Unofficialbmw.com

85-325e · Joined: 30 Jun 2002 Posts: 4712 Location: Southampton, NY

Hi Quincy...

The neares Sears is 105 mikles away, in Denver, or 120 miles in Grand Junction! You're right though... I just bought a 20" 3/8" Craftsman extension from them for $12 or $13, great bargain compared to Ace or NAPA. The problem with being up in them there hills is that there are NO good car parts places except a tthe BOTTOM of them there hills!

Enis

85-325e · Joined: 30 Jun 2002 Posts: 4712 Location: Southampton, NY

Haber...

Do I need a puller to get that pulley off?

Enis

85-325e · Joined: 30 Jun 2002 Posts: 4712 Location: Southampton, NY

At minimum, the radiator is coming out. Most of my friends are away right now. Up here, as soon as the ski season ends, the diehards go to British Columbia to ski more, the weenies go to Mexico to sit on the beaches without phones! So, without help, that hood will have to stay on, unless I can find someone that hasn't gone anywhere!

FWIW, I bought the paint and small brushes to mark everything, and if I *can* get some help, the hood's gonna come off too. I'm taking the car to be painted on Monday, and I need to do a bunch of work on the edges of the hood, both front and back, before they take it in. That work would ALSO be much easier to do with the hood out of the car...

Enis

[ 04-23-2004: Message edited by: 85-325e ]

haber · Joined: 14 Jun 2002 Posts: 1663 Location: Tennessee

No puller required on the timing pulley. I think I wiggled mine off by hand and it only goes back the way it is keyed. You could also do the cam seal while its off.

The bolt is special so if you don't have it you got to see the dealer or order it. You also need the special internal torx driver for installation. And use the old belt like a strap wrench to hold it. Don't take any chance of damaging the teeth or it might shred the new belt.

It all sounds worse than it is. It always takes me longer because I usually do the valves and compression check while I'm at it along with an alternator check and new voltage regulator. Still a Saturday job.

85-325e · Joined: 30 Jun 2002 Posts: 4712 Location: Southampton, NY

Thanks Haber!

I'm goign to remove the insulation under the hood first, as I also want to remove the sprayers before the car's painted. While it's being painted, I'll have all those trim parts up here with me, and will clean them all, polish them all, and get them all ready for reassembly when the car's all shiny and new. Saves me from having to clean them all when the car comes back and it's reassembled. Plus, it's ALWAYS easier to clean those things when you can put them on your lap! And, the paint job externally will be a LOT better.

I won't do anything else except for the belt, the water pump and the tensioner. No time... I have to prepare the car for painting, and it would take me too long to get the parts up here. I'll be happy if I can just get this job done and still be able to drive the car!!!

Cheers and thanks again... I think I'm ready... Be the ball... na na na na na na na!!!!!!

Enis

[ 04-23-2004: Message edited by: 85-325e ]

85-325e · Joined: 30 Jun 2002 Posts: 4712 Location: Southampton, NY

Well, the hood's off! I'm committed.

I drain at daybreak! Here's my plan... finish this job tomorrow, spend all of Sunday on the bodywork...

I'll take a lot of pictures as I go, and I'll holler if I'm stuck!

Thanks guys!

Enis

jamminjames · Joined: 18 Jul 2003 Posts: 860 Location: Wilson, NC

Enis,

I was like you - very aprehensive before the job. After I was done I thought "Shoot, that was easy!"

You can do it - take your time. By now I'm sure you're already into it and everyone here is ready to help.

BTW: Channel-locks gets the fan off very easily.

Good Luck!

James

85-325e · Joined: 30 Jun 2002 Posts: 4712 Location: Southampton, NY

OK... Here's an update!!!

My timetable may have shifted a bit in terms of having the car painted, and I think I'll have to cancel my alignment appointment on Monday, Soooooo...

Well, it hasn't been a nightmare so far. Hasn't been that easy either.

I've also removed some body stuff, which I was going to have to remove before the car is painted anyway, so getting the air dam out of the way helped a bit.

I've got everything dismantled and the block cleaned, and I'm ready for re-assembly.

The belt in there was perfect as far as I could tell... not a ding on it, but I'm in, and have the part, so the new one's going in. The tensioner seemd ok... a tiny bit of play in the wheel, but EVER so slight, but I've got it so it's getting replaced.

The inside of the belt track was FILTHY, and I spent about 20 minutes cleaning it out, and vacuuming it a LOT.

FYI, I've taken a LOT of pictures during the dismantle, and will take an equal number of pictures when I reassemble... I may even make it into a Powerpoint thingy afterwards so if anyone needs it somewhere down the line, they could have it.

Draining the coolant was TONS of fun... I bought a big under-the-bed tub from Wally-World for $10 to catch everything as it drained, and had old sheets down on the floor to catch splashes..

I didn't have to remove the hub to get the old belt out, although the bottom of the trough was packed with dirt and grease... it's all clean now.

Along the way, I found that the fan had been hitting the water pump/thermostat hose, and had ground it down pretty well, at least to the fibers... I'm going to reassemble it all with that hose, but order a replacement immediately, and this time, I'm going to tie it up to the engine hoist bracket, so it's further away from the fan. The fan has a little tip wear because of this, but I think it's minor.

