[BashShah]

Originally Posted by Sgop335

Great write up. Been thinking to take it a shop, but now looks like i will try myself. Not going to remove the rad fan, hope thats ok.

Do you have a MT or AT like mine?
MT is super easy to remove rad fan.

AT just to get to the second rubber gromet (clip)
I could not see a way to get to it without removing hose from rad to ofh.

If interested, I have detailed pictures.
Let me know.

DN

[Sgop335]

Its an AT. ok here it comes, so it is hard to get the fan.

Yes interested in the pics, thanks

[BashShah]

Originally Posted by Sgop335

Its an AT. ok here it comes, so it is hard to get the fan.

Yes interested in the pics, thanks

Just open your hood, now as you stand in front of your car.
Look on the right side of the rad fan.
There is a release latch the you press toward the front of the car.
And a second clip or slide in rubber gromet.

Now as you look at the rad fan, try to picture it comming straight up without hitting anything. No way without removing a few hoses. You can't even get access to it.
Other than that, 2 t25 screws.
One on top left...face the hood.
One on the heat exchanger under the car. (This is where you would do coolant flush).

Will post pics in this thread by tomorrow.

DN

[Natef53]

Originally Posted by DarkNemesis

Just open your hood, now as you stand in front of your car.
Look on the right side of the rad fan.
There is a release latch the you press toward the front of the car.
And a second clip or slide in rubber gromet.

Now as you look at the rad fan, try to picture it comming straight up without hitting anything. No way without removing a few hoses. You can't even get access to it.
Other than that, 2 t25 screws.
One on top left...face the hood.
One on the heat exchanger under the car. (This is where you would do coolant flush).

Will post pics in this thread by tomorrow.

DN

I was able to remove my fan without removing any hoses. Removed the 2 screws holding the fan in and carefully slid it out.

I had the benefit of being on a lift and moved the car up and down a few times to adjust hoses while I was removing the fan but it is possible.

[AndyW]

Thx so much for this post. It integrated nicely with the Bentley manual. Didn't have to remove any coolant hoses but did break my coolant expansion tank hose (my fault...should have disconnected it vice trying to jam it out of the way) FWIW, the hardest part for me was getting the fan and shroud back it...really tight fit with the transmission cooler down there. Where the Bentley manual says "fan and should slide into two clips at the bottom"...it lies. It is like trying to fit Big Mama into her girdle...

[BashShah]

Originally Posted by AndyW

Thx so much for this post. It integrated nicely with the Bentley manual. Didn't have to remove any coolant hoses but did break my coolant expansion tank hose (my fault...should have disconnected it vice trying to jam it out of the way) FWIW, the hardest part for me was getting the fan and shroud back it...really tight fit with the transmission cooler down there. Where the Bentley manual says "fan and should slide into two clips at the bottom"...it lies. It is like trying to fit Big Mama into her girdle...

Agreed 100%.
I found working it in from underneath to be far efficient.
I had additional tasks so I had to take it out.
I wanted more room.

DN

[Barefoot-335is]

Attempted this today, and had to back out.
Issues I came upon,
I have more stuff in the way than you did, a 1/2" drive T60 will not clear the air intake pipe that runs across the front of the motor. Ordered a 3/8 drive T60.
Went to remove the cooling fan and was ok until I went to remove the electrical connector, as soon as I press on the release tabs, one broke off due to being dry and brittle. I Couldn't find a picture of the connection a part so that I could figure out how to separate it without destroying it. I think with the fan out of the way I could clearance the 1/2" drive T60.
Anyway, got pissed and aggravated so I buttoned it up and ordered the 3/8drive Torx.
Anyone have a picture of the electrical connection a part so that I can see where it separates?
Thanks for the help though, the DYI is good just thought I would add my issues incase someone else runs into same issues.

[MahiC]

Hey I accidentally stripped the t60 socket for releasing the tension on the belt. What can I do?

[wfo_180]

Interested to see what you find out on that stripped T60 as my wife's car was like that when we got it and I have a new belt I have to put on.

[mhorse]

Great write up! I will be doing this repair this weekend. I hope you are still monitoring this thread because the only question I have is I've see a youtube video where this guy uses torque wrench to tighten to tensioner pulley. He then also uses a brownline torque angle gauge at 90 degrees to further tighten the screw. I know his model is slightly different since it's a e90/N51 or N52 engine but was wondering why it wouldn't apply to N54.

