Hi all,

I have an 06 R52 with 43K on the clock. Serpentine belt has never been changed & appears to be in good shape. Given that it's 10 years old, should I go ahead and change it as a preventative thing? Anything else to consider? I would assume that tensioner wear would be mileage based & not age.

Thanks!

Steve

 

Change it...
It takes about 15 minutes....if you can change a tire, you can change the belt...simplest way is to take the passangerside tire off, pop the liner plugs out, move the liner, then compress the tensioner...take off the old one, put on the new one, and you are done....ok...maybe 30 minutes the first time.
Wait too long...the belt fails or jumps, and the tensioner hits the crank damper....and your $22 belt change becomes. $600-900 tow.

 

+1
I swap belts at 30 to 35K.

 

Thanks guys. I was leaning that way. Will place the order for the belt & tensioner tool tonight.

 

Had the dealer do our Countryman at 40k, cost about $100. Not worth the back pain to do it myself.

 

If you see signs of cracking, replace it. $15.99.

http://new.minimania.com/part/NME765...e-Line-R50-R52

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

Piggy-backing on this.

What are signs that your belt tensioner is actually going? I have an 04 and I am doing my pulley next weekend. I have a new belt as it needs to be shorter anyway, but the car only has 50k miles on it. I'd rather not do the tensioner if I don't have to.

What can I look for to see if it's necessary?

Thanks

 

If your belt is slipping.

http://new.minimania.com/part/NME120...-Mini-Cooper-S

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

The belt tends to slip...and sometimes jump ....
If you see excessive movement of it...the damper on it might be gone..

 

Thanks all!

 

Just to follow up: I replaced my belt today. Not hard at all - took under an hour. As it turns out my old belt was in pretty good shape with only very (very) minor cracks. I'm guessing it could have gone quite a bit longer. But it's hard to get a really good look at the belt unless you take everything apart, and by that point one might as well change it. Cheap peace of mind...

 

Congrats! Yes, great peace of mind.

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.