My belt has been making constant noise at anything over like 2k rpms, i went and got belt dressing and put some on there but it is still making pretty much the same noise, continues thru all the gears when over like 3k.

It is pretty much just a squealing, but sounds like crap, and is annoying, and never goes away.
On top of this, it could be a related subject, every morning when I go to start my car on the first turn of the key it starts for a millisecond, then shuts off, the second turn it starts up just like normal, no stutter or anything.

About a month ago I changed to a 15% pulley, and new belt, it was running perfectly fine with no noise, squeals or anything.

I am out of ideas, does anyone have similiar experience or ideas that could help?

Thanks

 

the question is why... Could be a bad tensioner, or one of the driven items (alternator, idler, tensioner or supercharger) is dragging too much. IMHO, belt dressing is a very, very bad idea. Stick to a clean belt and clean pulleys, and you'll get the best behaviour possible.

Search around for how to check the tensioner, there are lots of posts about how to do it and where to look.

Matt

 

I just ordered a new tensioner and idler pully from Classis Mini in OH, they give a 20% discount for NAM members. I have about 45K miles on my 06 MCS and plan to change the belt, idler and complete tensioner at about 50K even though I'm not having any issues right now.

I just feel good PM does cost a bit, but I'd surely change these parts when I want to instead of when the MINI wants to.

If you need any of these stock parts, Classic MINI has the best prices for OEM stuff I have found. OEM oil filters for about $6.75. I order them 3 or 4 at a time.

YD

 

How will i know if its the tensioner, my first concern is the belt noise, since its there all the time, my car sounds like a beater now. I changed the belt when i did the pulley swap, can i tighten the pulley withougt lifting the engine out again? thanks for the quick response, and for the record, no more belt dressing correct?

 

When the tensioner fails, it will have some oil seeping out of the damper attached to it. That little thing is not available separately, the whole assembly needs to be ordered as a unit.

Out of curiosity, what size belt did you use?

 

I used the stock sized belt for a 15% pulley, ordered it thru outmotoring, its what they recommended.

So i need a new tensioner but how to tell for certain?

 

A little searching may help, I am going through the same thing. Nabeshin has the right idea with the leaking oil. Also, before you run out and get a new tension you should order a smaller belt and try that, NAPA 535 I think. One thing you can do right now is check and make sure you have at least one hole showing on the tensioner.

 

The stock belt is too big for a 15%. You'll want a 060535 belt. I use one by Gates.

The leaking damper on the tensioner is how you tell it is bad. The spring would likely never wear out. The pulley on the tensioner could get damaged and "destroy" the part if the belt snapped and the pulley impacted the crank pulley, thus necessitating replacement.

edit: you just barely beat me, Some Guy

 

Hi can I jump in here with my similar problem? I am also getting the belt squealies-mine starts after the car warms up, and or if the weather is warm... yesterday was cold and rainy so no (as far as I could tell) squeals the previous day was warm and sunny which meant squealling all day p**sing me off royally. I bought a new belt (and tensioner stop-Detroit Tuned) and am changing it out today. I do not have any pulley mods-it's all stock (as far as I can tell, car is new to me). Can anyone suggest anything else we should be looking at while we're in there? I'm going to check the tensioner and clean the pulleys up-anything else?? It's an 05MCS 41k miles BTW. Thank very much for any help!!

 

the SC can take 30-40 HP to spin, it's A LOT! so if you've got a warn belt, it will start to slip...

Belt slippage is caused by a couple things:

Belt glazing
Belt stretching, loosing tension and hence grip on pulleys.
Bad tensioner.
Something else failing that increases drag (alternator, A/C pump, idler pulley, tensioner pulley, supercharger)

There's not really a lot of parts to check.

IF you're getting slippage, look to see if the tensioner indicates that the belt has stretched. If so, change the belt.

If the belt hasn't stretched, but it's old (not really likely, but possible), then glazing may be a problem, change a belt! Not that hard and pretty cheap.

If it's still squealing, remove the belt, and see if one of the things that should spin won't.

If they are all spinning fine, then it's PROBABLY a bad tensioner, not putting enough force on the belt.

Matt

 

what if its slipping but not stretched (over a hole showing) and the belt is only a month old? is it just a crap belt? Should all the pulleys turn freely when the car is off?

 

All of them but the crank.

 

Do NOT forget the tensioner stop!

Your sympton *may* be a tensioner stop that's pre-tensioned, thus not allowing the belt tensioner to fully tension. If you've installed the cable tensioner stop from Detroit Tuned, make sure the cable ends point AT each other, not down with the belt, or in an ":s" shape, but look like this: - -, or if you want to imagine the cable in a "u" shape between them, like this -v-. This allows maximum extension of the cable while still providing protection.

I've also heard a shorter belt is recommended with the 15%.

Good luck!

 

So I am wondering if its real hard to change the belt if the engine is not jacked up, i changed mine when i chaneged the pulley and the engine was jacked up. So if a hole is showing tensioneer is good, and if its leaking oil its bad, and i need a smaller belt, all pulleys should spin freely except for the crank, and can i tighten the reduced sc pulley with out jacking up the engine again?

thanks for all the help guys, really appreciate it, and im trying to make sure i understand and have everything sorted out before i start working and tinkering.

 

if you have fat hands like mine, jacking the engine a bit helps a lot. But you only have to take the bolt off the top of the passenger side engine support to get enough range.... If you have an automatic transmission, there's less room all around. Some change the belt by taking off the front passenger side wheel and the fender liner and going at it from below. Having a belt tensioner tool is a good investment if you do your own work. A belt a year is a good policy....

Matt

 

at a dyno tune session, I saw evidence that stock belts slip at redline when new on 15% pulleys... But they weren't squealing....

Matt