Around 6:30 is where the screw is being tighten at 25nm then he uses the torque angle guage.

Does anyone know why this is done? Thanks in advance.

[BashShah]

Originally Posted by mhorse

Great write up! I will be doing this repair this weekend. I hope you are still monitoring this thread because the only question I have is I've see a youtube video where this guy uses torque wrench to tighten to tensioner pulley. He then also uses a brownline torque angle gauge at 90 degrees to further tighten the screw. I know his model is slightly different since it's a e90/N51 or N52 engine but was wondering why it wouldn't apply to N54.

Around 6:30 is where the screw is being tighten at 25nm then he uses the torque angle guage.

Does anyone know why this is done? Thanks in advance.

That tool is bull shit.
So of you notice at 6:18, his real torque is a right angle only.
But the longer breaker bar with the mag electronic torque tool is not a true 90 degree.

So he stated he wanted to show off his new tool.
My guess he pre torqued it to 25nm properly first, which is not the correct torque specs.
Under the real torque specs.

Then he uses his cool mag mounted tool on a breaker bar to torque it where he wanted to be.
But he said 80....lb/ft is my guess, otherwise it is just wrong.

Also my new tensioner and pulleys were 100% OEM, but they did not come with a New Dust cap. They did come with new bolts.

Stick with the specs.... You will be fine.
Best Regards,

Bash Shah
Sutton Premier Realty.

[bnd]

DarkNemesis

Thank you for the DIY, I was able to complete my belt & pulley replacement!

FYI: I did a DIY on radiator fan removal as I had a hard time finding one.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...3#post18597263

[hoopvillian]

Thanks DarkNemesis, did this last weekend with your guide. Hardest part was taking out the fan. bnd's guide helped with that. Everything went extremely well. One thing I want to point out is if you're taking out the fan, that plastic tube from the expansion tank to the radiator hose will probably break, they get brittle with age. Mine was a few months old so it was flexible.

[BashShah]

Originally Posted by hoopvillian

Thanks DarkNemesis, did this last weekend with your guide. Hardest part was taking out the fan. bnd's guide helped with that. Everything went extremely well. One thing I want to point out is if you're taking out the fan, that plastic tube from the expansion tank to the radiator hose will probably break, they get brittle with age. Mine was a few months old so it was flexible.

Agreed, lately there have been quite a few threads on hoses becoming brittle.
So of anyone is going to do any diy where you drain the fluid, might be a good time to check for brittle hoses.
Glad it helps you..... Just paying it back to the community that helped me.

Best Regards
Bash Shah
Sutton Premier Realty

[ssdara]

Guys be very careful of the expansion tank bleed hose that runs across the top of radiator to upper radiator hose. The nipple on top radiator hose snapped on me and I got a free drink of coolant! This was caused by the below:

How the hell do you get a torque wrench on the upper idler pulley bolt??? The air duct blocks the hell of out it even when you loosen all the brackets, fack I wish I could take it off would make belt job fucking cake.

Is hand tighten good enough for the upper idler bolt??

[BashShah]

Originally Posted by ssdara

Guys be very careful of the expansion tank bleed hose that runs across the top of radiator to upper radiator hose. The nipple on top radiator hose snapped on me and I got a free drink of coolant! This was caused by the below:

How the hell do you get a torque wrench on the upper idler pulley bolt??? The air duct blocks the hell of out it even when you loosen all the brackets, fack I wish I could take it off would make belt job fucking cake.

Is hand tighten good enough for the upper idler bolt??

You must have an extension on your torque.....or your bit is too long.
The air duct should move about 2 inches.
But if need more room, take the rad out.
Then you get like 4 inches of space.

Hand Tightening is a very strong no.no....you are asking for trouble ....not even 1 min.

Best of luck.
Bash Shah
Sutton Premier Realty

[blau iii]

why replace the tensioner and pully? was there something wrong with them?

[BashShah]

Originally Posted by blau iii

why replace the tensioner and pully? was there something wrong with them?

I had Oil on my Belt, (leak from OFHG) and a slight wobble on the belt where the the belt was moving about 1/3". On the upper pulley. Wasn't sure what was causing it, so replaced all I could.

So I did not want to do a job twice.
And since you are already there, might as well as preventative maintenance do both Pulleys.

You want to risk bigger issues by skipping such an easy item.
Belt shreading can be SERIOUSLY MAJOR in our engines. Read the stories.

