Fan Belts, Etc.

[offabroadway]

It was unusually warm today. Me and my girl took the Bimmer for a nice quck run around Hammond Bay this afternoon, and the car performed without incident. Until we came to a stop. God, what a stench. Burning rubber, burning rubber, and more burning rubber. I took it easy on it the rest of the way home, then popped the hood and pulled out an old Haynes, and began to look for problems. This is what really made my evening.

The belts are on backwards.

The fan and water pump belts are installed with the teeth facing out! I don't care what kind of car it is, European or not, how the hell do you manage to do something like that? I got the belts done a month ago, and while I have driven her hard on a few occasions, it hasn't been really warm until the last couple of days, hence the prevailance of the smell. I don't usually take a good look at the front of the engine (its kinda down there in the radiator anyways).. whenever I pop the hood I'm checking the oil and other vitals.

There will be hellfire at the garage tomorrow. They'd better fix it free of charge.

[nukeduster]

sorry, but that jst made me laugh out loud... never seen anything like that before.. never heard of such incompetence.

[325eXTATIC]

My suggestion...
Find a new shop! YEESH!
Look at it this way... At least you didn't have them do the Timing Belt! (DID YOU???)

Josh

[offabroadway]

Um... actually...

I did. ghead

I found a new shop today looking around, and asking opinions. European Specialty Motors. I didn't know they were there until I passed today, so I dropped in on the guy and asked him a few things. He knew everything that was wrong with it... the belts, and the alternator bushing being worn, something I hadn't noted (nor had the other shop, their solution was tighten the belts, which I'm told with worn bushings, will chew the shit out of my alternator belt).

I also found out they'd been working on my car with a 320i Haynes manual... you know, for the '75-'83 E21? I'm not impressed.

The fellow at Euro Specialty laughed at that, and told me that if they needed a Haynes manual to work on my car, they shouldn't be working on it in the first place. (As he said this, he had an E30, an E36, and an E39 up on lifts in the service bays) I tend to believe him.

EDIT: Oh, and by the way, according to the original shop, the belts are indeed installed correctly.

[Bear]

I once had a belt trun over while high revving the engine because the belt was not tightened sufficiently.

[X_WizarD_X]

Actually the belts may be installed correctly....Dayco makes a high quality belt called "Top Cog" that looks like it has the "teeth" on the outside of the belt when installed...It is suppose to aid in "cooling" the belt which prevents slipping...