Awesome news! I am glad you like the impact. It is a beast for sure!

Yeah, I know that all too well myself. Like you, I walked out to the Mini the other day, hit my unlock button and everything unlocked except the driver side door. My driver side door lock actuator locks but does not unlock now. Have to use the physical key to unlock the door. argh. So after the valve cover gasket, that will be next.

 

This morning on the way to work.

 

I'm about to tackle the crank pulley. Do you think this set from harbor freight will get the job done?

http://www.harborfreight.com/bolt-ty...set-62620.html

 

I imagine it would but have never used this kit. The only possible hangup will be the threads of the bolts that attach to the crank pulley to pull it off. If they match up, then you are in business.

If I may, do you have a front main seal as well? Might as well while you are in there! They are not that expensive and prevents you from having to do it twice if that seal starts to leak.

 

Yea I bought a new seal and bolt waiting to install it with all my other parts. I was hoping my pulley to last a little longer, but yesterday my car overheated and my abs and dsc lights came on. Power steering seems to be gone as well, so I plugged in my voltmeter and its showing 9-11 voltage.

 

I know that feeling. My OEM pulley was like clock work... The week prior to my ATI pulley arriving, my second pulley died. Frustrating.

Which pulley did you go with?

 

I got an ATI pulley but my car won't start now so idk if it's related to the crank pulley. When I put in the key the lights in the car go on but it just won't turn over :(

 

hmmmm... it should start, just be in limp mode...

Mine would idle until the temp gauge went up... I noticed the crank pulley dancing back and forth from the 9 o'clock position the 3 o'clock position and back without making a single revolution.

All part of the experience, right? Swap out pulleys and see what happens. Have you scanned it for any codes?

 

I was eventually able to start it with a jump. The battery was really low because the crank wasn't spinning fast enough to power the alternator. Also no codes ever popped up, but my car did overheat yesterday. The abs and dsc light would come on when it was in low voltage too.

 

That makes sense. That pulley turns the belt which keeps the alternator spinning along with the supercharger and water pump. So your battery dying and engine temp would go up.

Yup, you should be good to go once you get that new pulley on there... I do recall I had all the lights on when my pulley last died.

It is pretty straightforward. Pulling what is left of the pulley is not bad. Pulling out and replacing the seal is easy and straightforward. If there is a pain, it is tightening down the bolt securing the pulley. You should have another body hitting the brakes or securing the pulley from turning while you are torquing the crank pulley bolt. It will want to turn as you start to meet resistance on the crank bolt.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. I will check my check this weekend if any questions pop up.

 

Crank pulley successfully installed!! It broke two pullers trying to take it off, so I ended up drilling it apart. After the install I had some misfires, which I thought was strange. I replaced the spark plugs, and don't have any issues anymore.

 

Great news! Well done! So the HF tool did not hold up well? Misfires? Interesting. Glad it appears to have been corrected with the new plugs.

Its funny after you replace the pulley with the ATI unit... your Mini almost seems faster now even though it isnt. Its just that you feel the Mini is more responsive now without the weakened rubber pulley on.

 

I didn't buy the HF tool, I just rented the ones my nearby autozone. Yea the car does seem faster. It did fix that rpm issue I had going past 4k rpm in gears. The dealer said it was my clutch slipping, but it was the crank pulley all along

 

Good stuff! Yeah, the dealership... I've had some good interactions and some questionable. I had the ignition coil go on me once and was close by so I stopped by the dealership to fix. I told them that I think its the ignition coil as the #3 terminal appears corroded.

Later in the afternoon they called and said I needed a new cylinder head. I asked them to check again and this time the #1 shop mechanic looked at it, slapped on the test coil and my Mini ran great. New coil installed and on my way...

Glad to hear you are back to motoring... Do you have anything else on your list or was the pulley it?

 

Well I'm still having an issue with why my car isn't making boost. So I'm planning on taking off the bpv to see if its broken. Then I have a bunch of front end suspension parts that needs to be replaced.

 

Hit this driving home today...

 

Congrats!

 

Spent some time on the Mini today checking things out and cleaning things up. So far, everything looks to be in order. Nothing critical at the moment…



Engine Bay:



Left Front



Axle boots look good

Underneath the motor looked clean and dry still



Left rear corner cleaned up well

 

Right Front



Boots look good on this side as well

Right Rear



Current Stats: (time stamp for my records)

Front Brake Pads – 9mm (12,285 miles)
Rear Brake Pads – 7mm (12,940 miles)

Front Tires – 8mm
Rear Tires – 5mm

Driver side front mount – 44,231 miles
Passenger side front mount – 21,377 miles

ATI Crank Pulley – 26,785 miles

Passenger Side Engine Mount – 20,874 miles
Lower Engine Mount – 20,874 miles
Transmission Mount – 6,622 miles

Radiator/hoses/thermostat/housing – 6,622 miles
Camshaft Position Sensor – 7,442 miles
Crankshaft Position Sensor – 6,622 miles
Oil Pan Gasket – 6,622 miles
Power Steering Lines – 6,622 miles

Passenger side axle – 6,199 miles
Passenger side LCA and ball joints – 6,199 miles
Driver side ale – 4,082 miles
Driver side LCA and ball joints – 4,082 miles

Left to do:
- Valve cover gasket and spark plug o-rings
- Driver side door lock actuator
- Recharge A/C

 

Just hit this...

 

Congrats. Super clean for that mileage.

 

Your car is so clean it hurts.

Haha, in all seriousness, how are you tracking all of these things? Do you make a spreadsheet and input mileage when the parts were installed? I should probably do something similar, I'm sure it will really help if I ever sell the car, and it's also really nice to be able to predict when things will need to be replaced again.

Also, want to cruise to Mt. Lemmon or the 89A one of these upcoming Sundays? I know a few other Arizona R53 owners who would be interested. We need some Liquid Yellow representation.

 

Thank you!


Thank you! Excel is the way to go. I track all my normal maintenance items by WHEN I did it and the mileage at the time. This allows me to project the next time it is due. All I do now is type in the current mileage and it calculates how many miles are left until the next change for that particular maintenance item. I added conditional formatting so all of my mileage countdown numbers appear green. As the next change/interval approaches (under 500mi), the cell turns yellow to let me know its coming up. Works for me and I have it covering the Mini, the CRX and the Ody.

The other half of the schedule is a list of repairs outlining what happened, part numbers, vendors, mileage and cost. With repairs, this allows me to calculate when the next round of repairs comes up for a particular item with greater accuracy. After owning him almost 13 years, I like having that data to know when the next issue may surface.

That sounds like a fun trip. The wife was in a car accident back in February and we are waiting to hear back from the neuro surgeon on possible surgery dates. I believe she has to have a cervical vertebrae fusion to correct the bone/nerve pain she is having. So I am kind of in a holding pattern at the moment focused on that… Not really cool but…

 

Dropped him off on Friday to have the A/C recharged. I think the last time I did that was around four years ago, so it was due.

System took .25lb of freon so its ready to go now. But... I was told that the compressor is showing its age. Pressure levels have gone a tad so it is to say that the compressor has 122k miles on it.

Price to replace is $1,400. I asked if I could remove/replace the compressor myself, reconnect everything and then drop him by to have the system evac'd and recharged. He said absolutely. So that works. I suitable replacement compressor is about $400ish plus whatever the evac/recharge cost is... The front end isnt too bad to remove, good time to replace the belt and then swap out the compressor.

 

AC mileage:

AC mileage in AZ = 1 * mileage of the Mini

AC mileage in PNW = 0.01 * mileage of the Mini


You should be very happy how long your compressor lasted.