Last night on the way home from the store i blew a supercharger belt.This would be my second belt with the Alta 19% pulley. After inspecting under the hood i noticed my belt tensioner was broken right above my supercharger pulley and the rest of the assembly had slammed into the crank pulley.After i removed the tensioner from the engine i noticed what caused the whole mess.The bolt that holds on the little shock absorber had worked its way loose and fell into the skid plate.Not to mension the spring stop sheared off.
Just thought i would post this as a heads up on these tensioner assemblies.Check those bolts!
Anyone know of a good online OEM parts dealer where i can find a tensioner assembly??Anyone know what they cost?

 

You would be the second I have heard of this month....


The tensioners seem to be pretty weak.

 

I just bought a new pulley dampner from Classic Auto Campus, was $141 with NAM discount. They should have tensioners too.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ge=classicauto

 

So is there a good way to prevent this problem? Loctite on the bolts?

Have there been similar failures with a 15% pulley? Does a larger pulley put less stress on these parts?

 

When i get my new tensioner i will be sure and loctite every bolt,especially the small shock absorber ones.As far as additional stress with smaller pulleys, i'm not sure.I would think that by using a smaller belt like i did with my 19% pulley i would have made up the difference.I only have 10,000 miles on my car about 6000 with smaller pulleys and have gone through 2 belts and now the tensioner.After all of the stories i have heard i think they are becoming a problem.

 

I think that this really shows some of the problems associated with the 19% pulley and that the purchase should be made with caution. There are plenty of people who have not had any problems, but the number that have had problems are still quite a number and growing. Whereas, the 15% pulley really has never had a documented problem, the 19% has had quite a few, mostly with belt breakage and the tensioner.


With that said, you may want to look at BBr's kit that they sell. They have been saying since 2003 that this was a weak point on the Mini, and they have replaced this part on all of there kits that they have ever sold.

 

I looked at the BBR kits and it didn't mension a tensioner assembly.From what i gathered they replaced the idler pulley only.Am i mistaken? If they did replace the idler with their own i sure would like to find out more about them.Anyone know for sure?

 

If you've gone through two belts in 6000 miles, either your duty cycle is very different than mine or there is some difference in our pulleys or their installation. I've got 11,000 miles on the 19% (10K on the 15% before that, but with the oem belt) with no belt failures or changes.

The belt is looking a little more polished on the back side (the ribbed side is in good shape) than the stock belt that was used with the 15%, but the belt runs perfectly true and the tensioner is perfectly stable.

My hub was installed by Eric at Helix. I drive about 95 miles a day to and from work, primarily on rural highways with about 10 miles of in town stuff. Vehicle speed is about 62mph in 6th gear for most of the drive, with the occasional stoplight. Normal acceleration is less than 1/2 throttle, with shifts anywhere between 2500rpm and 4000rpm.

All this putzing along to avoid tickets and minimize fuel use is countered by 25-30 autocrosses a season. Just for grins, I reset the trip computer at the start of each run at the last event a week ago and fuel economy for a run was about 5.5mpg.

Scott
90STX/SM

 

theres another thread on NAM about this and i think they installed the BBR one. im not sure where the thread is so. check it out before you buy OEM.

 

I've had my 19% for almost 32k miles now and I'm on my second belt also. NOT because one broke, but I had it changed at around 25k miles and I plan on doing that every 25k miles (about 9 months for me!). Interesting note about the hub. I have the original heat-on hub as well. I got the 15% first then switched after 15k miles with that. From what I've seen, it seems like the 19% belt failures have all been with taper-fits, no?

Has anyone had a belt failure with the original hub-style pulley???? Please let us know if you have.

 

Juzmackjr,

Who installed your pulley?

 

I have done all of the mods myself.I think the reason i am on my second belt is because the tensioner bolt had started to work its way out and i didn't notice it when i changed from the 15% to the 19% pulley.I have ordered a tensioner from Ferman Mini at the cost of $85.00 plus shipping and tax.I'll see if i continue to have problems after i install the new tensioner.

 

So.. has anyone priced or tried to order the "fixed" tension assembly from BBR?

http://www.bbrgti.com/mini.php