[E93Seattle (Racerbruce)]

My new to me 2013 335is N54 E93 is @ 38.5K miles.

Should the accessory belt, pulleys and tensioner be replaced due to its 10 yr age?

[The_E92_Fan]

Yes it’s cheap and preventative. At the same time if you haven’t replaced the oil filter housing gasket and oil cooler gasket now would be the best time because they can leak onto the pulleys. Be careful with the gasket work as you’ll expose a coolant/oil interface as part of the work.

[BRG_N54]

The belt would be my focus. I would hate to lose one on an N54, seeing all the bad press about OFHG caused failures. Perhaps the tensioner also, having a spring in there under load for 10 years. The whole kit is only $130, but I am one of those "while you're at it" type mechanics. YMMV

[E93Seattle (Racerbruce)]

Originally Posted by BRG_N54

The belt would be my focus. I would hate to lose one on an N54, seeing all the bad press about OFHG caused failures. Perhaps the tensioner also, having a spring in there under load for 10 years. The whole kit is only $130, but I am one of those "while you're at it" type mechanics. YMMV

thank you brg -
the ofhg has been replaced.

can you speak to the rock auto price of $130 and the turner motorsport price of $360??

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...sory-belt-kit/
it the turner price significantly more b/c it is bmw oem??

[BRG_N54]

Originally Posted by E93Seattle (Racerbruce)

thank you brg -
the ofhg has been replaced.

can you speak to the rock auto price of $130 and the turner motorsport price of $360??

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...sory-belt-kit/
it the turner price significantly more b/c it is bmw oem??

The kit I linked is the same one I put on both my N54's: Continental. Which I think actually makes the parts for BMW. The OEM parts are just via a different supply channel, perhaps labeled slightly different, but definitely with a premium pricetag!

Most modern car parts are like this. BMW only manufactures a small percentage of the parts that make up an E93, and hires others to make the rest. You just need to find out who those "others" are and go right to them. If only the fuel injectors were such a simple formula!

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by E93Seattle (Racerbruce)

thank you brg -
the ofhg has been replaced.

can you speak to the rock auto price of $130 and the turner motorsport price of $360??

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...sory-belt-kit/
it the turner price significantly more b/c it is bmw oem??

Yes.

OEM is expensive. The Continental belt with INA tensioner and pulleys are the identical parts without the BMW logo.

I just went through this on my 335. It's a bit more difficult than doing that work on the N52 as you need to remove the radiator fan to gain a lot of extra needed clearance, AND remove the front turbo inlet bolts (if I remember correctly you have DCIs so no airbox to disconnect front the front inlet.)

I'm also one of the "while you're in there" types so while I had the radiator fan off I also replaced my power steering pump pulley with an aluminum one and installed a crank seal guard. I don't know if it was necessary to replace the power steering pulley, mine looked fine, but I had so much easy access and figured it was best to replace it.

[E93Seattle (Racerbruce)]

Originally Posted by lowrydr310

Yes.

OEM is expensive. The Continental belt with INA tensioner and pulleys are the identical parts without the BMW logo.

I just went through this on my 335. It's a bit more difficult than doing that work on the N52 as you need to remove the radiator fan to gain a lot of extra needed clearance, AND remove the front turbo inlet bolts (if I remember correctly you have DCIs so no airbox to disconnect front the front inlet.)

I'm also one of the "while you're in there" types so while I had the radiator fan off I also replaced my power steering pump pulley with an aluminum one and installed a crank seal guard. I don't know if it was necessary to replace the power steering pulley, mine looked fine, but I had so much easy access and figured it was best to replace it.

thank you lowry,
didn't know the ps pump pulley is a known failure component; thanks for the clarity.

do they (the pulley) fail with age?

where did you purchase your upgraded pulley?

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by E93Seattle (Racerbruce)

thank you lowry,
didn't know the ps pump pulley is a known failure component; thanks for the clarity.

do they (the pulley) fail with age?

where did you purchase your upgraded pulley?

I don't really know if it's a known failure point. I read a lot of old posts about the PS pulley contacting the subframe and cracking, and other posts about the pulley just breaking without contacting anything. But most of those posts were from 2007-2010, nothing recent. BMW updated the belt routing which may have helped the subframe contact issue, but who knows.

Mine looked perfectly fine despite being original (had the circular manufacture date molded in which showed 2007) and I was very reluctant to replace it, but since I had the part and I had easy access I just did it. The original one is plastic and despite looking fine, I have seen what happens to old plastic components on these cars. Very easy installation.

I bought the URO aluminum one from Rock Auto. I typically avoid URO parts but they have a handful of things that are upgraded/improved factory parts, with part numbers ending in PRM, and the aluminum PS pump is one of them. They also make fancy upgraded window regulators with ball bearings that I haven't tried yet.

[whyzee125]

I'm usually a huge proponent of Genuine BMW only but IMO just get the Contitech kit. It's the exact same thing. Both genuine and OE kits have the same brand of bearings, belt, etc. Couldn't tell a bit of difference and my Contitech kit has been going strong for years.