Stranded
 

Damn thing just broke its serpentine belt. My daughter was driving it and managed to pull into a parking lot. I'm waiting for AAA right now.

Mileage/age?

Happened to me on my 08 3.0 last March. Had 104k miles. Shop had to replace the belt, coolant lines, and other wires cut by the belt. The motor is tough! The repair was costly though. Good luck with your car!

Hmmm... been awhile for mine. I had better get it checked.

No obvious damage reported by the shop, no seized PS pumps or anything like that, but they need to put the new belt on and run it to see what happens. 90k 09 3.0i. BTW, my daughter hit the start button at fairly low speed about a week ago. Don't know if that's related or not.

Don't they use a chain and not belts? That's what I had read but I saw plenty of belts under the hood.

Nah, can't imagine that would do it.

(Timing BELT/CHAIN is totally different than the serpentine belt driving AC compressor. PS pump, alt, etc, etc)

Which engine? Better have them check the harmonic balancer, it seems to be a kind of common item.

09 3.0L - check the tensioner - belt may have walked off.

New IMA tensioner and idler at the beginning of Feb., 4,000 miles ago. They said it may have no been on right since there were wear marks on the edge of the pulley. I remember checking by sight and feel if it was on correctly, and it seemed to run true after the tensioner install. Well, I have screwed up before, so they may be right. The belt did get oil and coolant on it when I did the oil filter adapter gaskets and I cleaned it up with alcohol. Maybe that did it in.

They suggested checking the water pump since there were pieces of belt everywhere. I told them go ahead, better to be on the safe side since my daughter is the primary driver.

And yes, 3.0L.

Well, crap, I need a new cooling fan. The belt wrapped around it and got into the insides. Any idea where I can get a good quality replacement?

BMW

The belts runs the PS pump and water pump, and AC compressor on the 35d. Why would you guys wait for the belt to go before changing that. You should be changing out the belts when you do the thermostat and water pump. You are planning on changing those before they leave you stranded right?

Does no one do preventative maintenance anymore?

Doesn't your car have an electric water pump? Not drive by the belt?

They just shopping for stuff to sell you or what??

Electric water pump, it is a 3 liter gas engine.