Seized pulley... what am I in for?

[MikeV]

It figures, I was going to change the belts today but instead we ended up driving to my sister's... and had something - I believe it is the idler pulley - seize up the serpentine belt.... 25 miles from home. Luckily, it happened across the street from a shop, looked like a decent place (Mercedes and Infiniti on the lifts when I walked in).

What I'm curious about is what kind of bucks I'm in for... $50 for the pulley, $35 for a new belt, and an hour of labor sound ballpark? Should I have them change the adjusting pulley while they're at it? Thanks.

[Rory]

It figures, I was going to change the belts today but instead we ended up driving to my sister's... and had something - I believe it is the idler pulley - seize up the serpentine belt.... 25 miles from home. Luckily, it happened across the street from a shop, looked like a decent place (Mercedes and Infiniti on the lifts when I walked in).

What I'm curious about is what kind of bucks I'm in for... $50 for the pulley, $35 for a new belt, and an hour of labor sound ballpark? Should I have them change the adjusting pulley while they're at it? Thanks.

Hi Mike,

Plan on $75-100 in parts and 2 hours of labor. I would guess $150-$250 for the bill depending on where you live and labor rates. It is a very easy job to do and it realistically should take 30 minutes to fix. If you are mechanically inclined it is a very simple DIY job. From BMA the parts will be $25 and your local dealer/parts house can probably supply the parts in a range closerto an indy. Check out the following thread if you are interested in giving it a go yourself.

http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=1139

Good luck,
Rory

[MikeV]

Thanks for the info. It's been a number of years since I let anyone else work on one of my cars, but in this case I figured the tow home would cost about the same as an hour's labor... we'll see.