I have a 97 318i, this weekend I was replacing the water pump and thermostat but turned into a bit of a fiasco when I stripped the torx T50 on the serpentine belt tensioner. I never claimed to be a BMW engineer, but this just seems like a horrible design destined for failure. Why it's not a hex cap screw is beyond my comprehension. I ended up using a big screw driver on the outside of the pulley to leverage it down enough to get the grenade pin in so I could get the old belt back on. (new belt was damaged when the torx threads let go). Did I miss something, or is this flimsy torx screw the only way to release tension on the belt? In order to fix this properly, will I need to replace the whole belt tensioner assembly? TIA.
I found this picture in reference to one of the 6 pot lumps, but could not find an alternate method for the m44.
