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<E34> 535 Timing Belt Replacement

Dennis D. Ignacio wrote
>The last time I checked under my hood of my '92 535i, I saw 
>what appeared to be a timing belt,...

nope. What you see on the outside of the engine are accessory
belts. Like for the AC, alternator, fans etc.

*Inside* the engine is either a timing belt (rubber) or a timing chain
(metal). In BMW's only the M20 engine (small six cylinder '85-'91)
uses a timing belt. It must be changed every 50k miles.

 If it *breaks* (which it will eventually if you don't change it) 
because the BMW engines are interference type engines (for higher
performance) the valves could smash into the pistons and cause quite a
mess costing $$$ to fix.

On all other BMW engines a timing chain is used - this requires no
maintenance and never breaks. Ha! Well it's not supposed to anyway.
So your 535 ( with a *big* six ) is not in danger because it does not
have a timing belt.

>same dealer that I had asked in a previous call whether they
>use Zymol on their detailing packages. They claim that they
>never heard of the product.

not really surprising.. dealers pay attention to stuff that is in
their own interest. They are happy to sell you BMW wax and wash
stuff. Zymol is a competitor. Zymol who ?

hope this helps

chris pawlowicz
'89 325i