It's actually really easy to remove. To remove the vacuum line from the red clip, just hold the red clip down into the sc with one hand, and slide the vacuum line out with the other. Removing the red clip can be done by hand by carefully wiggling it out left and right as you pull it out.

 

Any way to do this without ripping apart the car!?

Can you use some sort of tubes and suction device to pull the old oil out?

 

Not for the water pump side. It's just impossible to access without removing the SC.

 

People have said that a long allen socket will work, but I never have looked closely enough. You would want the rounded ones that work at an angle.

 

I was able to do it without pulling the SC (and not draining the coolant) by removing the intercooler, intake manifold, throttle body, etc. (which is a job by itself, but I thought it would be easier than tearing the whole front end apart just to check the oil). When I got the plug out I tried to suck out the old oil with a syringe. I didn't get much so I tried to add oil to it and it ran right back out even after lifting the back of the car to try to level the SC since it is tilted back when attached to the block. I have some pics if anyone is interested.

Long story short, I ended up pulling everything apart (removed modular front end, bumper, drained coolant, etc.) only to find my water pump gears were shot and what was left of the oil had turned to sludge and was blocking the fill plug, hence why it was running back out when I tried to fill it. Should be getting a rebuilt unit tomorrow so I can put it all back together again! I got 133k+ out of it, so I guess I can't complain since some have had it go much sooner. The whole thing started due to the tell-tale "death rattle".

While I'm on here, does anyone have torque specs for everything or is it pretty much just "don't overdo it"? Also, strong words of caution for the wonderful red retainer clips for the vacuum tubes. I ended up having to order the intake duct and new tubes since I mangled them so badly. I think the trick is not to pry the clips out (my mistake), but instead to push them down into the duct and then pull out the vacuum tube. Probably didn't help that they were almost 8 years old.

 

I also did my SC maintenance this weekend. I have 99K on the odometer. I replaced the oil on both ends and replaced the water pump since I had the whole front end apart. I opened up the SC water pump end, it had less than a teaspoon of oil left but the the gears were still in great shape, no indication of wear at all. I'm pretty lucky that I caught it time. I think I'll do the oil change again at 150K. I recommend all high mileage MSC's do this maintenance. It not that difficult just time consuming for the first time. Once you find out all the in's and out's it is pretty quick.

Note: I started the car to check things out before finishing things up, but I forget to install the intercooler...****!!! it scared the hell of of me. I make a hell of a noise, like a loud fog horn. I thought my SC blew up on on me.

 

Nice! Sounds like you caught it just in time, wish I had checked mine sooner. I started my car up once when I had been poking around and it ran like crap, found out I forgot to plug the throttle body back in! I'll try to be more careful when I put it back together this time considering I removed a lot more stuff. I agree about the not difficult but time consuming assessment. I was reluctant to remove the SC and drain the coolant, so I tried to find another way, but I ended up ripping everything apart anyway. I'll let you know how it goes. Did you torque the bolts to anything specific? I'm more worried about the intake manifold than the SC bolts, etc.

 

The intake manifold to cylinder bolt (M8) torque value is 26Nm (19 Ft/lbs). Straight out of the Bentley manual. Good luck...

 

I did this over the long weekend. This is time consuming. It took me considerably more time than 6 hours, mostly as I encountered obstacles.



Tips:

