfect. You'll be glad you have the right tool. Great investment for BMW owners.
how to remove the alternator with the hydraulic tensioner?
Miguel Nava HI Miguel, sorry I don't have the car in my garage anymore so I couldn't even tell you. Sorry I couldn't help.
awesome now to make the money for my parts lol
how come you didnt show how to remove the the hyraulic tensioner itself ? you only showed how to remove the pulley
I didn't show the hydraulic tensioner removal b/c it didn't need to be. The pulley itself was what was squeaking because of a bad bearing. This is actually my friends car and it is worth mentioning that these E46's came with either a mechanical spring loaded tensioner OR a hydraulic one. One of them can be serviced while the other needs the whole assembly replaced which is quite expensive. My friend's car was luckily the one that could be serviced.
Ooo Okk cool I have as just wondering . But maybe you can help me , my car has a high pitched squealing when I cold start it which just started yesterday , I took everything apart n saw that I have the hydro tensioner just like ur video . My pulley spins very freely and doesn't stop . Do u think the tensioner needs to be replaced or just the pulley as how u did it .
BTW the tensioner on this specific BMW I worked on has a mechanical tensioner that IS serviceable.
Christian Puckerin are you certain your belts are in good condition? What about the A/C belt? Squealing is usually a result of belt slipping or a bearing that fails when it's under load. Bearings spinning freely doesn't say much unless they're being "loaded" with pressure which then it will start acting up. My video if I recall does cover how to test for play. Have you tried starting the car with the main drive belt off first to see IF it is the a/c belt making that noise? Running the car with no drive belt for a minute won't hurt anything. Conversely run the car with the main drive belt and no accessory a/c belt and see if the sound goes away and that will help you isolate the noise :)
I just did my water pump, water pump pulley , ps pulley , both serpentine belts , coolant flush , hoses changed all that good stuff so I kno it can't be that . It only happens when the car is cold n once it's at operating temperature it stops completely. Like I said I took it apart this morning , and was able to spin the wheel and it has extreme amounts of play in it which kno isn't a good thing .
I'm just going to "ever so slightly" leave a comment.
lol!
Thanks everyone - I plan to buy a professional wireless mic for future videos because ironically not all my videos have great audio.
Its better if you are showing what you are doing. All we see is your back and hearing the voice
I try to film as best as I can but as a one man show it is tough to do the job AND film and narrate. Subsequent videos have gotten better but my space that I work in is super tight hence why you often see many of my videos done outside.
BMW's are not hard to work on at all. Its the fact that you need their fucking OEM tools to do most of the bs.
AGREED!
Good video, but wow, what a terrible design. What is it with German cars always trying to prevent owners from servicing their own cars and using cheap, shit plastic parts. No wonder most people lease these cars. Nice looks and power I'm sure, but such unreliable garbage and a nightmare to work on.
I've seen hydraulic tensioner and spring loaded ones. Is there a good way to determine which one is installed without pulling the whole front end apart?
yep, quite easily actually. Call BMW and give them your VIN number and they'll be able to tell you what tensioner is in the car :)