Main Drive Belt

[drz]

Hello everyone,

I changed my main drive belt today, figuring out a little sothing while doing it. Many DIYs suggest that you remove the fan to do it. I decided very early on that I would not do that. Turns out that a good thing to do is to remove the airbox. That gives you plenty of room to work the belt around and loosen the tensioner. Two nuts hold it in place, 10mm. Very easy to take out/put back in. Just thought I'd let everyone know what I learned today.

[nico]

Originally posted by drz328i@May 28 2005, 10:09 PM
Hello everyone,

I changed my main drive belt today, figuring out a little sothing while doing it. Many DIYs suggest that you remove the fan to do it. I decided very early on that I would not do that. Turns out that a good thing to do is to remove the airbox. That gives you plenty of room to work the belt around and loosen the tensioner. Two nuts hold it in place, 10mm. Very easy to take out/put back in. Just thought I'd let everyone know what I learned today.

[snapback]348596[/snapback]

Can you remove the fan without removing the radiator?

[drz]

Yes, the fan can be removed without removing the radiator. You need to lock up the pulley (many people use a large screwdriver wedged between the bolts) and use a 32mm wrench. The fan nut is left-hand-threaded, so one needs to turn it clockwise to loose. Check out www.bimmerdiy.com and browse around.