Car needs work and new to BMW

[UCB0015]

First of all I apologize in advance for perhaps not knowing anything that would be generally easy when it comes down to BMWs, I had a 99 Accord prior. I purchased my 2006 BMW 330i (E90 N52) about a month ago and it was running fine until recently. Just the other week when I started my car I got an Alternator warning and the battery indicator came on; I lost power steering with a puff of smoke came up from the hood. I towed it home and checked under the hood and noticed that my serpentine belt had come off as well as all my coolant being dumped. I'm currently looking for answers so I can purchase parts and have the service done asap.

Thank you in advance and sorry for run ons.

[RocketSurgeon]

Welcome to the forums, and congratulations on the new bimmer.
Ok, your alternator light came on because the belt shredded. We just need to figure out why the belt shredded. Make sure you get all of the little belt bits out, and be sure that they didn't bunch up under the crank pulley and damage the front main seal. Check all of the pulleys to make sure they spin freely (except the crank pulley). Check the alternator, power steering pump, idler pulley, tensioner pulley, and A/C compressor pulley. Also take a look at the subframe and power steering pulley to make sure they didn't collide. You'll see belt rubber smeared on the subframe, or a cracked PS pulley if you have a problem. It's hard to say where the coolant is coming from since you have an electric water pump.
As far as finding the right parts for your car, use realoem.com or etkbmw.com to find the part numbers for your vehicle. I buy all my parts from ecstuning or fcpeuro (fcp offers a lifetime warranty on all parts).

[UCB0015]

Welcome to the forums, and congratulations on the new bimmer.
Ok, your alternator light came on because the belt shredded. We just need to figure out why the belt shredded. Make sure you get all of the little belt bits out, and be sure that they didn't bunch up under the crank pulley and damage the front main seal. Check all of the pulleys to make sure they spin freely (except the crank pulley). Check the alternator, power steering pump, idler pulley, tensioner pulley, and A/C compressor pulley. Also take a look at the subframe and power steering pulley to make sure they didn't collide. You'll see belt rubber smeared on the subframe, or a cracked PS pulley if you have a problem. It's hard to say where the coolant is coming from since you have an electric water pump.
As far as finding the right parts for your car, use realoem.com or etkbmw.com to find the part numbers for your vehicle. I buy all my parts from ecstuning or fcpeuro (fcp offers a lifetime warranty on all parts).

Thanks for your reply Rocket.
I have yet to take a look at it but you may be right about the belt. From what i can see it seems to be in tact but that could just be the portion visable. I found another site from some of the forum posts of Autohausaz.com and was wondering what your take on that website is.

[jeff91121]

As far as the coolant loss, check your hoses and fittings, they are plastic and get brittle and weak. Especially vulnerable is the hose that connects from the head at the front of the engine just below and to the passenger side of the oil filter housing. I had that fitting break and dumped all my coolant and had to get towed home. Not a super difficult fix and there is an aluminum fitting available to use in place of the plastic one that comes as a one piece unit with the hose. https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-N54-335...5Y220L&vxp=mtr
I haven't ordered anything from autohauz, I have gotten my parts from ecs and fcpeuro and a few off amazon as well.

[FCPEuro]

Thanks for your reply Rocket.
I have yet to take a look at it but you may be right about the belt. From what i can see it seems to be in tact but that could just be the portion visable. I found another site from some of the forum posts of Autohausaz.com and was wondering what your take on that website is.

As RocketSurgeon mentioned this is a known issue on these engines in regards to the serpentine belt. The issue begins primarily with an oil filter housing leak. Check to make sure there is no oil leaking from the oil filter housing first. If there is an oil leak that will need to be addressed first. You will also need to check the front crank seal as well. Reason being is when the belt fails it's possible for part of the belt to take out the front crank seal. When this happen fragments of the belt end up inside the oil sump which could potentially clog the oil pump later on. This has been documented and is a known issue that all stems from a leaking oil filter housing.

[UCB0015]

Update: 12/9/2017

So I went out to take a look at it under the hood and turns out that the main hose that connects into the engine block. I guess what ended up happening is that I was having an oil leak and changed out my oil & filter I haven't noticed it since but will keep a lookout. All my pulley's are spinning freely except the big one at the bottom which I suppose is the Crank pulley. I guess when the belt came off it took out my big coolant hose... my expansion tank seems to be perfectly fine.

PS: As a side note I remember hearing it somewhere and please tell me if I'm wrong but I heard that the tension pulley has a blue color if it was note replaced and mine seemed to have been replaced if that's the case. I took a few pictures if that helps.