10 year old timing belt

[khiobrien2]

Update because I saw this again... replaced the belt in late March and it looked BRAND new... not a slight crack in sight so so odd. Continental ftw I guess.

[khiobrien2]

That's what I do every other timing belt. Why dump lifetime coolant and change a perfectly good water pump as well as make a mess?

How realistic/easy is it to do the tb with the hoses on? Any tips? You still remove the fan clutch, yes?

[packratbimmer]

That's what I do every other timing belt. Why dump lifetime coolant and change a perfectly good water pump as well as make a mess?

[zaq123]

The hoses do not need to be removed - I have done the job many times. A genuine BMW water pump will last 10 years and I do not drive the car 100K in 10 years - Betcha a hundo - LOL.

I guess everything is doable, including mounting the tire on the rim while it's still bolted to the car lol.
However I prefer to spend 10 min to drain the coolant and remove all those hoses so I can work like human being with some extra room. Removing pulleys, covers etc while working around all those things in the front, checking pulley/belt alignment and properly tensioning it....some much easier (and less time consuming) when everything is open, IMHO.
As far as WP goes, oem unit is pricey for what it is, but can't go wrong with OEM (I'm not sure who makes it for BMW these days). I use GRAF (Metelli) pumps which are top quality and OEM suppler for many automakers. For $40 one can't go wrong.


Here is pretty basic write-up on TB change should anyone be looking for a step-by-step https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/inde...ng_Belt_Change

[packratbimmer]

you are correct. You will need to take off hoses and the steel coolant line that's attached to the front of the block. I know this cars are not DD cars these days so TB change is mostly for the time vs mileage. However I would still do the tensioner and the water pump at the same time. I lost my beloved AHL TDI (golf) because I was late by ~2k to do TD belt on it. The belt broke because the water pump seized suddenly. I was on my way to the diesel mechanic for TB job, which made it even worse (emotionally).
When I called from the side of the road to cancel the appointment, VW diesel mechanic told me one thing I remember to this day : " When Germans tell you to change something at XX miles, it means XX mile, not XX plus 100 or 1000".

Water pump is not driven by TB on M20s but it's cheap enough to throw it in (while you are in there.

The hoses do not need to be removed - I have done the job many times. A genuine BMW water pump will last 10 years and I do not drive the car 100K in 10 years - Betcha a hundo - LOL.

[digger]

I use genuine WP from stealership so do it every second TB.

[zaq123]

How is it possible to changed the belt without draining the coolant? Don’t the hoses need to be removed?

you are correct. You will need to take off hoses and the steel coolant line that's attached to the front of the block. I know this cars are not DD cars these days so TB change is mostly for the time vs mileage. However I would still do the tensioner and the water pump at the same time. I lost my beloved AHL TDI (golf) because I was late by ~2k to do TD belt on it. The belt broke because the water pump seized suddenly. I was on my way to the diesel mechanic for TB job, which made it even worse (emotionally).
When I called from the side of the road to cancel the appointment, VW diesel mechanic told me one thing I remember to this day : " When Germans tell you to change something at XX miles, it means XX mile, not XX plus 100 or 1000".

Water pump is not driven by TB on M20s but it's cheap enough to throw it in (while you are in there.

[82eye]

I too would change it. And that reminds me to change mine, too- thanks!

As to green coolant: just like oil, everyone has their preference. I have found
for the last 40 years that the green that's rated for aluminum has worked ok
for me. IF changed every couple of years, like you should, anyway.

t
never used blue. Still here to tell you so!

was the blue even available when these cars were new ?
all i know for sure is i'm using the blue on my refreshed engine. all the major aluminum hose connections were compromised. the thermostat housing was in very bad shape. had to replace them all.

[khiobrien2]

I just did my timing belt on my m20. Last change was about 10 years ago. Similar ~25k miles. Belt was fine, tensioner didn't have any lateral play but showing its age when you spin it. Easy job, you don't need to drain the coolant unless you used that green stuff- switch to the bmw blue.

Have a spare distributor rotor on hand as the three allen bolts usually fight you and get destroyed. Any seals you might want to change out and a water pump every other belt change. Same as packrat- I too had to go OE for my waterpump as I had gotten an aftermarket piece of junk.

I shouldn't have let my belt go so long but I've been busy. Going to try to be more diligent and target 6-8 year intervals from now on.

How is it possible to changed the belt without draining the coolant? Don’t the hoses need to be removed?

[TobyB]

I too would change it. And that reminds me to change mine, too- thanks!

As to green coolant: just like oil, everyone has their preference. I have found
for the last 40 years that the green that's rated for aluminum has worked ok
for me. IF changed every couple of years, like you should, anyway.

t
never used blue. Still here to tell you so!

[uturn]

I just did my timing belt on my m20. Last change was about 10 years ago. Similar ~25k miles. Belt was fine, tensioner didn't have any lateral play but showing its age when you spin it. Easy job, you don't need to drain the coolant unless you used that green stuff- switch to the bmw blue.

Have a spare distributor rotor on hand as the three allen bolts usually fight you and get destroyed. Any seals you might want to change out and a water pump every other belt change. Same as packrat- I too had to go OE for my waterpump as I had gotten an aftermarket piece of junk.

I shouldn't have let my belt go so long but I've been busy. Going to try to be more diligent and target 6-8 year intervals from now on.

[packratbimmer]

Only use BMW blue in an E30. It is possible to change the belt without changing water pumps, in other words. In addition, it COULD be better to use an old water pump (a high quality one, in functional condition) than to swap out a new one that is possibly a piece of junk. The last time I changed one, I went for OE due to such bad luck with aftermarket. BTW - there are also a lot of junk belt tensioners out there so do some research on those as well.

[e30rik]

Change it for peace of mind if nothing else. I did my first tb job almost a year ago and it was really pretty straight forward even for a weekend wrencher like myself. The guy I bought the car from told me he just did it but that wasn’t good enough for me, would rather just know instead of hope. There’s a couple good videos of people doing the job step by step as well as write ups. Just go through some of those and make sure you have all the tools and ability.

[e30austin]

nothing that says you can't reuse it, though, if you used green coolant, flush that garbage out and install blue G12 coolant. the green stuff is hard on bearings and promotes electrolysis.

[packratbimmer]

It is possible to change the belt without dumping the coolant, just a little trickier.