[iturbo_bmw]

Hi all. my belt broke and got shredded the other day. I was a couple miles from home and didn't realize it broke until it got home, just saw an charging error come up. I towed the car to the shop and they said they had seen this before and would be able to fix it. Do i need to pull the pan?

update - The mechanic said i got lucky and seal was not broken

[desertman123]

No not at all. They NEED to pull the pan.

Did they even mention replacing the front main seal?

I forget the exact thread but recently someone here posted their shredded belt experience, the belt was all up in the oil pickup.

[robthewrench]

Probably, no. All the pictures I've seen of fixes after this show belt shreds pulled into the oil pump pick up tube / screen. Taking off the timing cover is needed, but I don't think they can stop there.

Did you have an OFHG leak causing the belt to slip off?

[Joebie]

Like Desertman said, I think the way this destroys engines is because bit and pieces of the belt can clog up the oil pickup tube in the oil pan resulting in low oil pressure/flow.

If you want to have total peace of mind, the oil pan's gotta come off. Sure, there's a reality where you just clean what you can from the top and then call it good and never have any problems beyond that, but its not the right way of going about things.

Luckily, the oil pan is probably already leaking so maybe it needed to come off anyways for a new gasket lol

[macheff03]

Absolutely not, at least if you want to be sure.

Like the others said it’s going to have to come off for full assurance. And the mechanic won’t do that because it’s more time consuning, at least if you didn’t know it needs to...

[iturbo_bmw]

Originally Posted by desertman123

No not at all. They NEED to pull the pan.

Did they even mention replacing the front main seal?

I forget the exact thread but recently someone here posted their shredded belt experience, the belt was all up in the oil pickup.

yeah they are replacing the seal. i wasn't sure if they would be able to see everything from the top and figure out whether they need to take out the pan or not but i guess its safer to just have them take it out

Originally Posted by Joester

Like Desertman said, I think the way this destroys engines is because bit and pieces of the belt can clog up the oil pickup tube in the oil pan resulting in low oil pressure/flow.

If you want to have total peace of mind, the oil pan's gotta come off. Sure, there's a reality where you just clean what you can from the top and then call it good and never have any problems beyond that, but its not the right way of going about things.

Luckily, the oil pan is probably already leaking so maybe it needed to come off anyways for a new gasket lol

i don't want there to be other issues going forward, i thought maybe they could see everthing from the top, or once they know how much was sucked in, they could decide whether it is necessary

Originally Posted by macheff03

Absolutely not, at least if you want to be sure.

Like the others said it’s going to have to come off for full assurance. And the mechanic won’t do that because it’s more time consuning, at least if you didn’t know it needs to...

shit okay i guess its gonna get even more expensive then

[iturbo_bmw]

The mechanic said there were no bits - He said he took a camera and mirrors and did not see anything in the pan and and oil looked clean as well.

What do you guys think?

[desertman123]

Originally Posted by iturbo_bmw

The mechanic said there were no bits in the timing chain and just one little piece sticking in from the crank seal. He said he took a camera and mirrors and did not see anything in the pan and and oil looked clean as well.

What do you guys think?

EHhh clean oil + borescope inside the oil pan might be good enough if there's very very small evidence of the seal being busted.

[iturbo_bmw]

Originally Posted by desertman123

EHhh clean oil + borescope inside the oil pan might be good enough if there's very very small evidence of the seal being busted.

i'll have them inspect it!

[ctuna]

https://oxwerkzperformance.com/products.html

https://oxwerkzperformance.com/oxwer...on-videos.html


broken belt
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1305990
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho....php?t=1231881
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...3&postcount=23
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1477111

[Bimmer_Engineer]

Originally Posted by iturbo_bmw

Hi all. my belt broke and got shredded the other day. I was a couple miles from home and didn't realize it broke until it got home, just saw an charging error come up. I towed the car to the shop and they said they had seen this before and would be able to fix it.

It looks like some of it got sucked into the crack pulley. The shop said they are taking the valve cover off and will clean it up. They say they will be able to clean up everything from the top.

My concern is will they really be able to clean everything up without opening the oil pan?? will they have enough visibility in there? They seemed confident they could clean everything up. they would do an oil change as well.

update - The mechanic said there were no bits in the timing chain and just one little piece sticking in from the crank seal. He said he took a camera and mirrors and did not see anything in the pan and and oil looked clean as well.

