Dinan Supercharger owners...

[J.Belknap]

Have you ever tossed a belt?

The previous owner must have had the tensioner installed wrong, or it is tweaked. It wants to make the belt ride off of the supercharger pulley.

I plan to:

- do a lazer alignment of supercharger, tensioner, and crank pulleys
- put torsional force on the tensioner arm to cause the pulley to be level (if it is not).
- start shimming things as a last resort.

Currently, the belt is off and I am driving with low engine load and low engine speed. (To prevent fuel dump.)

Momentum BMW in Houston, TX has done all prior Dinan work.

Meh... first week of ownership pains. Once I get this sorted, it's game on.

[993turbo]

ohhh dear. Keep us posted.

[J.Belknap]

So yeah, one of the BMW "techs" in texas put too much torsional force on the tensioner arm. With an unlevel tensioner pulley, the belt will want to ride right off.

sigh...

The arm looks to have enough material to twist it back a few degrees, but I am concerned about metal fatigue. Anyhow James at Dinan said to go for it.

Here goes...

[J.Belknap]

Oh... and holy crap @ the 41 page installation manual. That kit is no joke. Not hard stuff, but time consuming for sure.

[mye53]

Hi, does it have the hidden front and rear laser detectors? Was this listed on Ebay just awhile ago? If so, I checked it out about eight months ago, was at a car dealer lot that sold mostly trucks. Just curious.

[J.Belknap]

Yes, it is the same.

Any words of warning or wisdom?

Well.... too late now... already jumped into the deep end of the pool. Time to swim.

[01blacks4]

the manual is a joke....its just a close look at what needs done...
i just sold my blue s3 4.6 on ebay...CHEAP good dude picked it up though

can you get a new tensioner from dinan?
i wouldnt drive it at all, its gonna be hell on the cats....

[J.Belknap]

Driving under low load/low RPM will not hurt anything with the supercharger offline. At MOST, the oil should be changed asap (possible fuel washdown past piston rings.)

So... here's what it looks like when a Dinan tensioner fails:

Note the uneven space between the rotating arm and the clockspring part of the tensioner.





When the clockspring becomes worn with age, the tensioner gets loose in the fore to aft direction. This motion under load, compounded by the fact that the pulley is rounded (why did you use a rounded pully Dinan?!?) allows for the belt to fall off the front part of the tensioner. When that happens, it's a crapshoot to estimate what else will be damaged by the flying belt.

It's time to either:

A. Put the pulley on a lathe, and make it flat (for future use with the new tensioner.)
B. Source the pulley manufacturer, and fit a comparable one that has lips on the edges. (Like other S/C kits for domestic musclecars.)

For now, I have a new Dinan tensioner/pulley assembly on the X5, (Dinan part # D315-0315) and she's back to full power.

Hoping this helps someone else,

- an X5 noob

[993turbo]

Glad u got it sorted

[J.Belknap]

Thanks man, BMW does make a great product... very happy owner so far.