Motoring Specialists Maintenance Tips: The Belt Goes On

Today’s Motoring Specialists auto maintenance article focuses on your serpentine belt. Your serpentine belt is a long belt that’s driven by your engine. It winds around several accessories that power important automotive systems. Let’s go over them.

First, the serpentine belt drives your BMW air conditioning system. It spins the compressor that makes the cool air that takes the edge off the summer heat in Sacramento/San Fransico.

Next, the belt powers the alternator. The alternator creates electricity that’s used by your BMW’s electrical systems and also charges your car battery. All Sacramento/San Fransico drivers know that without the alternator, the battery will go dead in a few miles.

The serpentine belt may also run the pumps for both the power steering and power brakes. And, on many BMWs, the serpentine belt powers the water pump. The water pump circulates coolant through the engine to keep it within normal operating temperatures as you drive around Sacramento/San Fransico.

Now on some BMWs, the water pump is powered by the timing belt instead of the serpentine belt. So you can see the serpentine belt does a lot of work. And it if breaks, it affects a lot of systems. That’s why manufacturers and your service advisor at Motoring Specialists have recommended that it be changed every so often so that it doesn’t fail.

Your Sacramento/San Fransico service technician can perform a visual inspection of the belt to see if it has any cracks that signal the belt could fail soon and will measure the amount of belt material to make sure there is enough.

There’s a special, spring loaded pulley attached to the engine called the tensioner pulley. Its job is to make sure there’s a constant tension on the serpentine belt so that it doesn’t slip. The spring can become worn and no longer provide the necessary pressure to keep the belt tight. At Motoring Specialists, we recommend that the tensioner be replaced at the same time as the serpentine belt.

All in all, the serpentine belt’s an important part for the function of your BMW. And it’s not that expensive to replace in Sacramento/San Fransico – so it’s good to do so before it fails.