Subject: Easy Fix. Author: robertplattbell : member since September, 2004 : 10 posts Posted on: 2004-09-18 22:11:34

First, determine which belt is squeaking. I am presuming you have a later model car with serpentine belts. I did this on one of my 328iC's. On the stock 328i motor, there are two serpentine belts, one for the main engine accessories, and one for the A/C compressor.

On one of my E36s the A/C tensioner pulley was shot. Rather than dick around trying to figure it all out, I ordered two new belts, two new tensioners and two new tensioner pulleys. These do tend to wear out on all cars at about 50-70K miles or so, so replacing them is a good preventative maintenance thing.

On the 328 engine, the A/C tensioner pulley is at the bottom of the car, and takes in a lot of road grime and salt, etc. and thus tends to fail earlier than the other pulley. The A/C tensioner is hydraulic and it is a bit of a PITA to replace the tensioner and reinstall the belt (not a lot of slack to work with as opposed to the main belt which is a piece of cake).

Once replaced, the squeaking was gone.

Leave belt dressing and other snake oil repairs on the shelf. They cause more harm than good, as they tend to cause the belts to soften - and spread rubbery goo all over the engine compartment. Once embedded in the pulleys of the accessory drives, it is hard to remove, and will contaminate the new belt you put on.

BTW, save the old belt(s) (I put it inside the spare tire) in case you have a breakdown in the hinterlands. Most places out yonder don't stock BMW belts.

The M3 motor might be a bit different than the 328 motor. I haven't done this job on my M car yet (it only has 14K miles) but I think they use the same belt layout.

Total time: about 3 hours.

Good Luck.

• Squeeky belt - bartelsmeyer 2004-08-21 09:33:21 (1201 views)
  • Easy Fix. - robertplattbell 2004-09-18 22:11:34 (1116 views)
  • You could try some belt dressing but it probably needs replacing (nt) - DavidC 2004-08-21 13:04:19 (1044 views)