Dear Mini owners,

Please help. My Mini is in need of Harmonic balancer repair and i guess some rubber burned too. Dealer is quoting 1100.00

Has anyone got this fixed before? How much would it cost at 3rd party shops? Thank you.

 

Yipes. Retail for the harmonic balancer is $450 and 1.8 flat rate hours.

 

Wow, you can do it yourself (if you're somewhat mechanically-inclined) and save yourself some money: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

And to answer your question, I personally think the cost of replacement at an indy shop would be like around $400-$500 or so.

 

if you Google "ATI damper Mini Cooper" you'll come up with lots of options. I recently found mine for $349 plus $18 shipping. It's a fairly easy job - just time consuming. It helps to have a belt tension tool although there are ways to work around it. I went to Auto Zone where they loaned me one of their "Harmonic Balancer Puller" tools. You'll need to find a hardware store to get some long, strong bolts to use with the puller that fit the stock balancer.

 

If you have jack stands, jack, rachet set, and a torque wrench then you can do this job. I replaced mine about 2 months ago. Was a little intimidated by it at first, but was rather easy. I went with the ATI fluid dampner. Didn't want to fix a problem to get it again in a few years.

 

Dealer should be ashamed for trying to rip you off. Recently installed the ATI damper as a precautionary measure. Not difficult. If you or a friend have any mechanical aptitude and some basic tools, you can do this and save a bunch. RMW, WAY, SNEED's, etc. stock this damper. Install a new serp belt while you're there.

 

The best price I found was Summit. Buying a new serp belt along with it is a good idea.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ATI-917992/

 

RMW $289 + 15 shipping http://www.revolutionmotorworks.com/...=75&category=3

 

Morristown Mini quoted me 350, I just had a local guy do it, he also did my waterpump, thermostat, housing and belt, plus he also installed a rebuilt Supercharger all for 1200. The car has never run so good