Much needed tips. Thank you. Seems all the other videos are for the N52. Was having issues with that black plastic tube in front of the pullies and you're tips helped
I managed to accomplish the belt replacement by jacking front end, only removing the under engine cover and removing one of the air cross pipe torx screws (loosened the other). I pushed belt down into vicinity from the top and placed it on pulleys etc. from underneath, finishing on top when ready for tensioner. I cut the belt I replaced for easier removal from underneath. There are at least 2 belt route patterns for the N54 so choose correctly as in my case only 1 reaches adequately.
ANYONE WATCHING THIS NOW IN 2020 IF YOU’RE HAVING ISSUES GETTING BELT ON AND IT FEELS LIKE IT JUST BARELY WONT GO ON, STOP TRYING TO PULL IT ONTO THE ALTERNATOR AND RATHER PUT IT ON THE ALTERNATOR AND THEN TRY TO SQUEEZE IT INTO THE PULLEY RIGHT BELOW AND TO THE LEFT WHILE TURNING THE T60 TENSIONER CLOCKWISE. I’m sorry for the caps but I spent like 2 hours and I was so close to getting it on the alternator but never worked. And even if it had the pin in it I still had no slack. I used the technical way of putting it on. N54 technical diagram, putting it on the oem way can have it rub against the subframe etc...
you're supposed to replace the rubber o-rings every time you remove those oil cooler lines. I wouldn't recommend removing the oil cooler lines to replace serpentine belts.
I found the job to be much easier by removing it, but for sure, inspect them for pliability and for flat spots or damage before reusing. Mine checked out fine and I just reused them. No leaks.
Subscribed , going through same issue. 2010 335i, Oil filter housing leaked oil ruined belt. Belt part number is 1855. Is about 2 inches too short even with tensioner extended. Set belt up on clamps to stretch over night. Ugh
Great video man, I'm preparing to do the whole drive belt kit replacement aswell as both oil filter housing gaskets on my N55 135i so while it's not identical it's pretty similar so thanks for the tips.
Bro there is two bolts on the left of that pipe hooking it to the engine take them out and you will be able to pull it back far enough to do it easy just did it
I did that in the video but on mine it only moved back about an inch, not enough to get everything out without some more work. Maybe because I was using 1/2 drive torx...3/8 drive may have done it.
Jesus man, you are making this waaaaaaaaaay harder than it needs to be. You do NOT need to remove anything to take the serpentine belt off. Just put a T60 on the tensioner, bend it to the right to relieve the pressure, and take the belt off of that pulley. Then you can take it off of all the rest of them WITHOUT removing anything else. Why put yourself through all of that???
It's standard practice thing to replace all the pulleys plus tensioner whenever you do a belt job. You don't have to on your car but on mine I'm going to do it while I'm in there.
@@OGPedXing MOST "standard practices" came from manufacturers who want to sell MORE parts!!!! And all the sheep in the flock just do whatever they say without thinking for themselves. If the pulleys don't have much give in them, and are tight, there's no reason to replace them. It's just spending money to spend money. But to each their own...
@@AquaStevae I recommend changing certain parts when one or more of the following is true a) it's easy, b) cheap to do while you're there, c) the consequence of a failure is a lot of work or engine damage. For an n54 engine, pulley wear is not detectable by feel in most cases. Any play is an obvious flag to change it but other bearing wear can damage your belt leading to premature failure. When an n54 belt fails it can be eaten by the engine around the front crank seal. In some cases this causes catastrophic engine damage. Best case is hours of work. Even a .01% chance of this is not worth the 20 minutes and $60 or so for the pulleys. A professional mechanic would be sued if he let that happen and deservedly so. I agree it's important to review the pros and cons of each case....but this case seems obvious to me.
