E39 - Drive Belts

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Diary of a Second Hand 15 year old Beamer (Maintenance - Battery Drain included...,
BMW E39 520i year 2000 Engine 1995cc)
M Series.

fig. Boot - Rear Fuse Cluster

Drive Belt(s) or Fan Belt(s), AC Belt(s)

Saturday 04th Oct 2014 - Today, I am changing the drive belts. The E39 has two belts, a ‘serpentine belt’ for the varied pully's and alternator and another for the AC or cooling system. This is another possible cause of battery drain, through worn belts.The Serpentine belt could be too slack on the alternator causing the alternator not to generate charge...
It is never a straight forward job when working with cars, I eventually changed both drive belts, the weather was sunny for a change. I tried to take the radiator cowling out and also thought to taking the radiator out, obviously disconnecting a few hoses and the fan using the correct tools. The cowling, 'only' went down to the bottom of the radiator with 'only god knows how many hoses, clips and kitchen sink attached to it! It was inevitable for me to break a few clips on the way, I could see this was not going to work for me, so I decided to change the belts with the cowling loose and the fan in place, I didn't have the correct tools to take the fan off. This obviously helped with my decision. I proceeded to venture under the car, taking off the front under tray, this gave me access to the retractable tension pulley nut on the lower part of the engine block and with a 16mm socket adjusted the tensioner and detached the belt (access was easier for this one, being below the radiator. I did the same with the upper tensioner for the Serpentine belt the nut situated next to the alternator. (a little more fiddly with the radiator hoses attached). The Serpentine belt was in very bad shape, (cracks and merged grooves). The AC belt seemed ok, however I decided to change both of them to give me peace of mind. (Should be good for another 60,000 miles, give or take.

Key:
1. Serpentine Belt (Long) - connection to:
          a. WP -ALT-PS-CRANSHT-TENS-WP

2. AC Belt (Short) - Connection to:
          b. CRANSHT- ACC

Note: CRANSHT pully should have two lots of groves
         (designed twin pully) to allow two belts to be
          attached.

Using the drawing (above -drawn prior to taking the belts off, a MUST! Helps with memory), I spent a good 20 minutes getting the new Serpentine belt back on, this is more fiddly than difficult when not removing anything major, concerning fixtures and fittings, the diagram helps.

fig. Serpentine Drive Belt (Long) N/S fig. Serpentine from O/S

FIRST TASK: -Copy This Diagram for E39 2000/01
                     -Check Your Configuration to see if a match
                    - Check to see if you have the correct tools to
                      commence the job..Main one, a bar for the fan,
                      or rachet with a 13mm socket.

Workshop/Diary - Drive Belts