ok so i have a 2002 mini type s (not sure what the abreviations are for it, im new at this) and my serpentine belt has snapped twice in the past two days. i realize that the first one might have just gone normally from wear and tear(65k on car) , but now that the second one has snapped off, i need a lil help with suggestions on what could possibly be wrong. i read in another thread that maybe when the first belt snaps off that the tensioner might crash into the crank pulley causing some damage. while this might be the problem, im also hoping for some other ideas on what it may be. thanx for the help guys

 

Only reason a belt should snap in a day is if a pulley is damaged in some way. Or , if the belt is running off center on one of the pulleys. But if it went 65K before a break, and the new belt was installed properly and checked. Something is damaged in there. Sorry i can't help more.

 

Who installed the belt?
Did you confirm that it was running straight and true?
How quickly did go (running time?)
Were you able to examine either broken belt? They could give you clues as to the culprit.

First step is to visually examine all pullies for nicks, dings and alignments.

After the new belt is on, idle the car and check that the belt is running on all pullies.

 

Possibly due to a failing belt tensioner?

GotMINI

 

thanx for the tips, will reply a fuller response tomrow when i have installed the new belt. will def watch it while idles.

 

Have you tried


Oh, you mean a different belt??,,,,sorry, can't help ya,,,,,,,,,,,


exits softly,,,,,,,

 

Make sure all of the pulleys are running free. Water pump, tensioner, etc. A seized pulley/pump, etc. will definetely wonk the belt.

 

Check the supercharger; perhaps it is failing.

 

ok so im helping my dad out with this problem, its his car but im better with computers. we changed the blet again today, but before we put it on we examined all the pulleys to figure out what might be going on. the main problem we have found is that the tensioner is pushing way too low and is actually resting on the crank pulley. since the belt broke off, the metal of the mtensioner is actually sitting on the teeth of the crank, and there are grooves that have been cut into the tensioner. knowing this problem, we installed the belt to see if the belt tension would keep the tensioner from touching the belt or the crank, BUT the tensioner is still pushing down enough to be touching the belt while the car is running. and those grooves that were cut into the bottom of the tensioner are actually slowly scraping away at the belt causing it to eventually snap (hence the 2nd belt snapping with a day or two) ok so now that we know how and why the belt snapped, we just need to know what would make the tensioner push low enough to actually be touching the crank pulley!?is this just a bad tensioner? we checked the other pulleys and they are all turning straight and none are loose. help, please, we keep havin to buy more belts!!!

 

Sounds like you've identified the problem - you either need a new tensioner (preferable), or need to smooth out the tensioner pulley so it doesn't cut the belt.
It's not uncommon for the tensioner to hit the crank when the belt breaks. There are a couple of products on the market that are meant to remedy this issue. See this thread.

 

The belts to long? you should see 2 holes in the metal tab on the tensioner and its that metal tab that would hold it off the crank if it was not broken, unlike yours.

 

What setup up do you have on that car, crank pulley and SC pulley? With grooves in the tensioner the tensioner pulley needs to be replaced. Don't chance more damage over the pulley. There is a chance that when the belt broke it damaged the tensioner assembly. I'd make sure the belt was the exact size for your cars setup and check to see that everything is clearing properly. If all clearances are good, get a new tensioner pulley, if not you'll be forced to buck up alot of cash and get a new tensioner assembly.

 

It sounds as if the belt is too long (where did you get it?) as per 03BRG, or you've missed a pulley there. Sounds like the tensioner is already toast, but when they fail the belt usually goes slack, not tighter.

 

Stock belt should be 21mm x 1385mm.

k

 

ok so we are gonna take the tensioner off because obviously we need a new one and when we do i will take pics of it to see if anyone can recognize what might be causing it to do what its doing. o and we got the belts from autozone, not sure what the size was right now but its the one they told us was for our specific car. another question, is it possible that a previous owner upgraded a pulley making it necesary for a smaller belt size?

 

o and i noticed that the s/c pulley had mini mania imprinted on the side of it. just wondering if that comes on the stock pulley or if that means that the pulley is aftermarket

 

That is most likely a 15mm undersized pulley, a common hop up mod on the R-53's. If you get a JCW belt from the local mini dealer you should be in good shape at least belt wise. You might want to swap out that tensioner at the same time.

 

For the -15% pulley, we use a shorter belt.

Ken

 

if it's the stock size belt and the tensioner still hits, it might be smaller than a 15%, or a SC pulley/crank pulley combo. I would recommend looking up a picture of a stock crank pulley and then matching it to the one in your car to make sure. Cause if you have a crank pulley or a SC pulley smaller than a 15 you will have to get a much smaller belt. which is what it sounds like to me. I had a 15% with the stock belt, and it in no way came close to the crank pulley.

 

ok so my dad is on his way to the mini dealer today to pick up a new tensioner assembly and that jcw belt. when we put it on hopefully they will sit right and we can move on from there. pics still coming, probly later tonight or tomorw

 

hey guys so the install was successful. thanx again for all the help and suggestions. the new tensioner assembly and blet are in and shes running like a champ. below i have the picture of the old assembly. u can see how the crank pulley wasnt eating into the assemly and actually making grooves that are at leat 1/8 inch deep. geeeez that was no good. and in the back ground of the first pic if u look at the metal tab thats usually surrounded by the spring u can see that the stock stopper had snapped of and thats what was causing it to rest on the ppulley. well problem solve and now the new belt sits at least half inch above the crank. thanks again [/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG]

 

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...m/IMG_2465.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...m/IMG_2466.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...m/IMG_2467.jpg

 

 

Ouch. What can I say? Glad you got it fixed.

 

Hopefully the crank pulley isn't trashed too! With 65k on the clock, you were about 35k over-due for a new tensioner and belt. Consider yourself lucky you got away with it for that long!