[petey_highboost]

Ok here's the issue with this POS.

Bought new oem battery at BMW, was a little bigger but same specs, 90AH, 720ca,720cca.. Didn't think anything of it so I installed it.

Drove to my buddy's shop with a snap on launch tool to register battery. As I was pulling out of my driveway, the steering had dead spots in it and felt tight. Popped hood looked around, noticed a belt squeek and an odd electrical odor. So I drove to my buddy's shop (3miles away) battery got registered and all was well, squeek went away and just assumed the alt was thinking it was charging the old battery then once registered everything back to normal.

Today, pulled out driveway, steering was tight and dead spots in it. Drove it to the bank, turned off, turned back on and an "increased battery discharge" message popped up. Also, wipers moving very slow. Drove back to buddys shop to re-register battery. So we did just that, and another message popped up "battery level low"

Checked battery voltage with multimeter and sure shit, 10.6-10.7v. And a nice electrical smell under the hood

Went home, installed old battery. No difference. Something's fucked

So now I have a nice dead bmw stuck in my garage

Any tips/ideas guys? I'm leaning towards an alternator but I don't want to do that just yet

Thanks
Pete

[CvilleBill]

Sounds like your main pully.

[CvilleBill]

They grenade and the rubber in the dampener smells. Would also explain your power steering being wankey.

[montr]

Yes, likely the pulley. Mine failed at 67K miles, replaced 11-23-8-511-371 vibration damper and 2 belts.

When the main pulley fail, you loose power steering and alternator.

If you have a battery charger, you should charge it to avoid permanent damage to the battery.

[petey_highboost]

Originally Posted by CvilleBill

They grenade and the rubber in the dampener smells. Would also explain your power steering being wankey.

Looked at the pulley, all was well, all the pulleys spin as they should. I even tried prying at it for movement and there was none. Measured voltage at the alternator, 6.8v. Same as the +&- terminals under the hood

[petey_highboost]

Originally Posted by montr

Yes, likely the pulley. Mine failed at 67K miles, replaced 11-23-8-511-371 vibration damper and 2 belts.

When the main pulley fail, you loose power steering and alternator.

If you have a battery charger, you should charge it to avoid permanent damage to the battery.

The new one is on the bench charging.

Have the old one in it now charging also.. Now I can physically see the alternator and powersteering pullies spinning as they should

From the research I've been doing looks like a voltage regulator.. But that doesn't explain the intermittent PS'ing, or the odd smell that could be the belt or an electrical smell. Kinda hard to tell

Thanks for the help- thus far !!

Edit: maybe an IBS? But that still doesn't explain the underhood smell

Edit edit .. Car has 122k on it

[BB_cuda]

Petey, check this out please.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...light=harmonic

I think its your harmonic balance. That would explain the smell, the lack of power steering at times, and not spinning the alternator.

When/if you see that this is the case, please cut and paste the list on page 2 of thread and add your self on to it. There is another guy who thought his AC compressor was seizing up that should go on this list too. My point is this looks to be the 3rd thread speaking to same failure.

[335dwanted]

Originally Posted by petey_highboost

The new one is on the bench charging.

Have the old one in it now charging also.. Now I can physically see the alternator and powersteering pullies spinning as they should

From the research I've been doing looks like a voltage regulator.. But that doesn't explain the intermittent PS'ing, or the odd smell that could be the belt or an electrical smell. Kinda hard to tell

Thanks for the help- thus far !!

Edit: maybe an IBS? But that still doesn't explain the underhood smell

Edit edit .. Car has 122k on it

Dimes to donuts it is your harmonic/drive pulley. Give the following thread a read:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...to_threadtools

You will see that the pulley can actually fail intermittently (Power Steering will come and go) for a while. In this thread the OP saw that all worked fine until AC was turned on (presumably adding enough resistance to stall the drive pulley) and then work again with AC off.

[petey_highboost]

Man you guys are AWESOME. Crank pulley is fucked, it's barley constantly spinning, with the ac on, it's barley spinning at all! Bingo. Going to order a new one tommorrow at BMW, good thing a friend works there and I get a hookup in parts. Took a video too. I'll post it up

[CvilleBill]

We may be awesome, but I don't feel that a main crank pulley should fail! It's damn expensive too! Save your recite could be a recall.

[shnaggs]

Uhh, doesn't that look like the flange is snapped off the crank? Or am I missing something?

[dixy2k]

There is a thread here with a poll asking people when they had to replace theirs. 100k might seem a reasonable time for preventative maintenance.

[CvilleBill]

I wonder if they changed the part. I just ordered one and also ordered 4 torx bolts as per real oem. His clearly only has three.

[petey_highboost]

Originally Posted by CvilleBill

I wonder if they changed the part. I just ordered one and also ordered 4 torx bolts as per real oem. His clearly only has three.

Are you talking about the powersteering pump?

[CvilleBill]

I thought it was the main in the video.

[BB_cuda]

Originally Posted by dixy2k

There is a thread here with a poll asking people when they had to replace theirs. 100k might seem a reasonable time for preventative maintenance.

Dixy, I gave a link to that thread in post #7 above. Its a list, not a poll though. List starts early and I think latest list is half way down page 2.

owe well, I will put it below as no one is adding to that list.

Dixy2k 86,330 miles
DSB335D 81,000 miles
PR ~56,000 miles (BB_cuda memory, needs verification from PR)
Chau 107,000 miles
montr 67,000 miles
Barmlot ~70,000 miles
Nushibo 80,000 miles
petey_highboost 122,000 miles

[petey_highboost]

Originally Posted by BB_cuda

Dixy, I gave a link to that thread in post #7 above. Its a list, not a poll though. List starts early and I think latest list is half way down page 2.

owe well, I will put it below as no one is adding to that list.

Dixy2k 86,330 miles
DSB335D 81,000 miles
PR ~56,000 miles (BB_cuda memory, needs verification from PR)
Chau 107,000 miles
montr 67,000 miles
Barmlot ~70,000 miles
Nushibo 80,000 miles
petey_highboost 122,000 miles

Cool, yea I was going to post in that thread too, would be nice if we could make a sticky post but the moderators here seem very lax when it comes to the diesel sub forum :/

[Yozh]

Originally Posted by petey_highboost

Man you guys are AWESOME. Crank pulley is fucked, it's barley constantly spinning, with the ac on, it's barley spinning at all! Bingo. Going to order a new one tommorrow at BMW, good thing a friend works there and I get a hookup in parts. Took a video too. I'll post it up

ECS has two other options for just over $200. One is Meyle and another is Vaico made.

[chau]

Originally Posted by petey_highboost

Man you guys are AWESOME. Crank pulley is fucked, it's barley constantly spinning, with the ac on, it's barley spinning at all! Bingo. Going to order a new one tommorrow at BMW, good thing a friend works there and I get a hookup in parts. Took a video too. I'll post it up

Even with a relative's BMW employee pricing, the aftermarket brand was about half the price of OEM for me . Anyway, might as well replace the AC and drive belts while you're down there.

[ptpending]

this well knows problem in europe
do not buy meyle or some vaico
only original BMW (Corteco made) or Corteco

[montr]

Originally Posted by ptpending

this well knows problem in europe
do not buy meyle or some vaico
only original BMW (Corteco made) or Corteco

If the original BMW is likely to fail, why do you recommend buying it?

[dixy2k]

Because BMW has long experience at this stuff. They have made failure into a science. Just like Rover invented electrical failure.