I’ve never driven this car with the belt broken, but wouldn’t you notice the increase in steering effort with the power steering out?

[ric]

drop the oil pan its a no brainer. u won't see everything with a scope. not impressed with the mech. should've done maintenance on car to begin with. cant just gas it n drive.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Side question OP do you know why it happened? Leaky oil on belt?

[iturbo_bmw]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer

I’ve never driven this car with the belt broken, but wouldn’t you notice the increase in steering effort with the power steering out?

yes power steering was lost

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Side question OP do you know why it happened? Leaky oil on belt?

yeah i think it's due to a leaky ofhg

[klargo]

This just happened to me in my recently purchased used X5 with 57k miles. I replaced leaky gaskets in oil cooler and housing couple of months ago. I cleaned the front of engine and left the belt because it looked fine with no evidence of cracking or wear. Last Friday I was returning home from long trip when I lost the belt. I stopped but couldn't get to it and it was dark, cold, and I had no tools. I've driven other cars with no drive belt so I took a chance and continued less than a mile to home thinking in worst case my battery would die. Oh how wrong I was! Saturday I went to replace it and had never seen a serp belt shredded like that. Some of it was lodged behind harmonic balancer so I had to take it off. Thats when I saw some of the belt had wrapped around crankshaft and entered the engine through oil seal. The seal is completely gone and I can see bits of belt behind the seal cavity. I called BMW service who are completely aware of this happening. They recommended I not drive car until their inspection procedure at a cost of (apprx) $3500 assuming no problems found. I told them I intend to inspect myself by removing valve cover and oil pan but the service guy said he wouldn't recommend because they use a flushing method that can't be done DIY and I would risk further issues down the road. The car is parked for now until I have time to do the 2-3 day job. I'm also still thinking about towing to BMW which would be another couple hundred due to distance. I just thought I would share experience as a lesson learned I don't know how many BMW models this effects but definintly X5 N55 engine is one.

[Pladi]

Originally Posted by ctuna

https://oxwerkzperformance.com/products.html

https://oxwerkzperformance.com/oxwer...on-videos.html


broken belt
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1305990
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho....php?t=1231881
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...3&postcount=23
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1477111

Are those solutions good ? Last i heard some kid designed it in his basement..

Concerns of the type of metal used and compatibility the the block and rust...

Maybe its better to use some type of composite plastic and charge less.

[ctuna]

Word through the forums is they understand the difference
in Metal between the n51 n52 block and the n54 n55 and are
working on one for the N51 N52. This is not a genius idea it
just took somebody to do it. Not like designing and operating
system or new computer chip or doing particle physics.
To bad BMW didn't do this from the factory it would have cost
way less . Lots of design fails coming from BMW lately.

Some guys where saying 150 was to much but I think
a new motor or motor cleaning for 3500 to 10k is to much.

[hassmaschine]

or, just maintain your car and never worry about this. It can only really happen if your tensioner is worn out or you leave the OFHG leaking for a long time.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

or, just maintain your car and never worry about this. It can only really happen if your tensioner is worn out or you leave the OFHG leaking for a long time.

I could add few more reasons: pulleys, AC compressor, alternator, power steering pump....

[banglenot]

I pulled the pan from my N52 last week. Even on a lift it was a 5 hour job, plus new gasket and correctly torquing 30 aluminum bolts to 8NM +90 deg. Real PITA.

One thing that might work is draining the oil and pulling out the sensor. This will give you a fairly large hole to insert a borescope and verify the conditions in the pan. Also potentially possible to clear the intake and pull out pieces if needed. The sensor gasket is cheap, and you will need to replace it. Three bolts, 21NM if I recall.

Fiddly approach but you at least know what the facts are in the pan. And beats the crap out of dropping it.

(And I can't see any credible way to clean out the pan from the top, or confirm it's condition without a borescope.)

[hassmaschine]

Originally Posted by feuer

I could add few more reasons: pulleys, AC compressor, alternator, power steering pump....

Those are possible, but exceedingly rare by comparison. It's like worrying about getting struck by lightning or being in a plane crash, when most people die simply because their heart fails from being inactive and eating shitty food.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

Those are possible, but exceedingly rare by comparison. It's like worrying about getting struck by lightning or being in a plane crash, when most people die simply because their heart fails from being inactive and eating shitty food.

My n54 broke the belt 3 times with 100k miles. Oil leak, pulley and broken power steering pump bolt were the cause. My n54 isn't exception.