[BMWoah]

Hi I changed the oil filter housing and serpentine belt a week ago and I'm starting to have some problems. The oil filter housing was leaking and I just figured that I'd change the belt since I have no idea of the maintenence history of the car. It's a 2000 328i with steptronic transmission. I love my car and I'm pretty bummed.

Symptoms:
- squealing sound, peaks around 2.4k rpm. It is intermittent but will disappear if I put the car in neutral and red line it once. I have no idea but the sound disappears after that until the next "cold" start
- whisling sound, dependent on acceleration. doesn't happen in 1st gear. seems to get louder as I accelerate.
- car smells burnt even after 5 minutes of driving. I'm not sure how to describe the burnt smell, but it doesn't really smell like burnt oil.
- slipping transmission (?). started today, about a week after the other problems. car used to shift at 2.5, but now it shifts at 3k when on an incline and between 3.5 and 4k when on level road
- since always: rough starts on cold mornings, unstable idle until warm. this didn't seem like to bad of a problem and didn't cause any errors

Other than those symptoms the car was just fine! No lights, no CEL. This is my first car that I've DIY'd so I'd appreciate ay input you have :thumbup::thumbup:

BTW the belt was a Dayco from Lordco. My ideas so far: I'm going to change the idler pulley (has a small crack) and also the mechanical tensioner to a hydraulic one. And replace the Dayco belt with a BMW one. Also thinking of topping up the ATF, since I don't know if it has ever been changed and I heard that flushing it might cause transmission nightmares at this point.

 

[e4603]

Is the whine/squeal noise from the pully/tensioner/belt area? Can it be the fan clutch or water pump? Even if you can't identify where the noise is, you should be able to tell if the tensioner & pully are bad by removing the belt and spinning them by hand. I see no need to convert to hydraulic tensioner; just replace the mechanical one (e.g. INA brand) and spend the $ on the AC tensioner and belt.
A Continental belt will be cheaper than a genuine BMW one.

How many miles/km on the transmission? Consider drain, replace filter and fill.

 

[BMWoah]

Hi! Just thought I would update my situation.

Turns out there was a leak in one of the hoses connecting to the transmission fluid cooler. Sealed it temporarily with RTV while waiting for the dealership to get back to me and didn't drive it in case of more damage to it.

Anyways they noted that it was low tranny fluid causing the high revs and the leak. I am not going to mess with my transmission so am letting them take care of that. Getting them to replace both lines and the cooler and fill the fluid. So far so good, they said there were no fault codes and my tranny is gonna be OK after this! ***128512; hopefully it won't be more expensive than the quote, but I am not prepared to DIY transmission repairs myself so that is gonna be it.

 

[BMWoah]

Is the whine/squeal noise from the pully/tensioner/belt area? Can it be the fan clutch or water pump?

So at your recommendation I checked the belts and pulley. Turns out the Lordco guy sold me the wrong size! ***128544; went back and they got me the right ones and also a new mechanical idler pulley. Car ran much quieter after that!!! The old pulley was totally dry and scraped when I had it out and tries to turn it!