I got into Lilith a couple of days ago, fired her fine @$$ up. When I tried to take off, she seemed weak, like there was a lack of power. I would rev a little, and it seemed like the CAI wasn't sucking in any air, and the clutch take off seemed weak. So, I got out and looked the car over. Everything seemed fine. I went on ahead and left and then it seemed to get it's power back. I shifted from 1st to 2nd and there seemed to be a minor loss of power or small slip. After this episode, it seems fine.

Now, when I stop and shutoff my engine, I can smell what appears to be a burning clutch smell. The car drives fine, and 2nd and 3rd gears really pull strong. The smell is really hard to describe. It's very prominent. You know it's there, but it doesn't smell all like clutch. It smells kind of electrical or like a burnt smell also. Like I said, it's really hard to describe. I'm not rough on the car. I have to drive a good distance tomorrow, and I'll post the results of how she drives, and maybe a better description of the smell. Could it be the 15% SC pulley and 2% oversized crank pulley I had installed at MOTD? I hope I'm not having clutch problems.

 

burnt smell: Mabye belt slipping. If belt is slipping its not turning the SC wich i imagine would be a big ol blockage in the intake of a NA car kinda feeling. if you look at the tensioner spring above it is a metal tab with a hole if the hole isnt there or the tab completely gone I was told get a new belt or check the tensioner. Also I was told to check the crank pully that its tight. can be done with hand tools. this will cause you excessories not to spin as fast as they should thus giving you less boost in the higher RPMS.

I dunno just some things to check. Plus i may be way off as im new (I will use this excuse till second gear ty verry much)

 

I suspect that either your supercharger or your alternator or your tensioner is failing.

 

If s/c doesn't turn, then water pump wouldn't turn either. Not good.

Hope it all works out. Let us know what you find!

dan

 

Thanks you guys. Some of your thoughts are kinda scary. Today, she ran fine. Not a problem. Then tonight when I went out and fired her up to bring her inside the garage for the night.........seemed to slip during take off. So, I got a bright idea and threw the car in neutral and revved to see if it was actually in the clutch. Well, what do you know. There was what seemed to be a loss of power, followed by some stumbling to the point of her almost shutting down. A couple more revs and then she smoothed out. Then all was fine. Maybe it's the plugs and wires. I just changed them last week. I used Bosch Platinum +4s and some wires I picked up from one of the vendors at MOTD. Now that I realize it, I never had any problems until I swapped them out.

As far as the s/c not spinning, I haven't had any overheating problems and I'm down here in sunny Florida. I'll check the tensioner, as I have a feeling out of the three things that J A Blazer suggested, that would be the one that is failing. Oh well, I'll check these problem areas out and let you guys know.

 

I had the same problem of what your describing, but I threw a codes for miss fires.

Yea, I would check your plugs and make sure your torque them back down. Here is what happened to my Bosch plugs, I'm less than impressed with them. I would recommend going back to NGK's.

 

I'll check them tomorrow. I have a feeling I'll be going back to the NGKs. I'm surprised I haven't tripped any misfire codes. From what I see, these plugs are crappy. I have run them on my Suzuki Sidekick for years with no problems, but obviously they aren't for the MINI. Thanks for sharing the picture of the plugs. I'll keep you all posted and let you know the condition of the plugs.