i was driving my r53 to work today when it just died, all the lights came on the dash and it just ground to a halt. the power steering has gone too. Then smoke started coming out from under the bonnet. i looked under the bonnet and found loads of liquid coming out of the bottle in the middle of the engine bay and splashing on the hot exhaust and thats where the smoke was coming from. The fan was going mad too. i looked on the dash and the temp light was flashing and engine light were on. The car has cooled down now.
Ive got the AA to give me a tow home, the man said the alternator/fan belt has gone. He confirmed its not the supercharger or the timing belt. Now when i look down the left side of the engine i can see both belts snapped, they are totally ripped in two and hanging off the top pulley.

Im going to phone a mobile mechanic tomorrow to come and look at it.

All the electrics work fine.

the car is completely standard with 72k on the clock.

Will i just need to get new belts fitted or will this need more work?

 

i thought r53 was cooper s ? if so it's one belt . and it runs the waterpump off the back of the super charger .

 

I had this happen to my Mini twice. There is only one belt. It runs the water pump. So the damage depends on how long the engine was left running. With my Mini the tensioner broke and slammed in to the crank pully so both of those parts had to be replaced.

 

herbie- you are right. One belt handles all on the R53 (Cooper S). If it looks like two belts, its because the whole thing has shredded. Certainly to be expected, if it's got more than 70k on the belt. A new belt should be enough unless the car overheated so badly that the head warped. MINIs are very susceptible to head warping. That's a big $$$ problem.

 

bigpoppa81 -- Take a look at this thread and, hopefully, you'll be better off than I was. Good luck!

Cheers!!

 

well it was time for a jesus head or thumper head anyway!!! lol
it's only money .