How to Replace AC Belt Tensioner 2001-03 BMW 325Xi

What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the AC belt tensioner on this 2001 BMW 325 XI. If you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description. Head over to 1AAuto.com.

With the trunk, open over on the right side or the passenger side, there should be a cover that goes right here. This vehicle doesn't have one, but you're going to want to remove that cover. The battery is located right here. The first thing I'm going to do is take a 10mm socket and a ratchet and loosen up this nut for the negative terminal. That's loose. Slide off the cable. Slide it out of the way.

I'm going to take these push pins out right here. I'm just going to use some side cutters. Get the center pin, pull that up, and then slide it out. Be careful not to cut that. Get those up. Let's grab this piece, slide it out.

We're going to disconnect this connector right here. Just push down on that. Slide that out. There's another connector right here. I'm going to slide the wiring out first, just like that, then the connector will come out. Just slide that to the side like that.

I'm going to take a T25 and a ratchet and take this screw out right here. Just going to use this trim tool from 1AAuto.com to take this push clip out. Pull that out. All right, now that is loose, but what we need to do is we need to take the fan off, because the fan has to come out with the shroud as one.

What we need to do to take the fan off is we need to disconnect the fan clutch from the engine side. This is attached to one of the pulleys right there. Sometimes these are somewhat difficult to get off, so what we're going to do is use this tool. We actually sell this 1AAuto.com with many different sizes. This happens to be 32mm. That's going to slide on there and then we slide this on, and with a pneumatic air hammer, we're going to give it a couple of bumps and it's going to loosen up that nut and we should be able to get it off.

All right, so now I'm going to take the tool. Now, this fan clutch happens to be on their reverse thread, so it's going to seem like you're tightening it, but you're actually loosening it. So, we'll go like that. Put our air hammer on there. Make sure we're wear hearing protection and eye protection.

All right, so that's loose. It took a little bit of effort, but we got it. Now you can slide the tool off. Just move it a little bit. There we go. You should be able to just spin it off like that. Might need the tool once in awhile. You could use a wrench that fits, a 32mm wrench.

All right, now I'm just going to keep loosening this up. Be careful. You don't want the fan to fall. You don't want it to smash into the radiator, especially if you're going to reuse the radiator. If you're replacing it, it's not a big deal. As I get closer to the end, I'll just move the fan and just grab the blade. Here we go. Now I can slide this right up. Just like that.

I'm going to take a 16mm socket and a ratchet and I want it on tightening. I'm going to go down here and get on the tensioner right there. You could use a serpentine belt tool as well. Then I can loosen up the belt just like that. That's how it looks from underneath. With that loosened up, I can grab the belt and slide it off the crank and then slide it off the AC compressor.

Now, it's a little bit easier to get to this tensioner from underneath the vehicle. If you have an under car splash shield, you're going to want to take that off. This vehicle doesn't have one. There's different mounting bolts right there, there, and upfront, and also in the back. Take that off to access this. I'm just going to take a 16mm socket and a ratchet. Slide the tensioner in this position. I'm going to use a little pin right here. You could also use a hex key to hold this in that position. Then I can access the bolt here, which I couldn't before, but then I can access the top bolt as well.

Now I'm going to use a 13mm socket and ratchet. Loosen these up. And loosen the other one up, as well. Its kind of hard to see. It's right there. I'm just going to use an electric ratchet to take them out, make it a little quicker. Slide that one out. And slide that one out.

Here's the old part. Here's the new AC belt tensioner from 1AAuto.com. As you can see, it's machined the same as the old one. The mounting bracket has the holes in the same locations. The pin, the lock pin is in the same location. And the pulley is the same, same size. Get yours 1AAuto.com and you'd be ready to rock and roll.

We're going to take the tensioner, line it up. Take the bolts. I'm going to star the bottom bolt first because I can access a little bit easier. I got a 13mm socket and extension. Get a couple threads going on that. Then we'll take the top bolt, try to feel around for where that goes. Just wiggle the tensioner a little bit. Get a couple threads started on that one and then I will use my electric ratchet and snug them down. Now, I'll just take the 13mm socket, extension, and ratchet and just snug these up. That's good.

It's going to be a little bit easier to install the belt from underneath, so we're going to do that. Just take the belt, slide it over the AC compressor, and slide it over the pulley for the tensioner, and then over the crank pulley. Make sure these are all lined up. That's good. Just like that. Make sure those are good. Take a 16mm socket and a ratchet, just slide it into the tension, relieve the pressure. Slide this pin out. Or if you use the hex key, pull that hex key up. Double check that. It looks like everything's lined up. I'm good to go.

These have to go on together. Just slide this in position. Once you get this close, I'm going to start to tighten up the fan. Now, the fan clutch is reverse thread, so it's almost like you're going to be loosening it. There's really no easy way to do this. Just do it carefully. Once you get it started, it's a little bit easier. Make sure the fan shroud is in properly. That's good.

All right. If you have the ability to torque this nut for the fan, you're going to torque that between 22 and 29 foot pounds. I don't really have that ability, so I'm just going to put this tool on there and just give it a little tap. That should be good. Right here, there's a push pin that's going to go back in here. Slide that in position and lock it down.

On this side, we're going to put this screw right here and I'm going to use a T25 and a electric ratchet. Tighten this down. Just snug. I'll position this wiring harness right here and we'll plug the connector in right here. Lock that in place. Take this piece, slide this into the air box. Just like that. There's retainers right here. Take those push pins, lock them down.

Then we can take the negative side, connect the negative side. The same 10mm socket and ratchet. Tighten it up. That's good. At this point, if you had that cover, you're going to want to put the cover back where it goes.

Thanks for watching. If you want the parts to do it yourself, check out 1AAuto.com, the place for DIY auto repair.