[Bondnh]

Hi, so this is what happened. My fiance was driving to work and said that the batt light came on and then she started to lose power steering and the temp needle was very high. She pulled into work and has not had a chance to look at anything for me yet. Does this sound like a belt or pulley, any ideas?

Thanks,
Bondnh

 

[forzam]

Sounds like a shredded belt. Maybe due to a seized water pump bearing or pulley bearing. I hope she turned the car off before the overheat did damage.

 

[Bondnh]

That is what I was thinking but I'm very new to the BMW so just wanted a second opinion. I hope she turned it off in time too! Thanks forzam!

 

[forzam]

Yeah, the cooling systems on E46s should be regarded as general wear/maintenance items, as Mango will tell you. Here is a good place to start:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=914109

 

[aeorozco]

Well the same thing happened to me in my 323 about 4 months ago, I thought I had just thrown the belt bc I had just replaced the belts on it a week prior, then after looking at my car more and more on the side of the highway, I noticed i shredded the belt because the bolt holding the hydraulic tension on my M/T backed out and tore up and broke the tensioner into 3 pcs........ best of luck, hope you dont follow my lead on this one lol

 

[Bondnh]

Well the car is going to be towed to my mechanic later today so I hope its minor but for now ill just have to wait and see... Thanks for the insight aeorozco!

 

[Bondnh]

Update: So my mechanic just called me and said that the idle pulley was the culprit which made my serpentine belt shred. He said there looks to have no other extensive damage, Thank God! The best part is I should have it back on the road in the morning, only gonna cost me about $190. Thanks for your help!

 

[Mango]

Ugh. I really need to start doing work on peoples cars. I would love to pocket all that money. That belt is $12 and I can change that in under 5 minutes while eating a sandwich

 

[Ace330CI]

Ugh. I really need to start doing work on peoples cars. I would love to pocket all that money. That belt is $12 and I can change that in under 5 minutes while eating a sandwich

:lmao:

 

[Bondnh]

I know E46Mango, I usually do all my own work if I can but in this case I was not sure if it was worse at the time because my fiance was driving it. I had it towed right to my mechanic, maybe I should've just had it towed to my house and saved a good chunk of money. I called a local shop where I get all my parts and they said it would be $15 for the belt and $35 for the pulley, so for $50 i could've did it myself. My mechanic was feeding me a line telling me that he had to remove a lot of stuff to change it out. He'll probably be doing it all while eating that sandwich you were talking about, haha!

 

[SoCalZman]

Ugh. I really need to start doing work on peoples cars. I would love to pocket all that money. That belt is $12 and I can change that in under 5 minutes while eating a sandwich

If you lived in the Bay Area I would have a long list of things for you to do for me. ah well....