I'm working on this right now due to a squeaking belt. I've got the radiator fan off and I ordered some tools so i can release the tensioner. I'm wondering if the squeaking is due to a leaking oil filter housing like you mention in the video. I've also read online that its a common problem and it's consistent with the type of squeaking that i'm getting. I cant really see the underside of the housing. I'm wondering if you can tell me how to check if the housing is leaking. Like where to look or feel
There are three places possibly, one if you have an oil cooler then the two o rings on that hose assembly that you take out with the single bolt from the bottom can leak. Second the front sealing surface of the oil filter housing. Third the side main gasket for the housing. What you can do is jam a clean rag under that area and above the belt, press it in hard and hold for a minute then pull it out. If you see oil on the front it's the o rings, if you see it on the back edge, it's the oil filter housing gasket. If it's on the left of the rag then it's the main oil filter gasket. You can also shine a light behind the housing and check for oil. This one is annoying because a leak from this gasket can travel below the engine all the way to the other side. All that said, if you're doing the belt now and the gaskets have never been changed then I'd go ahead and do both gaskets.
Where does everyone get this set pin from? The pin that holds the tensioner in place when pulling the belt on/off. The only thing I've got that might work is a thick pick tool, but I kinda don't want to risk using that if it's too big or too small for the hole.
Thanks! The pin comes with the new tensioner and is just there to help with installation. For taking it off, you just have to keep pressure on the bar or wrench while you slip off the belt. It can be a bit awkward but you'll get it. The main thing is to make sure your torx is set fully in the tensioner hole...that thing likes to strip.
Great video man. I'm in the middle of the repair myself. Hopefully I can get it completed. Your tips helped me out alot. When you put the new belt on where did you start from? The top or the bottom?
Mostly from the bottom, then over the alternator and tensioner pulley last. Then take another pass to make sure it's slid all the way on each wheel, especially the ribbed ones.
Oof, I feel for you. That's my nightmare. Try to clean out the bolt head as much as possible, if you can get a little grip on it you can sometimes get it loose by tapping the wrench with a hammer as opposed to a hard pull. If it's completely stripped, a size larger torx might fit in there. Penetrating fluid like pb blaster is hard to apply because it needs to go behind the pulley, but it may be possible to get some in there. You can also try an Allen head socket (hex head) and see if it will jam in there enough to get some grip.
@@OGPedXing yo bro i know this is gonna seem a lil fucked but mine actually snapped and broke the entire hole where you put the t60 in im gonna get a new one but now i still have to get the old one off so what should i do i was thinking about welding a bolt onto it so i can get it off but im not sure let me know thanks
Replacing my tensioner pulley because im replacing the belt but turns out the T60 bolt is stripped... Can i still remove the assembly by unbolting the face of it or will i have to do something else...?
The big t60 is just for releasing the belt tension. Same thing almost happened to me. That thing strips way too easily. You can slowly cut the belt since you're replacing it anyway and then unscrew the smaller bolt on the face to remove the whole assembly. It's going to snap back if you do it this way so jamming something in the stripped hole and putting some torque on it may help to keep it from releasing too quickly.
so before i take the "pen out" at 12:20, i should check the belt sit on all rifle rolls yes? But before i remove the pen, i must do the right directon with the T60 or after that?? im a little bit confused
Yes before the pin comes out it's easy to check that the belt is laying in the grooves correctly and is straight on all the smooth pulleys. You can still move it around after the pin is out and there is tension but it's more difficult because of having to apply force to the tensioner spring...you almost need two people at that point.
Garo Barsemian It's one of those "while you're in there" things. So no, not always. But if this is the first replacement on the car, then it's recommended because they wear out as well and squeak or rattle. Also an old tensioner spring can cause it to be loose and the belt may slip or eat itself again.
Garo Barsemian The oil filter housing is above the front of the block and it can very commonly leak in several ways and then flow down. But it's a lot easier to fix so I hope it's that. You can try to wipe everything down and check again. If it's a lot of oil then yeah may be the crank seal
This one is manual. Hmm, that sounds familiar, for automatics there may be a couple of extra steps because that cooler is in the way. Thanks for mentioning this.
The cooling fan has a plastic lock on the driver side, under the charge pipe about half way down the side. Push the tab toward the fire wall. Mine broke when I tried to remove it. At 2:40 he shows what I’m taking about
It's fine. You'll just need to get the belt mostly on and then slide it over the tensioner last while using your bar or socket applying pressure the same as when you took it off. With the pin in it's super easy, that's the only reason.
I think it's an "inspect" item, ie look for wear or cracking in the ribs. But I think most will do it between 75 and 100k. Mine was at 80k and looked mostly ok, but oil leaks caused it to start squeaking.
