My car shut down sat morning, help please

[St Lunatic]

Morning guys

On my way out early sat morning I noticed that my battery light came on and the car started overheating, I also lost all power steering and braking.

1st thing that came to mind was my alternator must be gone. But why would the car overheat?

I spoke to a mate of mine who has a E46 M and he says it’s the fan belt. As the fan belt links to a few pulls like Alternator, Fan and water pump. Is this true?

And if so how much am I looking at for a new fan belt? And can I change it myself?

Thanks
STL

 

[freerider]

Get it checked out, it could be the belt, alternator or battery that has died. The most likely cause of the overheating, is that low voltage on our cars causes all sorts of weird and wonderful things to happen, and your temp sensors use resistance for values, hence low voltage will give you weird readings.

 

[St Lunatic]

ahhhh ok now that mates sense!

Taking the car to the mach at lunch

 

[freerider]

Low voltage on our cars can also affect performance quite badly.

 

[St Lunatic]

hmmmm

How much do you think a fan belt is on my BM

---

BTW its a 2000 330i

 

[freerider]

I would look at the battery first, as belts should be checked at services. Have you inspected teh belt visually? If its stuffed, you will either see pieces missing out the side, or it will look perished and cracked on the inside.

But if I was a gambling man :mmm: I would put my money on a dead cell in the battery.

Quick edit to add: dont ever skimp and replace the battery with a smaller one to save bucks, it WILL cause problems

 

[St Lunatic]

Hmmmm well then i would put cash on your bet lol

 

[BimmerMan]

If you lost steering and braking at the same time, it is most probably the serpatine belt that runs everything on the front of the engine. Can you still see it there or has it come off completely? It could be that the "teeth" of the belt has stripped and there is no friction anymore...

Batteries dont usually cause loss of braking and steering unless the engine has stalled due to a battery issue...

 

[St Lunatic]

Hey Freerider, spoke to the mach and he says its the alternator belt. They busy changing it now and i will let you know if all is fixed!

STL