AC belt

[Il Duce]

ok, so after a nice night of taking the e30
through the twisties, i awoke (sorta) to
my car sending some white smoke through
the hood. after much looking, i diagnosed
the problem. My AC belt decided to snap
off. i bought the belt, but now i cant get it on.
should i take it to a shop? i got an estimated
labor price ($70) and that doesnt seem worth
it.



thanks -

[renegade]

Re: AC belt

i bought the belt, but now i cant get it on.
should i take it to a shop? i got an estimated
labor price ($70) and that doesnt seem worth
it.

Why can you not put it on? What exactly is the problem? I did my belts recently, it was pretty simple. The only catch with the AC belt is that the power steering belt will have to come off (also pretty simple) and then the AC belt can go on. At least, that's the way on mine, I have a 1989 325i

[AdamF 88iS]

What kind of a shop charges $70 to do belts? That better include parts. Try getting the belt as far as you can and rotate the engine by hand to pull it on the rest of the way.

[Il Duce]

ok, after three hours of work, i got it on. the belt that decided to snap,
the only one i didnt just get replaced 1000 miles ago, was the closest
one to the engine. so, naturally i had to remove all of the others to get to it.
it was tedious, but i learned a lot and i am glad i did it myself because here
in san diego, my quotes were $70 an Hour!


i then bled all the air out of the cooling system with the hot air running in the
car.

i know this isnt a big deal, and was a tiny project, but this was the first "major"
project i have done (besides installing my SSK) so it was a good learning
experience for me.

thanks for all the help guys...