changing the timing belt on an 83 528e

[Mike Ahern <mahern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Changing the timing belt on an 83 528e.

In July I bought a 83 528e and joined this listserv.  After reading what
many of you wrote, I decided, since I didn=92t know when it was done last=
,
I needed to change my timing belt.  I bought the belt and tensioner for
about $35 from a mail order company a few months ago.  Monday, which I
had off from work for MLK day, I finally got around to changing it.  I
received many emails telling me things to look out for, and I thought
I=92d add my own ideas on things I did wrong and things I=92d do differen=
tly
next time.

1. I bought the Bentley manual and although it was helpful, there is one
problem with it that I didn=92t notice until I did the job.  The
directions are nested, so that when you are reading directions, it tells
you to refer to other places, for example, in step 1, it says to =93remov=
e
radiator fan=94 and go to the cooling section for directions.  When
reading I thought, =93I don=92t need to find that section, I know how to
remove cooling fans on my fords, this can=92t be too much different.=94
Well the first thing you find out when you try to remove the fan is that
you need a 32 mm open-end wrench.  I didn=92t have one of those, although
I had bought the 27 mm socket for manually turning the crankshaft
because I saw that I needed it from the timing belt section.  I didn=92t
want to spend any more money on tools and we have some tools where I
work, and I thought, =93I wonder, is 1 =BC=94 close enough to 32 mm?=94  =
32 mm =3D
1.259=94.  I went to work and got the 1 =BC=94 and it fit.  I guess the
tolerances are not better than 0.009=94, which turned out good for me.  I
had mistakenly tried to remove the fan by removing the 4 nuts from the
fan to the pulley behind.  Don=92t do that.  It won=92t get the fan any
closer to coming off, and you need that pulley attached to have
something to torque the 32 mm fan clutch bolt against.  I had to
re-thread those 4 fan bolts and putting them back in was harder than
removing them.

2. Although I had gotten warnings from this group to watch out for the
nuts that tighten the geared nut for the alternator and power steering
belts, I still managed to strip the groves that help tighten the power
steering belt.  I think that design is not very good.  I was able to
lever the power steering belt tight.  I wasn=92t so lucky with the a/c
belt.  While trying to loosen it, I broke the a/c belt.  My a/c unit is
broken anyway, so I didn=92t try to get another belt.

3. When I got the distributor cap off I noticed that the cap had burn
spots everywhere the rotor had been hitting it, and the rotor looked bad
too, so I decided to buy rotor, cap and 6 bosch platinum spark plugs.
The cap was about $45, the rotor $20 and the plugs $1.79 each from
Autozone.  80 bucks for cap rotor and plugs.  I don=92t think those parts
would cost $20 for my =9266 Ford Fairlane.  I keep telling myself that
this fine Bavarian craftsmanship is worth it.

4. I had this idea for getting the teeth on the timing belt to be
aligned.  I took some whiteout and I whited out a tooth on the camgear
and on the belt next to it, then I went clockwise down to the next
pulley, which I thought was the drive shaft and did the same thing.
That next gear is the water pump, the positioning of that gear doesn=92t
matter.  But the Bentley manual pictures helped me get the gears aligned
correctly.  At least it seems to run the same.  I couldn=92t get the
alignment arrows to line up on the cam gear and the crank gear and also
get enough slack to get the belt over the tensioner.  I figured out a
trick I think they should put in the manual.  If you start with the
crank gear, as the manual says, and begin to thread the belt
counterclockwise, first past the water pump, then the cam gear, then it
is hard to get the belt over the tensioner.  But then if you put the 27
mm socket on the crank and turn slightly clockwise, you get the slack
out of the right side of the belt and have more slack to get around the
tensioner.  However, if you started with both the cam and crank arrows
aligned, now the crank will be turned too far clockwise.  So the way to
do it is, start threading the timing belt with the crank arrow about 3
cm to the left of the alignment mark on the engine and then when you get
the slack out, the arrows for both gears will be right.  I think it is
pretty easy to see if you are one tooth off, as I was the first time.
The second time I got it right on, and after rotation of 720 degrees,
both marks were still right on.

5. If I was doing this job again, I would definitely change the water
pump while I had the timing chain cover off, which needs to come off
anyway to remove the water pump.

6. When putting the radiator back in I tightened the fill plug in the
bottom and the top snapped off.  I wasn=92t being a gorilla, either.  I
think that the plastic screw is probably not very robust.  It seems to
hold water pressure though, now I need to easy-out the piece of bolt
left in and find another fill screw.

I spent about $120 and the car runs about the same, but I learned a lot
and hope that this job will be an improvement for the future of this
car.  It took about 10 hours, 6 on Monday and 4 after work today, which
I had to do with my shop light in the dark.  Luckily the weather was
about 70 both yesterday and tonight.  I guess there is something to be
said for winter in New Orleans.

Mike Ahern

------------------------------

End of bmw-digest V9 #1352
**************************