HELP mystery part

[ginger1340]

pulling water pump off and this just fell out. what is this? is it even part of the motor? where did it come from?

thank you

[joecrotch]

part #19

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=1113-USA-07-1988-E30-BMW-325i&diagId=11_4365

[digger]

middle of pic

[joecrotch]

oh yeah, good pic. you can see it there behind the belt!

[ginger1340]

middle of pic

Thank you for saving the day! Appreciate it


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[e30onBBSs]

HELP mystery part

Tensioner spring and dowel thing for the timing belt tension. make sure to put it back in! It can be a pain but it's really important. YES it is part of your engine lol



Was bored so I circled it in green if there were any misunderstandings

[ginger1340]

Tensioner spring and dowel thing, make sure to put it back in! It can be a pain but it's really important. YES it is part of your engine lol

Is it a bad sign that it just fell out?


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[RobDog]

Is it a bad sign that it just fell out?


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No the spring and pin are pinched between the water pump and the tensioner, so naturally it would shoot out/ fall off if either of the above are removed. If you look there is a small spot one the water pump that the dull end of the pin goes into. The spring and pin just set the tension on the tensioner and then the tensioner is bolted down, as seen in the photo. When you put the water pump back on I would put the pin and spring back just incase. You may have to push the water pump to the right to compress the spring then bolt the pump down.

[digger]

the spring sets the timing belt tension then you lock the idler in place and the spring becomes redundant. if you're doing a timing belt you need it installed with a new spring ideally so the tension is good on the belt

[e30onBBSs]

HELP mystery part

Is it a bad sign that it just fell out?


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No, it's essentially connected to the water pump when it's properly in place. There is a portion of the pump that makes it so the dowel/pin can't pop out when it's tensioned

So if you take the pump out, the spring and dowel/pin come out naturally, not to worry

[jeffnhiscars]

That's a good example of the recalled intermediate gear that should not be on a pretty new engine

[Seawolf]

I would replace that corroded spring and the pin, they are only a couple of dollars.

You can clean the pin up but the surface corrosion on that spring would warrant replacement - in that condition and probable age it won't tension the belt correctly.

[jeffnhiscars]

As digger said...unless you are replacing your timing belt the spring doesn't do anything and do a new one when you do since they are about $2. A better question might be why is there crud in a place that should be free or oil or coolant.

[Seawolf]

As digger said...

A good point and an assumption on my part that the OP is replacing the timing belt while he's in there - that's probably indicative of how I associate those parts as 1 job (water pump, timing belt, tensioner, pin and spring). If I replace any of those I replace them all.

Crud could be off the perhaps leaking water pump that's being replaced but crud will get in there anyway since it's open to the elements.

[RobDog]

The oil is most likely the camshaft seals or the rocker shafts seals. I replaced my water pump not to long ago because I got tired of listening to it squeak for ten minutes after start up. This same situation happened to me and I just put the spring back just incase. The only thing that makes me paranoid on a m20 is the timing belt.