Kansas City MINI Enthusiasts

The wife was driving to work Tuesday and the MINI went into limp mode. She managed to get it back home. I pulled the code and it was a P1688, which most forums indicated was a separated Harmonic Balance pulley. I dug around and found a loose hose near the Bypass Control valve, so I was happy, figuring that was the issue and cleared the code. When I started it back up, I was not happy with the loud whirring noise I was hearing. It sounded like the Supercharger, but given the number of people who experienced the pulley failure at 86K miles (we just rolled over 86 K) I was still hoping it was the pulley.

Having too many projects going on right now, I took it Luna to George's for diagnosis. Brad called this morning with the bad news that the Super Charger was indeed bad. Baron wants $1800 for a replacement and not available until October. Looking around I see prices from $950 - 1400 for on line remans.

Anyone have experience with a failed SC? Where did you go for the replacement.

Ugh

imabyter wrote:The wife was driving to work Tuesday and the MINI went into limp mode. She managed to get it back home. I pulled the code and it was a P1688, which most forums indicated was a separated Harmonic Balance pulley. I dug around and found a loose hose near the Bypass Control valve, so I was happy, figuring that was the issue and cleared the code. When I started it back up, I was not happy with the loud whirring noise I was hearing. It sounded like the Supercharger, but given the number of people who experienced the pulley failure at 86K miles (we just rolled over 86 K) I was still hoping it was the pulley.

Having too many projects going on right now, I took it Luna to George's for diagnosis. Brad called this morning with the bad news that the Super Charger was indeed bad. Baron wants $1800 for a replacement and not available until October. Looking around I see prices from $950 - 1400 for on line remans.

Anyone have experience with a failed SC? Where did you go for the replacement.

Ugh

Yikes. My harmonic balancer went out at around 75,000 miles. I'm closing in on 83,000 miles now. I will be watching my supercharger like a hawk now

So, if one car does it you think they all will, or at least yours will?

So what about those members here who have 150K to 200K plus on theirs with no issues?

What exactly will you be watching like a hawk?

I think you worry about stuff like this way too much......relax, drive your car and enjoy it!

Minidave wrote:So, if one car does it you think they all will, or at least yours will?

So what about those members here who have 150K to 200K plus on theirs with no issues?

What exactly will you be watching like a hawk?

I think you worry about stuff like this way too much......relax, drive your car and enjoy it!

I will be driving Oliver until I get the new car which may be in the next few months. Looking for a Clubman or just a newer Hardtop. In mean time, I pulled my Rota's from the market to use on the new car.

Upon Disassembly, they found that the Way Motors SC Pulley was loose, which was likely the source of the noises, but since it is all apart, they are sending the SC out for refurb anyhow. While everything is apart I'm also going to get the Water Pump, Thermostat, Harmonic balancer and CPS O-ring replaced. Seems silly not to have these done while they are easy to get to.

Anything else I should have replaced/checked?

I think you've got it....

Me - I'd just put new oil in the S-charger and put it all back together - with the new water pump and thermostat of course. The only thing that will damage a supercharger is running out of oil - not mileage. Those things are designed to run a LONG time - as long as there's oil to the bearings, it's good to go.

If you haven't changed the crank sensor o-ring, now's the time to do it while it's right there in the open.

Also take a good look at your idler pulley, tensioner and crank pulley - if the crank pulley rubber is cracked or damaged at all, it's time to replace it with one of the aftermarket ones.

Zackattack28 wrote: I will be driving Oliver until I get the new car which may be in the next few months. Looking for a Clubman or just a newer Hardtop. In mean time, I pulled my Rota's from the market to use on the new car.

Want to buy mine? Seriously. I'm looking into some 4WD

Clubby Clutch wrote:

Zackattack28 wrote: I will be driving Oliver until I get the new car which may be in the next few months. Looking for a Clubman or just a newer Hardtop. In mean time, I pulled my Rota's from the market to use on the new car.

Want to buy mine? Seriously. I'm looking into some 4WD

No funds bud to purchase a new car. Oliver is running in tip top shape right now. Still gotta get the gasket leak fixed but otherwise running like a Swiss watch for an 8 year old British/German car. I think the smartest thing I have done lately is not sell this car and in process of purchasing tires for the smaller Rotas I bought from tommy. I fixed my black rota wheel and it looks great so those will be on the market once the 16" ones are mounted up.

Well, many $$$ later Luna is back home in the garage.

Warning to those who may have installed the WMW Supercharger pulley, You might consider some preventative maintenance.

My pulley came loose, and was likely spinning on the shaft for some time before it got bad enough to start throwing codes. Tore up both the pulley and the snout shaft of the SC, so both were unusable.

SC rebuilt with new 15% Pulley = $1100
Labor = $800
Misc parts I had replaced while this was all apart = more $$

I could have saved a lot of the labor by disassembling myself, but the SC rebuild took almost 3 weeks to get back from the vendor, so one of my bays would have been eaten up for that long, and SWMBO would not have been pleased at having the RX7 sitting out in the elements that long.

For some reason, I wanted to go back in after we installed my pulley at a garage day and re tighten the alan screws that clamp the pulley to the shaft, but I never did. It has been at least 2 years I think since we did the install, and I never did go back in, so maybe it was just me, but I thought worth sharing with the group.

Have a rebuilt Eaton done by AutoXCooper. I know Dustin. He does great work, and knows MINIs. They machine new parts as needed depending on bad your supercharger is blown. Outstanding quality! Through him I learned about Sprintex superchargers, and if I ever need another supercharger, I'm going Sprintex via Dustin.

WildThang wrote:Have a rebuilt Eaton done by AutoXCooper. I know Dustin. He does great work, and knows MINIs. They machine new parts as needed depending on bad your supercharger is blown. Outstanding quality! Through him I learned about Sprintex superchargers, and if I ever need another supercharger, I'm going Sprintex via Dustin.

Pretty sure that is who rebuilt mine. Took over two weeks to turn it around, but I suppose that is just luck of the draw as to how busy they were at the time.

So far no complaints.