please HELP: what tensioner components do i need to get..

[ryan roopnarine]

had a little roadside emergency today. go to make a left turn into a shopping center, and find that 1) my steering assist is gone and 2) battery light is on. force the car in, hoping to find a cut belt (as i keep a spare in the car anyways). when i find this.......

http://plaza.ufl.edu/rroopnar/P1010138.JPG

my friend and i didn't quite understand how to unload the belt tension from the car when we were replacing the oil canister gasket, but it didn't matter, as someone previous had stripped the hex bolt pretty badly (at an angle). we only got the belt back on by holding the hex key to maximum release and forcing the belt back on. here's the background: the tensioner wheel is obviously melted off. would it possible to just replace/drill out the tensioner wheel bolt, or is it a "special" bolt that relieves tension when you actually turn the bolt? i'm trying to just have to buy a new wheel and bolt for it to ride on.

dumb@ss question--in releasing the tension on the shock-type belt tensioner, is the bolt supposed to spin enough to make it easy to put the belt on? if it is, then i guess i need a new mounting bracket, bolt, and tensioner wheel.

car is a 7/91 US m50 non-vanos 525i. thanks.

[ryan roopnarine]

bump--anyone?

[632 Regal]

mine has 2 bolts, on on the adjustment part and the other on the fulcrum. can you find a realoem diagram?

[colo525i]

It should be fairly easy to slip the belt back on. You should be able to replace the pulley without too much trouble. I had one of the tensioner shocks blow up when i was doing my belts. Couldn't get enough slack until i realized that the damn shock had come apart. It sounds like the tensioner pulley is hosed, but it doesn't relieve the tension directly it moves the pulley against the shock, releasing the belt tension. If the shock is ok, you should be good replacing the bolt and pulley.

[ryan roopnarine]

It should be fairly easy to slip the belt back on. You should be able to replace the pulley without too much trouble. I had one of the tensioner shocks blow up when i was doing my belts. Couldn't get enough slack until i realized that the damn shock had come apart. It sounds like the tensioner pulley is hosed, but it doesn't relieve the tension directly it moves the pulley against the shock, releasing the belt tension. If the shock is ok, you should be good replacing the bolt and pulley.


ahhh. ok. i'm guessing then that the bolt that needs to come off is loctited on or has reverse threads, maybe. just FYI, for anyone looking at the picture. look at the top pulley. now look underneath it, there's a metal pipe looking thing sticking out. that is where the tensioner pulley used to be. i'm hoping that i can just take the arm off, take the bolt out, maybe change a bushing or two in the assembly, and put it back on the car, as i'm in no mood to buy a 20 dollar pulley, another 20 dollar pulley, a 140 dollar arm.....

jeff, it sounds like (from the bentley) that your tensioner is completely different from mine.

[winfred]

you can buy just the pulley which should run 30-40 and whatever bolt you screwed up can probably be had from a hardwear store, if you can get the old one in your hand to match up, it's normal thread and would only have locktight on it if someone put it on it, that's a common failure where it spits the pulley off and the belt rides on the hub till the belt frys

[ryan roopnarine]

you can buy just the pulley which should run 30-40 and whatever bolt you screwed up can probably be had from a hardwear store, if you can get the old one in your hand to match up, it's normal thread and would only have locktight on it if someone put it on it, that's a common failure where it spits the pulley off and the belt rides on the hub till the belt frys

just what i wanted to hear. we should have mothballed the car after doing the canister gasket and finding the tensioner all f'd up. thanks.