I have an AA underdive pulley on my '08 E90 M3 that I installed a few months ago. Last month, out of the blue, the company I bought the pulley from randomly sent me a new belt in the mail with an invoice from AA saying something along the lines of "customer purchased AA pulley in February, please replace belt ASAP".
Well, I didn't do it ASAP, and drove the car down to Irvine (from the bay area). And me being the lucky guy that I am, we get about to Orange County line when we realize the AC doesn't seem to be working... Nor does power steering. I'm still waiting for the car to cool down but I looked already and can see it snapped.
Turns out the old belt snapped.
Turns out I'm a frickin' idiot and didn't bring the replacement belt AA sent me down with me.
So now I'm stuck with a car that runs but only barely (trust me, you need the power steering) and no belt to replace it immediately. The replacement they sent me is at home and I can get my roommate to overnight it to me to arrive on Saturday, but the preference would be to buy it locally if I can. SO my questions are:
1) Does anyone know the feasibility of just buying a new belt from AutoZone or whatever? I don't know the length (although I can measure the current one) or if it's just something I could go to a parts store and buy.
2) Is there any chance at all I can bring it a dealership, hat in hand (so to speak) and ask them to replace it, so long as I'm willing to pay for it? Would they be able to get a replacement belt (recognizing it's not stock)?
3) Corollary: Does anyone has a shop in the Irvine/Laguna Beach/OC area they could recommend that might be able to get me in on short notice on Friday (assuming I can get a replacement belt tomorrow) or Saturday? I can do the belt myself probably but it'll take half the day to do it, and it'd be in the parking lot of an apartment complex... Ugh.
Man do I feel stupid. Word to the wise: If someone sends you a belt and tells you to replace it ASAP... Replace it ASAP.