Best Regards,

[scott60158]

Good guide, I have oil leaking from my OFHG too which I will do at the same time. This seems to create the perfect storm for the belt to shred/wear. Note that the tensioner over time loses tension and the belt starts to ride off toward the front of the car towards 70k+ miles. The pulleys have bearings that can go bad, they should not spin freely or wobble if you want to check yours before replacing.

[mrmax1984]

So I just did this project yesterday. Since I was replacing the OFHG, I had already drained the oil, coolant, and had removed the radiator fan and related ductwork. With the inlet pipe loosened as directed in this DIY guide, you can move it around a few inches to get the necessary room to work in just fine.

However...I stripped the T60 slot in the new tensioner while trying to hold it down during the belt replacement process. I must have misread the guide, because during installation I removed the lock pin and allowed the tensioner to move fully into the extended position. This meant that I needed to now wrangle the breaker bar close to ~180 degrees in order to get enough slack into the tensioner to get the belt on. Expectedly, the torx bit slipped out and I stripped the hole.

Thankfully, I have a bench vise, so I was able to reuse the old tensioner. I bent it back and slipped in the lock pin, and then reattached the new pulleys from the new tensioner. Almost good as new.

When reinstalling the old tensioner (with new pulleys), I left the lock pin in place until I had the belt around the rest of the pulleys. Now, I only had to lever the T60 bit about ~60 degrees, which was much more doable. Still, I had to take off the glove from my left hand so that I could get enough grip on the belt to slip it around the last pulley. This was VERY sketchy, since a slip at this point could mean that your finger gets pinched between the two tensioner pulleys.

All in all it's not a terrible DIY, but you have to take extra care with that T60 socket, and not pull out that lock pin until you've got the belt 90% on.

Thanks for the writeup.

[BashShah]

Originally Posted by mrmax1984

So I just did this project yesterday. Since I was replacing the OFHG, I had already drained the oil, coolant, and had removed the radiator fan and related ductwork. With the inlet pipe loosened as directed in this DIY guide, you can move it around a few inches to get the necessary room to work in just fine.

However...I stripped the T60 slot in the new tensioner while trying to hold it down during the belt replacement process. I must have misread the guide, because during installation I removed the lock pin and allowed the tensioner to move fully into the extended position. This meant that I needed to now wrangle the breaker bar close to ~180 degrees in order to get enough slack into the tensioner to get the belt on. Expectedly, the torx bit slipped out and I stripped the hole.

Thankfully, I have a bench vise, so I was able to reuse the old tensioner. I bent it back and slipped in the lock pin, and then reattached the new pulleys from the new tensioner. Almost good as new.

When reinstalling the old tensioner (with new pulleys), I left the lock pin in place until I had the belt around the rest of the pulleys. Now, I only had to lever the T60 bit about ~60 degrees, which was much more doable. Still, I had to take off the glove from my left hand so that I could get enough grip on the belt to slip it around the last pulley. This was VERY sketchy, since a slip at this point could mean that your finger gets pinched between the two tensioner pulleys.

All in all it's not a terrible DIY, but you have to take extra care with that T60 socket, and not pull out that lock pin until you've got the belt 90% on.

Thanks for the writeup.

glad it worked out for you.
Next Guide, will be on Power Steering Fluid change the proper way with a Reservoir bottle change also and full drain via Banjo Bolt.

I like tinkering.

[FaxData]

Thanks so much to the OP and contributors to this thread, I finally managed to complete this DIY this weekend. My belt had been squeaking a little at idle after cold start for the last 10K miles or so. I figured that since I had just passed 100k miles, I should replace the belt, tensioner and pulleys (the horror stories of the belt getting sucked into the engine block terrified me).

I don't know why, there are plenty of youtube videos on changing the N52 belt but none on the N54... Actually, I know why - it's so much harder with that annoying air duct going from the air box to the turbo.

Unfortunately I also broke the coolant vent hose when unclipping it from the fan, and then the upper radiator hose nipple that connects to the vent hose. Getting that repaired cost more than the 2 hours of labor that the local indy shop quoted me for doing the belt and pulleys. Sigh.

In the end though, I found it very helpful to remove the radiator fan. I'm not sure this job could be done without removing it. The rubber grommet that attaches to clip on the air duct coming off the intercooler was a real pain. Every video I could find involved first draining the radiator and removing the intercooler, which I didn't want to do.

I look forward to not having to do this again for another 100k.