The point of my videos is not to show how fast I can do something, but to help others learn who have never done it. Talking about and showing how to do something while explaining why takes longer than performing the steps in real time. Let me know the link to your video and I'll give it a thumbs up.
You're right...the NA version of a n54/3 series engine is not called that, it's an n53. They are very similar engines and share much of the same parts. That's what I meant, thanks for clarifying.
Much needed tips. Thank you. Seems all the other videos are for the N52. Was having issues with that black plastic tube in front of the pullies and you're tips helped
I managed to accomplish the belt replacement by jacking front end, only removing the under engine cover and removing one of the air cross pipe torx screws (loosened the other). I pushed belt down into vicinity from the top and placed it on pulleys etc. from underneath, finishing on top when ready for tensioner. I cut the belt I replaced for easier removal from underneath. There are at least 2 belt route patterns for the N54 so choose correctly as in my case only 1 reaches adequately.
ANYONE WATCHING THIS NOW IN 2020 IF YOU’RE HAVING ISSUES GETTING BELT ON AND IT FEELS LIKE IT JUST BARELY WONT GO ON, STOP TRYING TO PULL IT ONTO THE ALTERNATOR AND RATHER PUT IT ON THE ALTERNATOR AND THEN TRY TO SQUEEZE IT INTO THE PULLEY RIGHT BELOW AND TO THE LEFT WHILE TURNING THE T60 TENSIONER CLOCKWISE.
I’m sorry for the caps but I spent like 2 hours and I was so close to getting it on the alternator but never worked. And even if it had the pin in it I still had no slack. I used the technical way of putting it on. N54 technical diagram, putting it on the oem way can have it rub against the subframe etc...
Thanks, easy informative video. This will make life easier.
you're supposed to replace the rubber o-rings every time you remove those oil cooler lines. I wouldn't recommend removing the oil cooler lines to replace serpentine belts.
I found the job to be much easier by removing it, but for sure, inspect them for pliability and for flat spots or damage before reusing. Mine checked out fine and I just reused them. No leaks.
Thanks. Was replacing my belt today (put the new one on) and my tentioner's torx snapped at the slot. This is helpful.
Subscribed , going through same issue. 2010 335i, Oil filter housing leaked oil ruined belt. Belt part number is 1855. Is about 2 inches too short even with tensioner extended. Set belt up on clamps to stretch over night. Ugh
That t60 slot should have iron sleeve . Aluminum one just strips .
Yeah for sure
Great video man, I'm preparing to do the whole drive belt kit replacement aswell as both oil filter housing gaskets on my N55 135i so while it's not identical it's pretty similar so thanks for the tips.
Great video man appreciate it a ton
What are the torques u use?
Bro there is two bolts on the left of that pipe hooking it to the engine take them out and you will be able to pull it back far enough to do it easy just did it
I did that in the video but on mine it only moved back about an inch, not enough to get everything out without some more work. Maybe because I was using 1/2 drive torx...3/8 drive may have done it.
Jesus man, you are making this waaaaaaaaaay harder than it needs to be. You do NOT need to remove anything to take the serpentine belt off. Just put a T60 on the tensioner, bend it to the right to relieve the pressure, and take the belt off of that pulley. Then you can take it off of all the rest of them WITHOUT removing anything else. Why put yourself through all of that???
It's standard practice thing to replace all the pulleys plus tensioner whenever you do a belt job. You don't have to on your car but on mine I'm going to do it while I'm in there.
@@OGPedXing MOST "standard practices" came from manufacturers who want to sell MORE parts!!!! And all the sheep in the flock just do whatever they say without thinking for themselves. If the pulleys don't have much give in them, and are tight, there's no reason to replace them. It's just spending money to spend money. But to each their own...
@@AquaStevae I recommend changing certain parts when one or more of the following is true a) it's easy, b) cheap to do while you're there, c) the consequence of a failure is a lot of work or engine damage. For an n54 engine, pulley wear is not detectable by feel in most cases. Any play is an obvious flag to change it but other bearing wear can damage your belt leading to premature failure. When an n54 belt fails it can be eaten by the engine around the front crank seal. In some cases this causes catastrophic engine damage. Best case is hours of work. Even a .01% chance of this is not worth the 20 minutes and $60 or so for the pulleys. A professional mechanic would be sued if he let that happen and deservedly so. I agree it's important to review the pros and cons of each case....but this case seems obvious to me.
