so, i was driving to have lunch with my dad today. Everythings going along fine. I push on the gas some, and the car Shudders hard, lights up like a Christmas tree, then the voltage goes to pot, and i have no boost.

so, i pull over, pop the hood, and look down. I see the belt and all the pulleys have black sh*t on them, and i look under the car and there is a small puddle (couple inches across, by 1 inch) of Black Oily loooking oil, only there is no Smell to it, its just, black and oily.

After checking the engine oil (smells like OIL btw, and is NOT black), and looking for other damage (like OCC, ect) i see nothing.

The voltage came back to normal, when the oil on that pulley dried up / became less slick. The car Runs "fine" (not in limp mode) my boost is "there", but not nearly as much as normal, and the SC doesnt have that nice "whine" to it... it sounds, just different now. hard to explain.

So, questions are: 1. what could have happened? 2. Is it Safe to drive the car 130 miles to mini to have it serviced? 3. Anyone think ill get a new SC out of this?! 4. Does the crank pulley have fluid in it? could that have "popped", or is it more likely a seal on the SC itself?

Please help! any and all thoughts are appreciated!

 

It's not the crank pulley, factory pulley is 2 piece connected by rubber. Just replaced mine.

 

Either engine mount fluid that contaminated belt or supercharger snout seal that went on you puking oil on belt. OEM Supercharger oil stinks though.

Jeremy

 

hmmm... could be the engine mount fluid... hadnt thought of that.

i cleaned the belt some with belt dressing to get to work this morning. all engine lights are now off, and the car seems to be running fine, which makes this all the more puzzling...

i think im "safe" driving to orlando, which i reckon ill do regardless of how the car drives now. gushing black fluid is not good, out of any part of an engine.

will post my results after mini fixes the car.

 

Engine mout usually goes slowly...
bet 10 to one the crank damper went...typically they let go...slip....so no water pump, boost, ac or volts....then cool off, grip ok...till you push the car hard...maybe turn on the ac...
It typically get progressivly worse...with shorter ok to drive miles....since you have no water pump when it starts to slip, car overheats VERY FAST, and can get $$ very fast.

 

Look around at the mount to be sure....but it sounds like you need a new belt no matter what....

 

Good luck. Keep us posted on this!

 

Guess it could have been the motor mount assuming it got it's fluid on your belt which caused it to slip badly which caused the other things mentioned..

If so should be black spot that doesn't easily wipe up under the motor mount..

 

went to Mini. Turns out, it was the Shock inside the Belt Tensioner. It totally blew its guts out :P

Mini replaced the belt, and the tensioner assembly. all is well again

also got my window fixed

 

Congrats (and thanks for following up)--could have been much worse. I'm going to take a close look at mine next time I pop the hood.

My engine mount blew on the track a few years ago, and made a horrible mess--I was about to panic, about to call flatbed, when in the deep recesses of my mind I remembered to check the mount. Wasn't under warranty though.

 

Yes, failed belt tensioners can cause all kinds of damage from parts flopping around. Way Motor Works sells a tension saver. In fact, I need to get another one. I had one on my old '02 MCS, but I cannot recall if I took it off after I wrecked it. Need to install one on my current '06 MCS.

 

fortunately, nothing else broke. Maybe i was driving slow enough?

Mini said that rarely happens, they found it kind of odd. Im just glad it was non catastrophic-catastrophic failure!

 

Glad it was just the damper and that you're up and running again!

Jeremy

 

Glad you got it fixed. For anyone who mentioned before it could be the upper motor mount I can tell you from personal experience the oil in that mount is the nastiest smelling stuff ever.