All bad things come in 3's Part One

June 27th. 7:30pm is Dragon Boat night, was about to hop onto the 401 from Thickson when all of a sudden my engine shudders, goes into "limp mode" and engine light goes on.

Ouch this is BAD! I turn on a side street, park and shut off the car.  I do a restart and listen to the engine.  Idle was very rough, time to head back home.  

I took small side streets as the car would not run past 50km per hour and acceleration was boggy.  In my garage, I pop the bonnet and check the belt tensioner.  It was bouncing like a pogo stick. 

 A scan of the engine code using EML 327 OBD2 scanner was next.

  

$5 Later I had the Torque app loaded on my Tablet.  Misfire Cyl#3.

A bouncing belt tensioner meant that the Stabilus damper on the tensioner was dead.
I also checked the crank pulley Harmonic Balancer (expensive part) but it was fine no wobbling or burnt rubber smell! :)

Off to Amazon to order a Belt Tensioner ($72 vs. $200?+ from the dealer) and a new Gates Belt K060532 since it was cheap $14.

You have to order the entire tensioner assembly $$

Old Stabilus damper. No BMW doesn't sell it as a part.