Thanks to the many people who have taken the time to post some of the great "HOW TO" forums !! You have saved me a lot of time and $$$$$

I have been looking for a " HOW TO " change the serpentine belt and only come accross the ones including a pully change. Anybody know of a " how to " posting for only a serpentine belt change???

Thanks !

04 Cooper S

 

correct me if im wrong but the MINI uses a chain, not a belt.

 

He's speaking of the serpentine accessory belt, not the timing belt (chain)

edit: I've seen one before, but a search didn't reveal it's location.
IIRC, remove right wheel, remove wheel liner, lever tensioner and put stop (i.e. allen wrench) in the tensioner hole, remove and replace belt.

 

The first step in removing the accessory belt for a the standard cooper is to Remove the fuel tank vent valve. (It's the little black thing near the fuel rail, just follow the hoses, you'll find it.) In order to remove this bit you will have to: 1 remove the vent hoses 2 straighten retaining valve 3 remove the electrical connection
-Next you will need to use a tensioner pulley removal tool and a locking pin to hold the tensioner pulley in place. The BMW part numbers for these tools are 11 8 390 for the pulley removal tool and 118 280 for the locking pin
* make sure that the locking pin is secure since the tensioner pulley is under high tension
-After this you can remove the splash shield from under then engine and remove the old pulley.
-Finally replace the pulley and check to make sure that it is well seated in the pulley grooves

-Reverse the process for removing the tensioner pulley to put it back into place.
*Use caution when putting the tensioner pulley back into place

 

Here's some info on replacing the accessory belt on a '07 MCS. The '07-'12 MINI Bentley service manual ($$) recommends this belt be replaced every 4 years, but I pulled mine after 6 years of use and 60K miles. The belt ribbing was seriously cracked, but the main belt structure and fabric webbing were undamaged.

The Bentley manual has you remove the right front wheel well liners, right headlight assembly, the hood latch support and the front grill. Unfortunately, after removing the last three items, you still do not have enough room to rotate your 20 mm wrench far enough to lift the belt tensioner into the "service lock" position. IMO, you would need to remove the entire radiator assembly and support structure to free up enough space. No room for a socket/u-joint setup either. Arghh!

This is much easier ... Remove the wheel liner. You have a good view of the belt and pulleys. From the bottom, insert a stout wood dowell about 3 feet long (I used a 3/4") and position it against the bottom of the tensioner pulley. You can work it around the belt, but since I was replacing mine, I just cut it to get it out of the way. Push up on the dowell or use a floor jack to raise the tensioner just enough (1/4") to push in the tensioner's "service lock" pin. Other than having to pull out and hang on to the water pump friction wheel's tension release strap (awkward), replacing the belt is straightforward. Just push the tensioner wheel up a tad to release the tensioner service lock.

Oops - Just noticed this is posted in the wrong forum. The first generation and second generation MINIs have very different belt layouts and hardware. Sorry ...

 

Here's a link to a belt replacement DIY I found very informative...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...highlight=belt

What ever happened to GirlDoc?

 

Another how to here :

http://www.*********************/lib...#axzz2AAwyq1n1

Edit: Sorry didnt know this site will not let you post anything from the M.otoringalliance forum