Quick question about belts

Andy Comerford

Andy Comerford

Dedicated Member
British Zeds
Joined
Oct 29, 2015
Points
29
Location
Birmingham
Model of Z
Z3
So ive been looking at some servicing bits to do recently to get my 1.9 in to a little better health, one thing i was looking at was belts. Far as i can see on diagrams before i delve under the bonnet is there are two on Z3's. One called the Serpentine belt, running the water pump, alternator, power steering pump and crank (along with the tensioners/idler of course) and one separate smaller one for the air con pump.

Im not sure how long ago, if at all, my serpentine belt was changed so for a few quid thought i may as well put a new one on there. My question is, if i wanted to, could i simply remove the smaller belt and AC pump itself from the engine without any further work or it disturbing the rest of the setup? Im not really bothered about air con and seen as its a separate belt i would have thought they could both be removed as easy as that? Far as i see it, its around 6kg's off the engine and some extra stress off the crank for something i dont really want/need.

Thought id ask the question to be sure firstly, I did this AC pump delete on my mx5's a bunch of times but these engines are seeming to be a little different to the Jap ones im used to working on!

Cheers in advance guys.
 
If you are going to remove the complete system I'd be interested in the complete unit preferably or parts as we do get some damn hot days here and Trinity had quite a sunburn this summer from top down driving. PM me if interested! JIM
 
No reason you can't remove the aircon pump but the system will have to be drained correctly first and shouldn't just be vented to atmosphere, nasty stuff in there. Just removing the belt is fine.
Depends on the condition of the belt, if it looks fairly new but the tensioner could also fail soon after, they usually start to grumble away first.
I would think the engines are very similar just things are in a different place.
 
In a lot of shops they sell them as a set.... that is for a reason.
You can do only the belt, ...but you might need to redo the work soon (for then replacing the tensioner...and maybe again a belt).
If the tensioner starts to fail, the belt will slip...destroying your belt in one go.

Regards, Koen
 
The tensioner is likely to be the original so it's done it's share. When I did my aux belt earlier this year I changed the tensioner as well. It's best practice really!

Tony.
 
Ok well I've seen tensioners for like £20 odd quid so I will do the both when I do them then.

I'll be taking the belt and ac unit off completely then seen as its what I first was thinking so @oldcarman ill give you a shout when I do so, may not be this side of Christmas yet but I will let you know either way!
 
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