• Remove the front wheels.
• As you remove a piece put the bolts/screws/nuts in a labeled holder(I used an empty egg container). Label the steps in numbers as you remove, this is just make sure you don't forget something during re-assembly, work backwards by number. That way you don't have to take stuff apart again if you forgot something, a few people did that, myself included.(throttle body bolts, doh)
• If you're going to mess with the hoses get yourself a pair of cable driven hose clamp pliers, it makes life much easier. You don't have much room to work and get at some of those clamps.
• Remove the water pump from the SC when filling the oil on that side of the SC, it makes it much easier to thread the cap back in at the correct angle so it doesn't cross thread. Once the opening and cap have the oil on them it's not difficult to mess up the threads.
• A little dab of PB blaster can help get those vacuum tubes out without damaging the red clips. Hold clip down, gently pull tube up.
• The belt tensioner pulley. I've changed my belt 2x now. Without the tool the easiest way to do it is remove the upper engine mount. First put your jack under the engine, remove the upper mount, lower engine an inch or two. Once it's lowered you can get bolts into two of the holes on tensioner assembly(see the three holes in the original post with the pictures, right above where the pry bars contact). I used 1 1/4in bolts, forget the exact size(I'll update when I get home, they just slide in a little loose, don't screw in). Put one bolt in the hole lowest on the tensioner assembly and one in the highest, do this from under the passenger side of the car. This distributes the force between the two so they don't bend or snap on you, it can be done with just one, but most bolts of the correct diameter can't take the shearing force(I've broken a few lol). Put your 16mm socket on the bolt connecting the tensioner assembly to the SC. Lowering the engine also gets this closer the frame, so you can wedge a piece of wood or some folded cardboard between the frame and the socket to keep it on there. Stick your pry bar in there so it's contacting the two bolts you put in and compress the tensioner spring, slide an allen wrench in tensioner slide hole to keep the assembly compressed, helps to have someone else do that while you're pulling the pry bar. When you get ready to re-assemble just remember to remove the bolts in the tensioner assembly holes before you raise the engine back up.
• If you want to clean that gunk off the front of the engine use brake part cleaner, sprays it right off, even if it's 1/4 inch thick. Just don't get it on any painted surfaces.

Here's a list of maintenance things I would recommend you do while in there.
1. Clean your throttle body
2. Clean your intercooler(use pure Acetone)
3. Change your thermostat
4. Change thermostat housing if you've had any leakage to date.
5. Change your serpentine belt(Napa 060535 with the M7 16% pulley)
6. Change your radiator hoses and hose clamps

This one is outside the normal scope, but requires alot of the same front end removal, I did it back in November.

7. Change your front control arm bushings

However, and especially if you removed the upper engine mount to get at your belt, make sure you support the engine as you have to undo the lower engine mount to drop the front subframe if I recall correctly.

A list of tools I remember using:
Cordless drill with 3/8 socket bit (save yourself some wrench turning)
1/4 socket wrench
3/8 socket wrench
3/8 torque wrench
1/2 breaker bar
1/4 socket universal joint
3/8 socket universal joint
3/8 to 1/4 socket adapter
1/4 4 inch socket extension
1/4 10 inch socket extension
1/4 20 inch socket extension
3/8 4 inch socket extension
3/8 10 inch socket extension
1/4 socket bit adapter
Torx bits (I think T5 for the intercooler bolts/screws and SC plugs)
Philips screw driver
6 mm socket
8 mm socket (Throttle body, Thermostat housing)
10 mm socket (random bits)
13 mm deep socket (most of your bumper nuts and bolts)
16 mm socket (tensioner to SC bolt, and upper engine mount bolts(??)
17 mm socket (lugs)
18 mm socket (Upper bolt on upper engine mount)
10 mm wrench
16 mm ratcheting wrench (finish tensioner to SC bolt)
Needle nose pliers (long and short)
Tongue-and-groove pliers
Pry bar
Jack
Jack stands
Funnel
Tubing (attach to SC oil container use to feed into SC fill hole)
Flashlight
Telescoping magnetic part grabber
Telescoping mirror
Bucket (coolant and support AC condenser)
2lb dead hammer
Lots of profanity.

 

Thanks!! I got about the same from my brother (mechanic), he told me 18 ft.-lbs. I got the rebuilt unit unit yesterday and was looking it over. I decided to open up the rear end just to check out the gears for peace of mind. They looked fine, but the chamber had a TON of oil in it, it was almost full to the top with it standing on end. I sucked out about 2 oz. (60 ml) with a syringe and when I put the SC flat on the bench, the oil that was left just ran out of the hole, so it seems like that is the right amount. I checked the front end and it just ran out with the plug open, so I think that one is okay too. I wondered if they fill it so full to cover their a$$ when it starts leaking out, but too much oil is not good either. I'm not sure exactly how much oil is left, but I may check before i put it on to be sure. Seems like I heard 1.2 oz. is the right about for the water pump side.

