Water Pump V-belt Tensioner

[NevadaMike]

1991 850i, 155K mi. I'm rebuilding my cooling system (Water Pump, Radiator, Hoses, Belts, Tensioners, etc.) and have run into a problem. When I disassembled the system, the RHS tensioer for the Water Pump. A/C Compressor belt, did not have an adjustment lever (P/N 11281715617) installed. The bottom of the tenisoner was just connected directly to a stud (upside-down, by the way). The Hydraulic pump, alternator RHS tensioner does have the lever. (P/N 11281715621). I thought that was strange when I disassembled the engine.

I'm having a heck of a time getting the v-belt for the Water Pump and AC compressor installed. I've checked several different sources and all of them show the tensioner lever. My question is: should there be a lever there?

I had all the belts and hoses changed 100K miles (and 20 years) ago. Thought it was about time. All the old parts were still serviceable, hoses flexible, no leaks, belts cracked but not frayed. Bearings shot in the tensioner rollers. Did the hack mechanic at the (now defunct) Dealer mess up and lose the tensioner? It's only a $15 part but appears to be on backorder all the places I checked.

Any help will be appreciated.

[JDP530]

The 850 is new to me and I changed belts, adjusting pulleys, belt tensioners, and belts recently. If mechanic removed lever and used just the pulley then a different belt may have been used. I would buy the adjusting pulleys, tensioners, and purchase the correct lever needed. Be sure to buy the correct length belts. I also changed the damaged crank sensors while I had the belts and pulleys off the car because the lower crank sensor is located sort of behind the pulley assembly.

Wuffer may have the tensioner you need.

Chris at www.scorebmwparts.com in S. CA., has been a great help to me for oem mfr parts I haven't found anywhere else. Their price on lever is $11.87 and if he doesn't have it in stock he will bring it in from Germany and it usually takes about 10-14 days for most of the items I have ordered with him.

[NevadaMike]

Thanks, guys. You've answered my question. There is supposed to a lever in that assembly. The part is on order and will take 2 weeks to arrive from Germany (hopefully). And, yes, I do have the correct length belt. and new tensioner assemblies, new tensioners, hoses, etc. I even compressed and released the tensioners a couple of times in a vise and left them sitting in correct vertical position (rubber bellows up) as noted. I also did replace the pulse generators while I was in there (moving the hydraulic pump was a PITA). The new pulse generators are a bit smaller and slipped in easily - getting the old bottom one out was a bear).

Thanks for the picture. I've annotated the missing part and how it was installed in this pic:

DSC01848.jpg

I have no idea how the "Factory Trained Tech" (hack) installed that belt and tensioner incorrectly back 20 years ago, but it did last 100K miles.