That found doesn't come out so easy it's got hoses connected to it underneath holding it in never could get it out
Same thing here
I'm working on this right now due to a squeaking belt. I've got the radiator fan off and I ordered some tools so i can release the tensioner. I'm wondering if the squeaking is due to a leaking oil filter housing like you mention in the video. I've also read online that its a common problem and it's consistent with the type of squeaking that i'm getting. I cant really see the underside of the housing. I'm wondering if you can tell me how to check if the housing is leaking. Like where to look or feel
There are three places possibly, one if you have an oil cooler then the two o rings on that hose assembly that you take out with the single bolt from the bottom can leak. Second the front sealing surface of the oil filter housing. Third the side main gasket for the housing. What you can do is jam a clean rag under that area and above the belt, press it in hard and hold for a minute then pull it out. If you see oil on the front it's the o rings, if you see it on the back edge, it's the oil filter housing gasket. If it's on the left of the rag then it's the main oil filter gasket. You can also shine a light behind the housing and check for oil. This one is annoying because a leak from this gasket can travel below the engine all the way to the other side. All that said, if you're doing the belt now and the gaskets have never been changed then I'd go ahead and do both gaskets.
@@OGPedXingThanks for the quick reply. Ill be giving all that a try
Link to proper diagram???
Is the belt can easily to put back on? I have hard time to route the belt to last pulley tensioner even the pin still on.
It can be a little tight but should slip on it's on the other pulleys straight
@@OGPedXing I have to put the belt on before pulling the pin, right?
Correct
Where does everyone get this set pin from? The pin that holds the tensioner in place when pulling the belt on/off. The only thing I've got that might work is a thick pick tool, but I kinda don't want to risk using that if it's too big or too small for the hole.
Excellent video, by the way. You bring up a lot of great tips that other videos and forum posts miss.
Thanks! The pin comes with the new tensioner and is just there to help with installation. For taking it off, you just have to keep pressure on the bar or wrench while you slip off the belt. It can be a bit awkward but you'll get it. The main thing is to make sure your torx is set fully in the tensioner hole...that thing likes to strip.
Great video man. I'm in the middle of the repair myself. Hopefully I can get it completed. Your tips helped me out alot. When you put the new belt on where did you start from? The top or the bottom?
Mostly from the bottom, then over the alternator and tensioner pulley last. Then take another pass to make sure it's slid all the way on each wheel, especially the ribbed ones.
Hey how did your repair go
How long is the labor for this job ?
The first time you do it, maybe 2 or 3 hours.
Nice tools👌
My belt snapped and I stripped the t60 bolt what can I do to remove it ?
Oof, I feel for you. That's my nightmare. Try to clean out the bolt head as much as possible, if you can get a little grip on it you can sometimes get it loose by tapping the wrench with a hammer as opposed to a hard pull. If it's completely stripped, a size larger torx might fit in there. Penetrating fluid like pb blaster is hard to apply because it needs to go behind the pulley, but it may be possible to get some in there. You can also try an Allen head socket (hex head) and see if it will jam in there enough to get some grip.
@@OGPedXing yo bro i know this is gonna seem a lil fucked but mine actually snapped and broke the entire hole where you put the t60 in im gonna get a new one but now i still have to get the old one off so what should i do i was thinking about welding a bolt onto it so i can get it off but im not sure let me know thanks
Replacing my tensioner pulley because im replacing the belt but turns out the T60 bolt is stripped... Can i still remove the assembly by unbolting the face of it or will i have to do something else...?
The big t60 is just for releasing the belt tension. Same thing almost happened to me. That thing strips way too easily. You can slowly cut the belt since you're replacing it anyway and then unscrew the smaller bolt on the face to remove the whole assembly. It's going to snap back if you do it this way so jamming something in the stripped hole and putting some torque on it may help to keep it from releasing too quickly.
'i wasnt gonna make this video' 76k views haha it always happens like that
Should I be concerned that my new tensioner pulley doesn't have a ribbed pulley?
