Aux-drive-belt tensioner failure!

Associate
Joined
25 Dec 2009
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615
So - was 2 minutes away from work. Battery warning light came on. No other symptoms, on the motorway. So as a precuation I turned off all lights and stereo/air con etc.

Come off at next motorway exit - engine overheats as soon as I stop at lights. Power steering dies. Luckily office car park is literally yards from the motorway exit so pull into a space right by the gate. Remove engine cover - as I suspect - drive belt sitting on the undertray - tensioner in bits!



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So - should I fix it myself or get it towed to a garage? It's sitting in the office car park at the moment! You can see the tensioner in bits!

EDIT> Car is 2001 E46 318i 1995cc
 
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Associate
OP
Joined
25 Dec 2009
Posts
615
Yeah

The only toss up is - car is under warranty. However have to pay £70 to get it towed to garage.

How much will it cost me to do it myself? If it's a lot less than £70 I'll just do it - looks fairly straightforward in the Haynes manual. But I think I might need a whole tensioner/pulley assembly and I can't find anywhere in the UK selling that!

It made no horrible noises at all before breaking! Honestly! I'm normally pretty sensitive to odd noises!

Sam
 
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Soldato
Joined
24 Feb 2003
Posts
8,681
I would think the belt and tensioner would cost £70 or more, you'ed need to check though to be certain. If it's under warranty just get it fixed, I don't think you're going to do it for any less than the tow cost really anyway.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Aug 2005
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13,170
Location
Shropshire
Thank yourself lucky that the tensioner is in an accesible location.. mine needs replacing and its about 10mm from a solid piece of car.. :\
 
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