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Hey guys,
Broke my belt shifting from 2nd to 3rd last night. Luckily I was just around the corner from home, so I managed to get it there before it got too hot.
I already ordered a new belt. Is there something I should check, like maybe something that may have been damaged, or can I just put the new belt on and see how it runs?
I'm guessing you still have your old belt? Take a look and see what might have caused the failure(if there are cracks and wearing down that might have caused it to break). I would also do a once over to make sure nothing was damaged from the whiplash of your belt snapping.
It seems to be relatively OK (The Belt) except it looks as if maybe it had some wear on the outside edge. I Have 51000 miles and have had the car since 36000, so I am thinking maybe it was just ready to be changed...
IF something is damaged, What could be damaged? Could it be as bad as the whole supercharger, or not THAT bad?
You need to take a close look at the other pulleys for any damage or debris.
The tensioner can actually slam down on the crank pulley and damage it and I have seen where some debris got caught up in the alt pulley and ended up cutting a belt.
Now would be a good time to install a tensioner stop from Minspeed.com or Alta.
The code should reset it self once the car is back to running properly.
This must be the season for broken belts. After checking the condition of the other pulleys, consider this, this or this in order to avoid ~$1000 bill for this!
So I found that my A/C compressor somehow was loose! none of the bolts were in its housing and it was sitting freely in the undercarrage!
This MUST have caused my belt to break.
My car went out of Warrantee last month, but they JUST did the 50,000 mile service and checkup. So I got it towed them and hopefully they will look at it and cover the damage.
My 1 question is that I have a 15% pulley on it. Could they just not honor the warrantee b/c of that or do they still have some kind of liability?
Depends on the dealership.
MINI of Nashville, where I went for warranty work, is very mod friendly but others are not. Some depends on what kind of damage. If it is just mounting the compressor and putting on a new belt you could be in luck. If there is major damage they sometimes start looking for reasons not to cover.
Good luck and get your sweet talking in shape.
There's no way the a/c was loosened to install the pulley, and the dealer should cover the repair unless someone was truly monkeying around in there.
Poppa Bear's dead on: BE SURE TO INSPECT YOUR PULLEYS CAREFULLY! It's easy, as mentioned above, for the tensioner pulley to slam into the crank pulley. The slightest damage will take tiny chunks out of your serpentine belt. Your engine rotates an average of 2500-3000 times per minute. How many thousands of little chunks does it take to destroy a belt? Not many. I've installed several of the retainer cables from Detroit Tuned. They're easy to install (once you've removed the PS wheel and inner fender liner) and a cheap insurance policy.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out!
__________________
Official 2011 PittStopMINI SOB (Secretary Of the Board), 2009-2010 president http://pittstopmini.org
"I can do my own oil changes, change a tire, and can put together Ikea furniture. Should I try this on my own?"
