[ctuna]

Protection from Accessory Belt motor destruction someone
now has a solution.
As many of you know the belt get's sucked through the front
main seal . Someone has come up with a solution at last.

https://redirect.viglink.com/?format...Fproducts.html

https://redirect.viglink.com/?format...on-videos.html

broken belt
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1305990
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho....php?t=1231881
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...3&postcount=23
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1477111

[Bmwneedsworkagain]

Does anyone know the symptoms or situations where the belt commonly breaks? Is it supposed to be replaced at a certain time or mileage on the N52?

I don’t see any oil on my belt but obviously the damage of a catastrophic failure is hard to ignore. Would like to at least know when to change it along with the tensioner and pulleys before the worst happens.

[ctuna]

Mike Miller says 60k Intervals.
The offhand way to tell is if the belt starts to walk
of the tensioner or the edge of the belt shreds.
Also oil on the belt predicts a upcoming disaster.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sh....php?t=1317457

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

This is nice, but $150 nice? Ehhhh...

[ctuna]

5000 or more for a motor Ouch Ouch Ouch
please make the pain stop.


I admit it does seem kind of high for a small piece of machined
steel.

But he had to develop and test it.
Whats a shame is BMW didn't do something similar..

[spazzz]

Shoulda been a recall, a long time ago.

This one has had me stumped since I bought mine. Why and the world would they let a weak link go and not design a cover for an obvious problem.
Oh yeah, more money.

I am going to put that on the project list.
$150 is dirt cheap

[Efthreeoh]

The video was a very poor attempt at marketing what appears as an ingenious solution to the belt issue. It requires removing the two bolts holding the base plate to the cylinder block at the critical point where the crank splits the two parts. There are a lot of forces at play at the end of the crankshaft, which is why a harmonic balancer is used, and is critical, to counter act them. I'm not sure of the safety in untorquing those bolts and reinstalling them. The website should have written documentation as to the engineering development and testing of the product and validation of removing and replacing the bed plate fasteners.

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

The video was a very poor attempt at marketing what appears as an ingenious solution to the belt issue. It requires removing the two bolts holding the base plate to the cylinder block at the critical point where the crank splits the two parts. There are a lot of forces at play at the end of the crankshaft, which is why a harmonic balancer is used, and is critical, to counter act them. I'm not sure of the safety in untorquing those bolts and reinstalling them. I did not listen to the video, I just watched it, but the website should have written documentation as to the engineering development and testing of the product and validation of removing and replacing the bed plate fasteners.

That seems like a lot of work getting that balancer off. I think I will stick to replacing the belt every 60k.

[ctuna]

Funny in the video it just looked like the main pulley was pulled.
(I so that is the Harmonic Balancer from what I read)
Maybe not easy to reach .
I would take a look at the main seal replacement procedure for further
details.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Nickco43

That seems like a lot of work getting that balancer off. I think I will stick to replacing the belt every 60k.

I've taken the balancer off of the N52, which uses the same design. The crank needs to be locked, or use of a small air impact tool is required to remove the 6 retaining bolts. I used my butterfly impact wrench. It takes all of 5 minutes to get the harmonic balancer off once the fan is out and the belt removed.

Untorquing the bed plate bolts is what I have reservation about. A steel plate is going to rust. I think he said the material was steel? If they do one for the N52 it will need to be aluminum.

[Koolsilver]

Removing the main pulley is not a crazy task it's only held on by 6 bolts. The location is a little annoying to line up the bolts when putting it back on but honestly nothing more than a half decent backyard mechanic can handle.

[ctuna]

Good point about the material used in an N52 block.

[Koolsilver]

That is a good point about the material I just glanced over that fact. Aluminum or possibly stainless steel? I'm not good with my metals don't recall if aluminum and stainless are reactive.

[ctuna]

Well they couldn't put steel bolts in the 06 valve cover due to
the metal valve cover. Don't know about the lower block. The Head Bolts
are the same deal but this will only apply to the N52 I think.
Removing the two lower bolts to mount this doesn't seem like it
would be that much of an issue as all the other bolts on the lower
block and the weight of everything above it is holding stuff in place.
Getting it back to the right torque spec would just be common sense.

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I've taken the balancer off of the N52, which uses the same design. The crank needs to be locked, or use of a small air impact tool is required to remove the 6 retaining bolts. I used my butterfly impact wrench. It takes all of 5 minutes to get the harmonic balancer off once the fan is out and the belt removed.

Untorquing the bed plate bolts is what I have reservation about. A steel plate is going to rust. I think he said the material was steel? If they do one for the N52 it will need to be aluminum.

Hmm, that still seems hard. I am also the worst mechanic in the world for anything that does not involve wires or my laptop.

[upshift_downshift]

Originally Posted by Koolsilver

That is a good point about the material I just glanced over that fact. Aluminum or possibly stainless steel? I'm not good with my metals don't recall if aluminum and stainless are reactive.

Aluminum and stainless should not be mixed:
https://www.fastenal.com/content/fed...0Corrosion.pdf

This chart shows the anodic and cathodic properties of different fastener metals. When you have two metals in contact from different ends of the spectrum, it forms galvanic corrosion inside an electrolyte (like road salt).

So, you want to join metals that are close together on this chart. This is why the N54 block has aluminum fasteners going into it, because it's magnesium. Zinc plated steel is fine to use for aluminum, but not stainless.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by upshift_downshift

Aluminum and stainless should not be mixed:
https://www.fastenal.com/content/fed...0Corrosion.pdf

This chart shows the anodic and cathodic properties of different fastener metals. When you have two metals in contact from different ends of the spectrum, it forms galvanic corrosion inside an electrolyte (like road salt).

So, you want to join metals that are close together on this chart. This is why the N54 block has aluminum fasteners going into it, because it's magnesium. Zinc plated steel is fine to use for aluminum, but not stainless.

The N54 is an aluminum block. The N52 is magnesium.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by ctuna

Well they couldn't put steel bolts in the 06 valve cover due to
the metal valve cover. Don't know about the lower block. The Head Bolts
are the same deal but this will only apply to the N52 I think.
Removing the two lower bolts to mount this doesn't seem like it
would be that much of an issue as all the other bolts on the lower
block and the weight of everything above it is holding stuff in place.
Getting it back to the right torque spec would just be common sense.

The N52 is a siamesed-metal block. The outside of the block is magnesium and the inside cylinder block is aluminum, which allows the use of steel head bolts.

[mecheng77]

Patented, really? Filing a patent costs $20,000, not sure there is anything to patent on that. The material looks like it is aluminum, otherwise it would rust immediately and start to grow which could cause issues. I can't tell if the tabs are welded, if not there is a lot of machining in this part.

[mxchris727]

I agree that this is a great idea, but no way am I touching those bedplate bolts without some sort of confirmation from a reputable builder that there won't be any disturbance to the sealant and crank seal.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by mxchris727

I agree that this is a great idea, bot no way am I touching those bedplate bolts without some sort of confirmation from a reputable builder that there won't be any disturbance to the sealant and crank seal.

+1

Also agree with Efthreeoh on the materials being a potential problem. I just looked at the picture of the plate, not the videos, but I had a feeling it required taking out some of the bed plate bolts to install it.

Might be worth the hassle on an early N54 which seems more prone to belts coming off due to the P/S pulley contacting the sub frame.

Also, did they intentionally shred/dislodge the belt on a running engine to test this?

I think for N52/N51 owners it makes more sense to just keep an eye on the condition of the belt, tensioner, and any oil leaks.

[gurusan]

Why not just 3d print this? Cheaper and don't need to worry about metal reactions.