[whyzee125]

Hey guys,

My oil filter housing gasket kit from FCP euro has arrived and I plan on replacing the gaskets tomorrow. Obviously my biggest fear has been sucking the belt into the engine. I don't have any belt noise or pulley issues that I know of but I want to make sure I'm worry-free of belt ingestion issues. Do these items need to replaced too? Or should I just clean the oil off? I'd like to do it tomorrow but if I need to order more parts to make sure it's done right I'm willing.

[OP3NAIR]

The belt is cheap enough its worth replacing. If the tensioner isnt very old, then I'd clean it off real well. If its old or still original, change it... its also not too much money.
How essential replacement is depends on the severity and duration of the oil leak. If you caught it early, you are probably OK to reuse, unless its time to replace anyways.

[ctuna]

If there is oil on belt you better fix the leak .
Mike Miller says change the tensioner every 60k
or my guess is time may be factor . I wonder if there
is a way to measure the spring force?

[whyzee125]

Originally Posted by OP3NAIR

The belt is cheap enough its worth replacing. If the tensioner isnt very old, then I'd clean it off real well. If its old or still original, change it... its also not too much money.
How essential replacement is depends on the severity and duration of the oil leak. If you caught it early, you are probably OK to reuse, unless its time to replace anyways.

Cool, I'll plan on replacing the belt for sure then. It's time regardless and belts are cheap. Thanks

Originally Posted by ctuna

If there is oil on belt you better fix the leak .
Mike Miller says change the tensioner every 60k
or my guess is time may be factor . I wonder if there
is a way to measure the spring force?

Yes that's why I'm trying to tackle it ASAP. I'm sure my tensioner has more than 60k on it. I'll look into that. Looks like my project may need to be delayed a few days. Thank you!

[e90yyc]

Don’t mean to thread jack you, but to those who chimed in (and OP):

Is there any merit in also doing the idler pulley too? OP: have you given any thought to doing that in addition to tensioner?

Easy to find info on belt and tensioner, but It’s been tricky to figure out what the consensus on the idler pulley is.

[whyzee125]

I'm not the expert on this since I'm asking questions too, but I'd thought of it and decided not to further look into it. My car makes no belt noise and these don't fail as often so unless I discover it's bad, I'm going to leave it.

Originally Posted by e90yyc

Don’t mean to thread jack you, but to those who chimed in (and OP):

Is there any merit in also doing the idler pulley too? OP: have you given any thought to doing that in addition to tensioner?

Easy to find info on belt and tensioner, but It’s been tricky to figure out what the consensus on the idler pulley is.

[e90yyc]

Thanks! And good luck with OFHG and belt

[ChuckThomas]

No reason to replace belt and tensioner unless you see the belt beginning to walk off of the tensioner. You'll see the belt hanging off the tensioner by a few mm, toward the radiator fan. You can release the tension and readjust the belt but it will begin to walk off again. Another sign of failing tensioner would be a loud squealing/squeaking/chirping noise.

The reason the belt gets sucked into the engine is because of the crankshaft front seal being breached. Check your seal and see if any oil is leaking from it. I would also take belt off and check the condition of the ribbed side. If you see any shiny spots on the belt on either side, that is most likely coolant and it should be cleaned off.

[whyzee125]

Originally Posted by ChuckThomas

No reason to replace belt and tensioner unless you see the belt beginning to walk off of the tensioner. You'll see the belt hanging off the tensioner by a few mm, toward the radiator fan. You can release the tension and readjust the belt but it will begin to walk off again. Another sign of failing tensioner would be a loud squealing/squeaking/chirping noise.

The reason the belt gets sucked into the engine is because of the crankshaft front seal being breached. Check your seal and see if any oil is leaking from it. I would also take belt off and check the condition of the ribbed side. If you see any shiny spots on the belt on either side, that is most likely coolant and it should be cleaned off.

Great info, thank you! My car has 163k and I don't know when the belt was last done so I'm going to go ahead and replace that for sure. If the belt is coming off the tensioner, is that indicative of a worn tensioner? Thanks!

[ChuckThomas]

Originally Posted by whyzee125

If the belt is coming off the tensioner, is that indicative of a worn tensioner?

Yes. The belt should not hang off the tensioner at all. You should be able to see both sides of the tensioner bearing that the belt spins on. The belt should almost ride in the "center" of the tensioner. As the tensioner springs wear, less tension is being applied to the belt, giving it lead way to walk off. The more tension that is loss, the more mm the belt walks off, the greater chance of your belt flying off and breaching your crank seal etc.

[ChuckThomas]

This is how it's supposed to sit. As it starts to fail, the belt will make its way toward the bottom of the picture (hanging off the side of the tensioner)

[dsjr2006]

You don't have to do the tensioner and idler, but depending on your mileage it's not a bad idea since the fix for a belt coming off or failing can be extremely expensive or worst case cost you an engine.

