M20 2.5 Timing Belt Change Parts List

[JimmySmith]

The first thing for me to do on my newly purchased 325i Touring is the timing belt as I have no evidence of when it was last done. From reading through some old posts, I have decided to take on the job myself to save some cash and also learn a bit about the engine.

I've just been to BMW to get a quote on parts and this is what they came up with:





In order they are:

Water pump (including a surcharge and rebait in exchange for my old unit)
Thermostat
Thermostat O-ring
Cam sealing ring
Cam O-ring
Coolant drain plug sealing ring
Timing belt
Tensioner
Alternator belt
Power steering belt


My question is whether or not there is an alternative supplier of some of these parts who can offer the same or similar quality at a discounted price? In particular the water pump, thermostat and tensioner. Please forgive my ignorance as I'm new to the BMW scene , oh and I'm based in Oxford if that matters.

James.

[stonesie]

GSF or Euro car parts will both do a good deal on all those parts, make sure you get a water pump with a metal impeller and if there's a choice of cam belt then get the better one.. (a cam belt kit is belt and tensioner in one box)


www.gsfcarparts.com

www.eurocarparts.com

If you order on-line from ECP and the total is over £50 you get free delivery

[tomcat2040]

yeah i have used GSF in the past and their parts are pretty good for the price.

I'm about to attempt the same stuff on my 325ix so we can swap notes

Like previously mentioned, gonna do everything on the front end of the engine at once, all auxillery belts, water pump, timing belt/tensioner etc.
You got a haynes?

[JimmySmith]

GSF or Euro car parts will both do a good deal on all those parts, make sure you get a water pump with a metal impeller and if there's a choice of cam belt then get the better one.. (a cam belt kit is belt and tensioner in one box)


www.gsfcarparts.com

www.eurocarparts.com

If you order on-line from ECP and the total is over £50 you get free delivery

Thank you very much, exactly what I was looking for. So the general consensus is that these parts are pretty much as good as the OEM BMW parts?

[JimmySmith]

yeah i have used GSF in the past and their parts are pretty good for the price.

I'm about to attempt the same stuff on my 325ix so we can swap notes

Like previously mentioned, gonna do everything on the front end of the engine at once, all auxillery belts, water pump, timing belt/tensioner etc.
You got a haynes?

The Haynes is in the post, bit disappointed that it's a mix between the 3 and 5 series of that era but will have to see how useful it is.

That's right, might as well do it all at once. Going through the process of sourcing all the parts, then will get to it! Good luck with yours

[HJG-E30]

When i replaced my cambelt:

Thermostat: £9 GSF
Cam Belt: £17 BMW
Tensioner: £25 GSF
Waterpump: £30 GSF

Car runs perfect. Don't get ripped off at BMW

[capri_rob]

Dealer parts are useful for some stuff but not all of it.

As mentioned in your other thread the Contitech belts sold by ECP are identical to those sold by BMW - get the kit which will include the tensioner.

GSF are OK for water pumps ( about £35 for the best quality one they do )

PAS and alternator belts you can get from anywhere

Might be worth getting the thermostat from BMW as cheap ones can be crap - but if your car doesn't overheat, gets up to temp OK and the heater works you can probably leave the thermostat alone.
Its only worth replacing the water pump as you'll have the front of the engine in bits anyway for the timing belt so its easy to get at.

Useful to check on here first before ordering anything from ECP or GSF - if they do a choice of what looks like the same thing ( water pumps for example ) you're best off buying the most expensive as the cheap stuff can be rubbish.

For things like bushes and balljoints either you can use ECP or GSF as long as you specify that they must be Lemforder or Febi Bilstein branded - as anything else they sell won't last 5 minutes. Other bushes that can't be got from there try Costwold in the genuine parts section of the zone - you will get a 10% discount if you mention the zone when you ring up.

[Supafly]

When I did mine I also changed the dizzy and rotor arm....
I was shocked at the price though, but it's one less thing to worry about

Also check the rubber pipes and the metal pipe that goes across the front of the timing belt. Everything isn't too expensive on its own but it will definately add up to a big bill... I think it's worth it for the peace of mind and not having to strip it all down again when something fails in that area

[JimmySmith]

Some very informative information, it's helped me no end.


I'm likely to go for the ECP KWP Water pump:

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/BMW_3 ... 317d8&WATP

- The impeller does look plastic in the picture though?


and also their Timing Belt Kit:

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/BMW_3 ... 206d3&TBLK

- Not sure if it comes with the spring and pin, I think the best thing for me is to do is phone up and inquire.


Other than that I may source the rest of the parts from BMW. Another thing I've thought of is what coolant do people tend use, is the Halfords stuff fine or is it worth going for the official BMW stuff?


Cheers, James.

[stonesie]

Spring and pin are not needed, the old ones will be fine

[mrcool]

KWP water pump from ECP is as good as OEM BMW. For rotor arm and dizzy cap they also stock BREMI which again is OEM.

