Music to my ears. Glad to see that you were able to get fair treatment, somewhat painful I am sure, but fair at the end. Please remember that the dealer gets paid for this work, they are not doing charity work. At the end, all the failures make for better parts, as MINI/BMW get the failed parts for Root Cause Analysis. This allows them to learn how to make better parts.

Bomboasy

PS. Kaelaria, was this what you were thinking of?
http://www.myminiparts.com/proddetai...prod=TSB&cat=7

 

Yes I believe it was.

 

I have had a similar experience. I broke a belt a few years ago and it has been haunting me. I could not for the life of me figure out what was going one. Check a recent post of mine called “pulley trouble”.

My first two belt brakes were due to some trash in the crank pulley. I don’t know what it started out as but, I pulled some aluminum out of the crank pulley after the second belt broke. I didn’t examine the pulleys as I should have when the first one broke. I was just so happy to get the car back on the track. In two of the groves there was some smashed aluminum filling up the valleys of the crank pulley groves. I popped this trash out with a screw driver and all was well I thought……


All of that took place almost two years ago. Fast forward to this past July. I blew a belt and had no idea why It happened. Thought maybe it was just a worn out belt. Of course since the first incident I travel with a few extra belts and a pulley tensioner tool. After putting on the new belt more trouble started. Please see my other tread about pulley trouble.


Here is the short version: my belt was jumping over a groove on the S/C pulley. I thought maybe the S/C pulley had moved on the shaft. In retrospect I don’t think it did. I got a new pulley and that bar thing from myminiparts. While installing that I noticed there was no rubber bushing in the end of the gas shock that keeps the spring on the tensioner from bouncing. That wasn’t right. I’m guessing it was from previous belt breaks. I called up my buddies that work at the non-local dealership to ask WTF I should do. They said bring it in, we’ll fix it. My now best friend fixed my car under warranty and sent me on my way. In all I got a new tensioner assembly and a new belt. He took of that part I got from myminiparts and said “don’t put that back on”. It had been three days since I’d put it on. It was certainly not the problem and in theory it would keep the tensioner assembly from getting slapped around under a belt brake. He said don’t use it and fixed my car so I’m not putting it back on. I’m not sure how much that would have been to fix out of warranty but I’m guessing a lot more than a grand. I’m not asking any questions and they didn’t either.

Here are my thoughts. If you track your car, get a tensioner tool and have it reinforced before you use it. Mine broke on the third use. I know another track junkie that broke there tool on the first use. The place I bought it paid for the shipping and replaced it. There are so few MINI’s at the track that you need to have your own. Also, bring a few belts. Get the before you go. You can get them online for about 20 bucks or pay 40 at the dealer.

Good luck. Hope to see some of you at Octoberfest.

 

Bluesmini,

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I wonder why your friend told you to stop using the tensioner stop bar. I don't think it causes any damage to the tensioner... Correct me if I'm wrong.

I guess I'll carry extra belt and tensioner tool from now on, and check the belt frequently.

 

I think that they have the obligation to prove that it was the pulley that caused the malfunction... but in this case it sounds like the tensioner that was the problem... a pully especially a 15% pully should not cause this dammage...