[nsjames]

the contitech kit with everything you need is like $90.

it's cheap insurance.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by ChuckThomas

No reason to replace belt and tensioner unless you see the belt beginning to walk off of the tensioner. You'll see the belt hanging off the tensioner by a few mm, toward the radiator fan. You can release the tension and readjust the belt but it will begin to walk off again. Another sign of failing tensioner would be a loud squealing/squeaking/chirping noise.

The reason the belt gets sucked into the engine is because of the crankshaft front seal being breached. Check your seal and see if any oil is leaking from it. I would also take belt off and check the condition of the ribbed side. If you see any shiny spots on the belt on either side, that is most likely coolant and it should be cleaned off.

You’re saying the belt gets sucked into the engine bc there is an existing front crankshaft seal leak?

[AtlantaDan]

Originally Posted by tlow98

You’re saying the belt gets sucked into the engine bc there is an existing front crankshaft seal leak?

Leaking front seal has nothing to do with the belt getting sucked in.

When the belt goes, or starts to go, it usually frays at the edges. That, or starts flinging around strips of belt. Those frays or strips come into contact with the crankshaft nose, get wrapped around the crank, and then occasionally - like a screw going through drywall - get pulled into the crankcase/oil pan.

OP - do not screw around and cheap out. Replace the belt and tensioner. It takes literally 15 minutes to do them both. The Continental kit available online is ideally suited, and priced. Despite what others have said about there not being any reason to replace the tensioner, if you didn't replace it, and you don't know when it was replaced before you owned it - replace it.

[labrador]

OEM tensioner is about $50 on RM European and a Conti belt is $21. Just change them.

Mine INA tensioner came with a new aluminum bolt.

[ChuckThomas]

Please read I said the belt gets sucked in because the seal is breached.

Separately, a leak there would indicate a weak seal, increasing the chances of the belt being sucked in, in case it were to jump off.

The ONLY way the belt can enter the engine is through the crankshaft seal. If the seal was STRONG, and you see no oil leaking around it, your chances are lower of the belt getting sucked in.

And despite when the tensioner was replaced it's a correct spot the belt should sit on it. When the tensioner begins to fail it will a. Make noise b. Misalign the belt. If you don't have either symptom, you're throwing money away. Replacing the tensioner is not hard and doesn't take long so it really can be done whenever.

These are the facts.

[lukasB]

To prevent from belt getting sucked in make sure that your engine mounts are not worn and if they are replace these first. You can upgrade your right mount with 335is mount.
To know how old your tensioner is remove the belt and look at the surface of the top idler on the tensioner (look at the pic). When new it suppose to be flat but later it develops grooves from the belt. If you see deep groves replace the tensioner and two idlers as well

[lukasB]

btw replacing tensioner and idlers is PITA compared to just belt. Belt you can replace just like that but if you need to replace tensioner idlers you need to remove inlet bolts if you have stock inlets and it's so cramped that you probably want to remove the fan, so then you need to lift the car and remove the bottom cover if you have. I have to remove my charge pipe coupling to remove/install my fan as well

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by AtlantaDan

Leaking front seal has nothing to do with the belt getting sucked in.

When the belt goes, or starts to go, it usually frays at the edges. That, or starts flinging around strips of belt. Those frays or strips come into contact with the crankshaft nose, get wrapped around the crank, and then occasionally - like a screw going through drywall - get pulled into the crankcase/oil pan.

OP - do not screw around and cheap out. Replace the belt and tensioner. It takes literally 15 minutes to do them both. The Continental kit available online is ideally suited, and priced. Despite what others have said about there not being any reason to replace the tensioner, if you didn't replace it, and you don't know when it was replaced before you owned it - replace it.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by ChuckThomas

Please read I said the belt gets sucked in because the seal is breached.

Separately, a leak there would indicate a weak seal, increasing the chances of the belt being sucked in, in case it were to jump off.

The ONLY way the belt can enter the engine is through the crankshaft seal. If the seal was STRONG, and you see no oil leaking around it, your chances are lower of the belt getting sucked in.

And despite when the tensioner was replaced it's a correct spot the belt should sit on it. When the tensioner begins to fail it will a. Make noise b. Misalign the belt. If you don't have either symptom, you're throwing money away. Replacing the tensioner is not hard and doesn't take long so it really can be done whenever.

These are the facts.

Seems like some causation that might be hard to know beyond a doubt, but I'm not one to argue with facts.

[whyzee125]

Thank you all, this has been very informative. I picked up a Gates belt this morning but a coolant hose broke during my OFHG replacement so it didn't get done in one day anyway. My belt actually looks great with no damage, cracking, fraying, etc. but I'll probably just go ahead and order the Contitech kit for the peace of mind. Thanks again for the help!

[Bufalo]

With the belt off, spin the tensioner and idler pulleys. If they spin too freely and you can hear any noise, replace them; the bearings are starting to go. If they feel tight and are silent, leave them alone. The actual spring tensioner is pretty robust and probably is not failing.