So my first issue with our MCS happened yesterday. It was a warm 90 yesterday so I left the Mini running with the ac on and ran into a restaurant to pick up my carry out. About 10 minutes later when I came out I could see and smell a slight haze/smoke coming out from under the hood. I'm pretty sure it was the belt since the smell of burnt rubber was coming from that area. I quickly shut off the engine and looked things over but found nothing out of place. Restarted the engine with the ac off and all seemed ok, drove the 5 mile trip home with no issues or warning lights on. I even turned the ac back on when I was close to home and all appeared fine. So my question is wtf happened? Loose/old belt? car just turned 100,000 and its hard to see the belt so I'm not sure of the age. Any special tools or tricks to change the belt? Thanks for your reply's.

 

Any chance it wasn't a rubber smell and was in fact oil? Check around the oil fitting at the top of the turbo to see if there are any signs of leakage. Just a thought....

 

2005 SC engine not a turbo, but definitely rubber not oil.

 

It ~could~ be the belt, but it's more likely to be your crankshaft pulley failing. It's a two-component pulley, and when they fail, the rubber component separates from the metal component.

You're lucky to have driven it home before all hell broke loose. I'd recommend changing it (and the belt) post-haste... There are plenty of tutorials on this operation online.

 

Is there a quick way to tell if the crankpulley is going bad?

 

Jack the car up...
Remove the (us) passangerside tire....and pull the liner out...you will see the full pulley stream....you can look for cracking rubber or tears....it also makes swapping the belt simple if all is ok.
Failure is sometimes obvious...sometimes not so much...but the smell if the belt us ok is the tell.
You can put a pry bar on the pulley...and look for flex...it should be stiff...failing units tend to flex as the rubber ages.

 

10-4 thanks

 

Good call! I've had this fail on an Acura and caught one Hyundai just in time. It makes a huge mess when it fails and brings you to stop with loads of drama. Let us know what you find when you get in there.

 

So I removed the belt tonight and all seems good, belt is not new but looks to be a year or so old with no signs of slipping. I replaced it anyway and check everything over. The only thing I noticed was when I took a screw driver and wedged it between the block and crank pulley there is a little wiggle in the rubber. This may be normal not sure, the one thing I did notice was before putting the splash panel back on I ran the engine and can hear a very slight rattle noise coming from the crank area. Thoughts?

 

More info... I did see a very faint rub mark [1 inch long] on the face of the engine from what I would assume was from the pulley rubbing slightly. I also noticed the crank bolt showed signs that it was removed, I'm going to take a wild guess and say the "dealer" had the pulley changed but with a good used one not new. there's no signs of rubber separation from the outside however it may be coming apart on the inside. I have a call into the used car dealer for info.... ya right!

 

I feel confident that the used car dealer brought your vehicle to an authorized MINI dealership and shelled out the $800 for a sparkling new crankshaft pulley...

"ya right!"

On a serious note, if there is evidence of the pulley rubbing against the timing cover, then yes, your pulley, whatever the origin, is on its way out.

 

The ones I've seen fail look like this,
This isn't a Mini part but you get the idea.

 

Yes, FYI I'm a 30 year Journeyman mechanic that has built several race engines and always upgraded them to a fluid dampner. Big Mopar / muscle car guy so these Mini's are new to me and I'm not up on their little quirks.

 

Update, Used car dealer knows nothing. I'm going to order a new balancer and while I'm there I think I'll change the chain tensioner too.

 

I think I'm going to do ours (timing set) as well just because I have no maintenance history whatsoever.

 

Do the crankshaft oil seal also, while you have the pulley off...

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ETA: I'm going to take it one step further this coming fall, and in addition to changing the crankshaft pulley, I'm doing the crankshaft seal, timing cover gasket, the two internal (upper and lower) oil pump seals, serpentine belt, belt tensioner and idler pulley.

 

The chain and guides?

 

Yah it only makes sense to do the "full Monty" while in there. It probably also makes sense to have a gander at the water pump and friction wheel as well as the alternator belt. Once these are done I should be worry free for a while.

 

Check caurefully that you didn't pick up a plastic bag on your exhaust. Will stick closely to the pipes and take about a month to totally stop smelling like burnt rubber.

 

^ This. Yes have had that happen. In this case there was visible smoke coming out from under the hood on the right side, not much but a haze. Still a mystery.

 

Your description fits a failed crank pulley to a T. We just had this happen to our shipping guys R53 on lunch break a week ago. Replace it with the ATI damper and don't worry again.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/super-...ulley-r53.html

 

Quick up date. My parts are on order waiting delivery and since I didn't want anyone forgetting I said not to drive it until it was repaired, I decided to remove the balancer. Super simple half hour job with no issue's and yes indeed the balancer/pulley had separated. Hopefully by Friday I'll get the parts and have it up and running.

 

It sounds like the typical vibration dampener pulley failure, as others have said.
When you smell burning rubber, it is usually always the crank pulley (vibration dampener pulley)

 

MCS back together and running fine. Did the pulley first then the timing chain tensioner, no issue install. Decided to do an oil change and what a pain to remove the oil filter, the housing was so freaking tight I broke my Mac 1/2 to 3/8 drive extension. I ended up carefully heating the housing with a propane torch to be able to remove the filter. I did notice a missing bolt for the CV shaft mount to engine block, anyone know what size bolt? M6 is to small and M8 looks to be to big. Thanks

 

I changed the pulleys, the clutch, the engine has no oil leaks and it still smells burnt when I accelerate harder. the belt and pulley and tensioner were changed six months ago. opinions? thank you 🙂