Took the car into service at dealer, inspection showed I needed to have my harmonic balancer replaced. I thought the problem was a badly leaking exhaust (really loud noise). Any of you guys have problems with the balancer on 3rd gens?

 

Not yet. How many on your car?

 

70k

 

Bought it with 18k 2 years ago. Drive round trip 120 miles a day, get about 31mpg, don't baby the car as I run it through the gears and highway speed in my area of California is around 80. If not, better get out of the way or someone will run over you. My second MINI.. My first was a 2003S that I bought from a friend with about 30k on it. LOTS of problems with that one, but it was a gas to drive. Very mechanical as opposed to the 3rd Gens, which are computer controlled, different ride, sound and as far as I can tell the 21st Gen with proper sway bars in rear cornered much better and was more fun to drive. Both cars have/had GPS with 6 speeds. Wouldn't go without either!

 

Common problem. I have seen 2 fail so far.

 

When you say common problem, is there some information to back your statement. Two is a pretty small number relative to the sales numbers.

 

2 would be small if I worked on every one of them. I have only worked on 10 of them. Most are still under warranty, but I have 10 customers that regularly bring their out of warranty F series to our shop for service and repairs. So I will say it is common to the few F series I have repaired.

 

Replaced a 3rd one today. This MINI has 175K on it. Belt was still spinning, but wasn't charging and overheated. I was able to make pulley slip by hand. It was a little noisy.

 

Thanks for letting us know about this, what do they look like after you take them off?

 

They look normal. They don't break into 2 pieces like the R53s. The first 2 I saw fail, the pulley that drives the belt was spinning freely. The mass bolted to the crankshaft was spinning, but the belt pulley would not spin. The 3rd one, it was not totally free, it had about 20 degrees of free rotation. The main issue was a failed alternator, but I discovered the crank pulley was on its way out and replaced it also. This one was also noisy, I am guessing from it slipping back and forth and not totally failed.

Marked the pulley

Looks normal

Marks have moved.

 

Thanks, looks like I know who to call about fixing that. I see Luk is the supplier.

 

This one totally failed.

 

I reported the problem and turned out that the passenger side motor mount was absolutely SHOT. All of the rubber material was totally torn apart. $1200 later it was OK. Still don't see how that could have grenaded, certainly wasn't my driving and it's never been on a track. Just another bad MINI part.

 

So did they replace the harmonic balancer and the motor mount or was that the cost for just replacing the motor mount?

 

The harmonic balancer was fine, only the motor mount was replaced.......then about a week later the fuel pump went out ($900) and a week or so later the fuel rail sensor went out as well (another $900 or so). MINIs do have mechanical problems, always have had. Seems the parts just break more often, and are far more expensive repairs as compared to American and Japanese cars. Still - the driving "Experience" is certainly a cut above others.

 

Okay. I'm going to have to start checking into my motor mounts and bushings. I'm at ~76K and I've started noticing a grinding sound coming from the passenger front of my vehicle. Don't know if it's the motor mount rubbing on something, if a wheel bearing is going out, if one of the bushings is going south or what it is. it's only when it's cold outside or the vehicle is cold and only when I let off the gas and let is coast back down (RPM's wise) in second and third gears. Also planning on doing a tranny fluid change and changing the plugs soon.

 

@CaptainKirk i am just about to replace the same part. any tips? from what i see is its just 4 bolts, does not look like need a puller like the others. also the people at mini mania said there's an alignment tool for it? any help or tips would help. TIA