@bosfordjd, thanks for the additional writeup! Because of time and money, I'm sticking with the basics on this project, so I left the water pump, thermostat, and radiator hoses alone, none of them looked bad enough to replace. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me, but at least now I know how to take it all apart! I did get a new serp. belt and all the gaskets and seals for the water pump to block and throttle body, etc. (as well as the intake duct!). Lots of fun but I miss my MINI!

 

where do i get the seals and rubbers for the supercharger? i tried summit but i cant find the part numbers from the above how to post :(

 

Your local mini dealer will either have them by part number, or will be able to order them for you.

 

I live 100+ miles from my "local" Mini dealer, so I ordered most of my parts. I got the green rubber gasket for the supercharger intake as well as the o-rings for the water pump at minicarparts.net. That's also where I got my serpentine belt and I would have gotten the intake manifold gasket there, too, but they were out of stock so I got that and the throttle body gasket from Advance Auto Parts.

Got my car all put back together yesterday and everything seems to be running well again, no more rattle! I ended up putting about 40 ml of fluid back into the rear chamber of the supercharger once I sucked all the fluid out (there was about 3 oz. in there, twice as much as needed).

 

quick question anyone know when this is recommended? seems like a long day in the garage but worth it for a SC replacement my 07 has 43K on the clock FYI

Thanks

 

i called mini, told them i wanted it done. they say, it "cant" be done, and "isnt done", ect ect. so, according to Mini, NEVER.

You may want to just "top off" your fluid first, you still have low miles.
im at 77k, and my SC seems fine... but who knows...

as long as my SC goes Before my 90k warranty runs out, i dont really think i care! lol.

 

Don't listen to the dealership on this one. Maintain on your own as the dealership will not cover it outside of warranty.

 

I've heard 50-80k miles is a good interval. I did mine at 150k... Bought the car used at 143k, and the oil looked fine when I did it. Pto gears were in good shape and no noises either. I was either lucky or it wasn't the original charger/fluids

 

Have any of you heard of the MCS Recharger? http://www.imperialmini.com installed mine last year at ~45K and it's worked great! Now, I don't have to go through this lengthy disassembly to check or change my SC oil every 20K miles from now on .

IMHO, 70K miles is way too long to run contaminated oil wearing on the seals- it should be maintained like transmission gear oil. A proper flush and then a 25K mile interval is more reasonable which also closely matches Eaton's recommendation. Since most R53 owners have reduced SC pulleys at 15%, the next even service interval of 20K is calculated by taking 85% of 25K.

 

Seems like that recharger could be a good thing..too bad they don't list a price or show how it's installed...

 

agreed I would think allowing anyone to look at installation as well as posting the cost of the item would be a reasonable thing for a vendor to do.

 

I don't know anything about this either, but here's another post where they talk about the same product:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-r52-r53.html

 

Thanks for the write up and pics. After 136K+ miles, I will be replacing my supercharger within the next week.

 

I had a spare unit, sent it out to Stiegemeier for a rebuild, will be shipped back today. Next week, it goes in with the waterpump and Thermostat, I have 112K and I hear a ticking, so it is time

 

Finished this up and enjoyed doing it. Replaced the supercharger with a rebuilt/ported one from Way Motor Works with the 15% Way pulley. Changed out the thermostat, water pump and hoses. Make sure you check that everything is together and no vacuum/boost leaks. My MINI runs like brand new now. I love it!!!!! Nice write up GW 2002 MCS

 

I'm just barely over 52k on my '04 MCS but this kinda makes me want to order a supercharger and put it on the shelf for when mine kicks the bucket. Glad to hear your replacement supercharger from WMWs is working out for you. I'm thinking about going the same route as well.