They sent me intermotor but I promptly told them to collect it and send me bremi - which they did.

I got all my bits for doing the timing belt from ECP (contitech kit) apart from the thermostat and camshaft seal.

Oh and my water pump was metal and came with a gasket.

I never replaced the water hoses because of the cost of them, but when I refitted them 21 years got the better of one and it had a pin hole leak. So if your not going to replace them be carefull to inspect them before and after the job

[mrcool]

Also watch the water pump gasket looks liek it can go on more than one way round, but only one is correct, and it will leak if its not seated nicely in the correct postion. Don't as how I know this

[aeberbach]

I've just done the disassembly, the really hard bit was the fan. You need a 32mm flat spanner which I did not have, ended up cutting a 32mm slot in a pine plank and then planing it down until it was thin enough to fit the space - 11pm at night when I realised I was missing the tool. Lucky the plank did not split as I expected it would. The books are unclear about this but it's not too hard if you wedge a very large flat screwdriver between two of the four bolts on the pulley to hold it still, the fan bolt unscrews from the pulley rather than from the fan clutch.

[tomcat2040]

I've just done the disassembly, the really hard bit was the fan. You need a 32mm flat spanner which I did not have, ended up cutting a 32mm slot in a pine plank and then planing it down until it was thin enough to fit the space - 11pm at night when I realised I was missing the tool. Lucky the plank did not split as I expected it would. The books are unclear about this but it's not too hard if you wedge a very large flat screwdriver between two of the four bolts on the pulley to hold it still, the fan bolt unscrews from the pulley rather than from the fan clutch.

This was the difficult part for me when swapped a 325 motor into a 320i and wanted the fan from the 320. Ended up welding a piece of threaded steel onto the pulley bolts and bracing it against the floor. Luckily the 320 motor was a dog and it went in the bin anyway Won't be doing that this time, so ill get myself a 32mm spanner!

[HJG-E30]

32mm spanner is only about a tenner in halfords! And if you don't mark it at all, you can just return it if you don't want to keep it !

[JimmySmith]

Well, I finally collected all the parts together and had a go at it this weekend .

In the end I used Motormec for the timing belt, tensioner and water pump, and then got the Cam seal + O-ring, Power-steering Belt and Alternator Belt from BMW.


Here's how it went:


- On removal of the rotor and cap, it became clear that they needed replacing sharpish! I shall get some pictures up soon to show just how much. Halfords came up trumps for these on a Sunday morning, plus they were very reasonable at trade prices.


- My first difficulty came when trying to remove the old cam seal from the metal retainer. In the end I popped the assembly into the oven at 200 odd degrees for 5-10 minutes and hammered it out with a screwdriver, works pretty well - just remember to use oven gloves!


- To get the new seal back in, I heated the metal retainer back up in the oven and put the new seal in the freezer, after a short amount of time, they slipped together easily using a block of wood and hammer.


- When reassembling, we forgot the lifting eye bracket located between the head and upper cam cover and so managed to overtighten and shear the head off of the bolt. At this point I ran out of time, so left it until today to investigate how to go about extracting the remaining bolt. After a lot of drilling and the failed use of a reverse thread extractor, a new hole was tapped for an m10 bolt. It has worked fairly well and the distributor is now as secure as it ever was (which was my main concern), I shall just make a note as not to lift the engine by this bracket in the future as a precautionary measure.


Here are a couple of pictures showing nothing in particular:








Aside from this I didn't really have any other major issues, although it did help having 3 of us to maneuver the new belt on . Everything lined up agin after 2 complete turns and it started on again on the button with no leaks so far, job done!

[JimmySmith]

Oh, and I bought the 32mm viscous fan spanner from Halfords. Very useful!

[JimmySmith]

Here are a couple of pictures of the distributor cap and rotor, they definately needed doing

[kman82]

I'm currently doing my cam belt change too so very interesting to read your update. I'm a bit lost what the cam seal and O ring is for though, could you explain?

[JimmySmith]

I'm currently doing my cam belt change too so very interesting to read your update. I'm a bit lost what the cam seal and O ring is for though, could you explain?

You don't actually have to take the cam off of the camshaft to change the timing belt but it's one of those things that's probably worthwhile doing while you're there. If you look at the second photo above, where my friend happens to be pointing, you will see the cam removed and a shiney area with 2 bolt holes where the seal 'bracket' normally sits - it was removed at this point. There is the main seal and an o-ring on it to replace; part numbers B11.12.1.285.609 and B11.12.1.265.087 I believe. RealOEM.com wasn't working at the time of this post but a diagram is on there.

My original cam oil seal seemed pretty fine in the end, it looks like the oil down the side of the head and block actually comes from the cam cover or 'd shaped' rubbers, which i'll have to replace in the future.