Has anyone ever heard of this? Recently my 2006 Mini Cooper (2.5 years old, less than 19,000 miles) made a some metal scrapping noise, the engine light and battery light went on and then became hard to steer. So I pulled over and had it towed to the nearest mini dealer. After a few days they returned it with saying the problem was due to "Engine balance failed causing belt to break". They replaced the belt, vibration damper, and hex bolt. Someone told me that this is a serious problem and the car will never be the same . Does anyone know if this is true?

 

First of all, I want to know which belt. The only belt on the car drives the front accesories, one of which is NOT the power steering pump as it's electric. There is no timing belt, it's a chain and if that broke, the car is dead in the water. I wonder if the belt broke, caused the alternator to not chage the battery and that's how you lost steering. If the dampner went, that would explain it.

 

The PS pump gets juice directly from the alternator. No belt...no alternator...no PS.

I've seen the early vibration dampers fail and come apart, but not the later ones. You should have the revised damper on your '06. I guess anything is possible.

 

Harmonic balancers have been known to fail on many cars. Because engine shut down as soon as it happen the chances of it doing any engine damage is slight to none.

 

They replaced the "ribbed v-belt". I think they called it the pulley belt.

 

Front drive belt, serpentine belt, it's all the same with a different word for it. It's the rubber belt that drives off the crank pulley and runs the AC compressor, alternator, all that.

 

Agree, harmonic balancers are put on the crank pulleys to deflect torque from cylinder fire. Shutting it down should pretty much ensure no further damage was done.