Timing belt replacement for a newbie?

[Minhee108]

Just bought an e30, it's my first car, and I got it to learn how to work on cars. It's a 1986 325e with 144k miles. I don't know when it was last replaced so I wanna get it done and over with. I was wondering how difficult is it to replace a timing belt? Would it be something a newbie mechanic like me would be able to acomplish? I'm on a really tight budget and I'm trying to avoid any extra costs I can, but if someone as inexperienced as me wouldn't be able to do it, I'm willing to get it done by a pro.

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[richardodn]

Timing belt is one of the first "big" projects a newbie can do. Start by reading a few E30 timing belt DIYs to get yourself comfortable with the idea of it. Maybe someone can post a link to their favorites. Not specifically for the timing belt, but browse this thread too https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...0-Jedi-Master)

[JamieG296]

Just bought an e30, it's my first car, and I got it to learn how to work on cars. It's a 1986 325e with 144k miles. I don't know when it was last replaced so I wanna get it done and over with. I was wondering how difficult is it to replace a timing belt? Would it be something a newbie mechanic like me would be able to acomplish? I'm on a really tight budget and I'm trying to avoid any extra costs I can, but if someone as inexperienced as me wouldn't be able to do it, I'm willing to get it done by a pro.

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I just did the timing belt on my 86 325e, it wasn't too difficult at all. It takes a bit and you need to pay attention to what you're doing. I have mine back on now. I had to order a part when I was putting it back together though because someone replaced the water pump and not the timing belt so the pin was missing for the tensioner. I got that straight from my local stealership to avoid a long wait time on getting back together.

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[ChuckDizzle]

Just bought an e30, it's my first car, and I got it to learn how to work on cars. It's a 1986 325e with 144k miles. I don't know when it was last replaced so I wanna get it done and over with. I was wondering how difficult is it to replace a timing belt? Would it be something a newbie mechanic like me would be able to acomplish? I'm on a really tight budget and I'm trying to avoid any extra costs I can, but if someone as inexperienced as me wouldn't be able to do it, I'm willing to get it done by a pro.

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There are a lot of in-depth videos and other tutorials for the timing belt service. My first time I had my Bentley manual supplemented with some photos from an online DIY that I found on r3vlimited.com. Its fairly straight forward, plus you can always check your work before putting it all together so you know everything is lined up correctly.

[eseeling]

If you can rent a cam locking tool, I highly recommend that. just make sure your marks (belt to crank and belt to cam pulleys) are lined up - and hand crank it to make sure they stay that way, and you'll be good to go! But all of that is in the manuals and videos.

[Ceekers]

first off how mechanically inclined are you? newbie menhanic certainly helps. secondly, what is your confidence level. If you can anwer those two questions. Then as the rest have said..it's not that difficult but attention to detail is important. and everything mentioned above certainly helps the job go more smoothly.

[Jgilber0]

Here is a great article on how to install a new M20 timing belt. I read my Bentley manual plus many, many articles and postings; this piece was the most useful of any of it.

http://www.gress.org/Home/Cars/CarTe...llingTBelt.htm

Gress TrackTales
Installing the timing belt on a BMW E30

The only tricky part is getting the tbelt over the cam gear.

The problem is that when you turn the crank it creates a tight side and a slack side to the tbelt. The trick is to move the slack to where you need it during the install. Here's the process...

Put the cam gear on to the timing mark. Put the crank's harmonic balancer ~1/4" prior to the timing mark. The purpose of this is to get some tbelt slack on the right side of the cam gear. The crank rotates CW if you are standing in front of your car looking down at the motor. Tensioner should be slack.

The belt should already be around the crank. Using the slack you created, put a maybe 1/4" of the belt on to the right side of the cam gear. Try to get 1/4" of belt width on to as much of the gear as you can.

Now turn the crank a 1/4" or so such that you move the slack to the left side of the cam gear. Don't do this such that the cam wants to move, you are just transferring slack from the right side to the left side of the cam gear.

Now that you have some slack on the left side of the cam gear, you should be able to continue with that 1/4" of belt thickness the rest of the way around the cam gear.

Now turn the crank backwards just a little to move the tbelt slack back to the right side. You can probably slip the rest of the belt on to the right side of the cam.

Turn the crank forwards a little such that the slack moves to the left side of the cam again. Put the belt entirely on.

Turn the crank backwards a little and transfer the slack to the right side. If you're timing marks aren't right, take the belt off and change the starting position of crank.

Tighten the tensioner to remove the slack on the right side.