No, that's correct. The idle and tension pulleys are all not ribbed. The alternator pulley and the crank pulley are the ribbed ones.
so before i take the "pen out" at 12:20, i should check the belt sit on all rifle rolls yes? But before i remove the pen, i must do the right directon with the T60 or after that?? im a little bit confused
Yes before the pin comes out it's easy to check that the belt is laying in the grooves correctly and is straight on all the smooth pulleys. You can still move it around after the pin is out and there is tension but it's more difficult because of having to apply force to the tensioner spring...you almost need two people at that point.
Oh also, yes a small amount of pressure on the t60 on the tensioner will allow the pin to slide out easily.
Hey do you have to replace the pulleys? My belt got ate up and I’m replacing just the belt.
Garo Barsemian It's one of those "while you're in there" things. So no, not always. But if this is the first replacement on the car, then it's recommended because they wear out as well and squeak or rattle. Also an old tensioner spring can cause it to be loose and the belt may slip or eat itself again.
OGpedxing I see. Thank you for the quick reply!
So I just turned my engine over and I have an oil leak. Not sure where it’s coming from, but it’s probably the crankshaft seal right?
Garo Barsemian The oil filter housing is above the front of the block and it can very commonly leak in several ways and then flow down. But it's a lot easier to fix so I hope it's that. You can try to wipe everything down and check again. If it's a lot of oil then yeah may be the crank seal
OGpedxing yeah I’m sure it’s the crank seal, what do you recommend me doing now?
is this car auto or manual??? I cannot get my rad fan out i think the transmission cooler may be bolted to it.
This one is manual. Hmm, that sounds familiar, for automatics there may be a couple of extra steps because that cooler is in the way. Thanks for mentioning this.
What did you end up doing?
theres a torx at the bottom holding it on the bottom of the fan. Once you get that one you should be able to pull it up
@@bcbp14 once you get the under tray off you can see one T25 holding the ATF to the rad fan
The cooling fan has a plastic lock on the driver side, under the charge pipe about half way down the side. Push the tab toward the fire wall. Mine broke when I tried to remove it. At 2:40 he shows what I’m taking about
what happen i pull the pin out before belt install? if so will i still be able to install my belt?
It's fine. You'll just need to get the belt mostly on and then slide it over the tensioner last while using your bar or socket applying pressure the same as when you took it off. With the pin in it's super easy, that's the only reason.
Don't pull the pin until after the belt is installed and totally lined up.
How did you add the right amount of pressure on the upper pully? I literally ordered the same exact kit and I’m doing this tomorrow lol
Calibrated wrist. J/k meaning I just torqued it down by feel since I couldn't get a torque wrench on it. The required torque is pretty low.
I have a 2009 535i N54, it has around 65k miles now. How often in terms of milage do you have change the belt?
I think it's an "inspect" item, ie look for wear or cracking in the ribs. But I think most will do it between 75 and 100k. Mine was at 80k and looked mostly ok, but oil leaks caused it to start squeaking.
Mine went out at 132k
15 mins video for 1 minute process. Wow
Have you done it? Book time for a serpentine belt and pulleys is 1.5 hrs.
@@OGPedXing Lol book time. Takes 1 minute to remove the belt. 5 mins to remove pulleys and slap on new ones. You took out the rad fan dude. cmon
The point of my videos is not to show how fast I can do something, but to help others learn who have never done it. Talking about and showing how to do something while explaining why takes longer than performing the steps in real time. Let me know the link to your video and I'll give it a thumbs up.
@@OGPedXing you’re doing great buddy. Disregard haters
wow..hr vid for a belt !?
“Non turbo variety of N54” there is no such thing.
You're right...the NA version of a n54/3 series engine is not called that, it's an n53. They are very similar engines and share much of the same parts. That's what I meant, thanks for clarifying.
OGPedXing yup called and n52 in North America, n53 in Europe I believe.
@@RedDirtWrenching you knew what he meant. A twin turbo n52 is an n54.
@@someone4029 not true n52 have valvetronic and port injection.
@@someone4029 also n54 has forged internals n52 definitely does not
First fix your oil leak , then your belt and parts 😅
It's a bmw. It will leak. This was after fixing oil filter gasket leaks, though.