Used a strap wrench to aid in getting the fan off (with Channel-locks), and used it to hold the main pulley and water pump pulleys while removing the bolts.

This is NOT an easy job by any stretch of the imagination but it IS a logical job... I was lucky to have every tool I needed... Removing the hood made a HUGE difference, and getting the radiator out was pretty easy.

I'm taking a few minutes off now to recoup from newbie fatique, and then I'm going down to clean the workspace. It got pretty dirty emptying the cooling system and cleaning the front of the engine... I also want to get any anti-freeze up fast, as I have a dog and am in a neighborhood with TONS of dogs...

I'll have more for you all later...

Enis

[ 04-24-2004: Message edited by: 85-325e ]

Greenhornet84 · Joined: 11 Nov 2003 Posts: 406 Location: Uper Darby PA

Enis,
Stop being so anal. It's uncool. You always replace the water pump when you replace the timing belt. And the job is routine, there are a lot of tips here. But it,s just a take off/ put on job. You don,t need an engineering degee.
Mark

85-325e · Joined: 30 Jun 2002 Posts: 4712 Location: Southampton, NY

Well, thanks GreenHornet... For someone that does this stuff fairly often, it's pretty simple. It's quite another thing when you've never done anything like this before.

I've got the belt on, the tensioner on, but even with the torque wrench, snapped the head off the lower timing cover bolt. Have gone through 4 drill bits trying to drill a hole in that puppy so I can get an extractor in there. Tomorrow, I'll get a titanium or carbide bit and that should get through it.

Don't be so condescending... This stuff ISN'T that easy for people that don't do things like this often, and THAT'S why we ask questions up here! If you think my questions or observations are uncool, then ignore them.

Enis

[ 04-24-2004: Message edited by: 85-325e ]

kyshadetreebmw · Joined: 16 Apr 2003 Posts: 849 Location: Berea, Kentucky

Hey, Thanks for the discussion of your work. It is enjoyable to hear your excitement and enjoyment of getting this job done. There are also several persons that still need to do the job and your descriptions are a good addition to other postings. Good answers to the rib, too. Carry on! Ron

Mini4x · Joined: 08 Mar 2004 Posts: 27 Location: Massachusettes

OK, here's a good one..

I'm in the midst of doing my timing belt also and have a weird problem. My waterpump pulley seems to be hitting the crank sensor ring. Ever so slightly but it does hit. Any thoughts on this? The back side of the pulley is shiny and it looks like it was hitting before but I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to. I checked the water pump and it's the same size as the old one. Should I just shim the pulley out a bit. If you eyeball it it doesn't look like belt lines up with the crank pulley well either.

85-325e · Joined: 30 Jun 2002 Posts: 4712 Location: Southampton, NY

Hi Mini4X...

Well, obviously, I'm no expert here, but are you sure your vibration damper is seated properly?

I'd be worried about shimming anything out. These engines are built to very tight specs and I can't imagine that it would be good for a v-belt to be offset even a bit. How is your belt wear?

Did you use a gasket on the waterpump? Hell, I wish I had the perfect answer for you, but I haven't gotten the pulley's on my car on yet! I'm off to Home Depot for some high strength drill bits to get that broken bolt out...

And Ron... Thanks!

Enis

[ 04-25-2004: Message edited by: 85-325e ]

partbmw · Joined: 22 Apr 2004 Posts: 21 Location: Regina

i see alot of usefull posting here. I'm a Tech for BMW. I never remove the hood that will just creat added time and grief. just pop the rad out, then the distibutor cap and rotor, remove the alt. tensioner nut and remove the upper cover. set top dead center on the camshaft as that is the critical one. remove the bolts hoding the pulleys on the crank.(don't undo the big crank bolt it is not neccisary. spin the belts off the pulleys. and remove the lower cover and the rest is easy. when reinstalling, put on the crank pulleys and then loosen your belt adjusters to put the belts on.iv'e done this jub at least 30 times. just e-mail me if you need help. at d.triska@sasktel.net

85-325e · Joined: 30 Jun 2002 Posts: 4712 Location: Southampton, NY

Thanks Dan!

Yea, I finally got it figured out... When I first started doing any mechanical work, it was on my 2002, and I never did a great job. Didn't have a good place to work, and it was only in the past few years with this 325e that I've had the guts to go in there and tinker with ANY of this stuff.

In actuality, I'm glad the hood was off cause I could have never easily gotten to that bolt I broke to drill it out. FYI to everyone... the key word for getting one of those broken bolts out is COBALT! I bought 2 extractors, the drill bits from both were worthless and barely made a scratch in the bolt. I broke 2 other bits trying to drill into it, but this morning I got a cobalt bit, drilled pretty much down the center, got the extractor in and the bolt out!

Dan, I really appreciate your post. This can be a pretty intimidating job for someone that's not a great mechanic, especially after he/she sees all the posts of what happens if this belt is screwed up!

I'll have it all back together this afternoon... go to go to Ace and ret a replacement bolt for the one I mangled! I'll finish these posts tonight, after this job is finally done. I've cleaned everything, and it'll all go back together pretty easily from here on...

Ciao,

Enis