Would need to know which pulley..it might say on front of the pulley...but with a 15% I use a Gates K060535. Napa should have it in Stock under their brand but it's a gates belt. For 17% some people use 60532 - but some also use the 60535 with good results while some report slipping at WOT. Start with checking crank pulley - try to wobble it, look for cracks...but the belt if too long will be easy to see from tensioner. I don't think that's your issue though...given you are hitting 15 psi. All good things to check regardless. Changed your plugs recently? What temp are they? If you are running an undersized pulley - stock plugs are a no no!!! Need to go one step colder NGK (4285) BKR7EQUP Laser Platinum Spark Plugs. But in general have you changed them? Every 20k miles is a good rule of thumb. I am leaning towards BPV given your symptoms..but it's expensive to just "try" have you zip tied it shut and taken a drive? Search the forum for that discussion.

Btw tensioner won't bounce around at crank - idle the car..and watch it

 

Take a picture of pulley and post it here - but if it's black and pressed on - it's stock.

Afternarket pulleys usually have branding on the front - some are silver..some black.

 

OK soI finally got the twins down for a nap so I got to run out and look under the hood with the sun out (its been rainy here). I looked at my tensioner and saw no hole and when I put the belt tool on I could only get the pin in the first hole. And since I had much better lighting outside I do need a belt and new plugs. I have some pictures I took so everyone can see and I couldn't get a great pic of the SC pulley (my wife is the photographer not me). I'll post the pics after this since I can't do it on my mobile...

 

plugs are NGK R then whats written on the plugs. the picture of the belt I took while I had tension off the belt.

 

That's an aftermarket pulley. Is there any evidence of the belt slipping (rubber dust/particles?)

 

Not that I was looking for, but just from the way the car has been acting and what other posters have said its looking that way. Any clue as to what size that pulley is?

 

No idea, I can't find one similar to that on google. But I'd say buy both the one for the 15% and 17% pulleys (someone posted the part numbers above) and try them. You can just return whatever one doesn't work.

PS did you put the pin in the top hole on the tensioner? If that was enough to get the belt off I'd think your belt is too large.

 

I've seen this trouble hunt several times, and from what you described it sounds like the precursor of a desentigrating crank pulley. If you have the original OEM pulley your way beyond its lifespan. Usually you'll have a week or so of boost loss then suddenly you'll lose all your accessories, have a temp spike, and will smell burnt rubber. When the stock pulley goes it literally falls apart because it has a rubber core. I would check there. A crank pulley failure can be very destructive. If your pulley is original it's time to replace it anyway. I would remove it and see if it's separating. Replace it with either the SFI or the ATI

 

So how expensive is it to replace? And I'm assuming its not ridiculously difficult to do?

 

Yeah then first hole is the only one I could get it in... lol

 

When mine failed it was very obvious, car instantly over heated and batt/alt light came on. Even failing that fast, it scored my timing chain cover badly. I bought a new one from the dealer (I needed the car fixed) for around $350, but I would have much rather bought something aftermarket.


I replaced it in a couple hours, pretty straight forward with the right tools. You need a pulley puller. I used the rental from advance (link below). If you use this one, you need some M6 bolts to secure the puller to the pulley. The pulley has a single bolt in the middle, M12 IIRC. You need to buy a longer one to put the new pulley on. I got one from home depot

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/p...ler+powerbuilt

Pelican article is very good for this:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

 

http://www.motoringfun.com/2007/03/2...eed-15-pulley/ Looks like that pulley but hard to say without a straight on shot. Replacement is pretty easy. I would expect a mechanic to charge you 1-1.5 hours time maximum. The parts are not cheap - arguably the best one out there is the ATI. Also - those plugs are too hot for an aftermarket pulley you need the 7EQUP Where are you located?

Lastly - you can tell if a belt is slipping because the friction caused will make it very HOT to the touch - obviously after you drive it, have turned off the car, and taken keys out of ignition just for one final safety measure. Do not touch anything while it's spinning (now I'm covered legally)

Btw: Twins - good luck to you man. We have one and I am exhausted all the time.

 

I hope its not the crank pulley, and its something simple like the belt is just stretched. But I'm located east of Asheville NC. Figures though it has to start messing up after I used the tax return money to pay off some stuff and get caught up on the bills... so if it is the crank pulley wheres a good place to get one without breaking the bank?

 

I would look at your crank pulley before you buy one....make sure it isn't just the belt. Would like a picture of your crank pulley to assess if it's A) the original one B) the redesigned mini one C) Aftermarket.

Do you know what year the replacement engine came out of?

Also since you are new to the mini game - very important you check the oil religiously - they burn oil, leak often and the oil light is more of a "bro you are F'd light than a low oil light"

 

I'm not 100% sure what year car the engine came out of, I want to say an '02 but again I'm not certain. I will say (knock on wood) my mini doesn't leak or burn oil I haven't had to add any since the last oil change. I will try to see if I can get the mini somewhere I can jack it up to look at the pulley, because of where I live and the fact that I don't own a jack, I can't get to it. Maybe I can take it to my dads house tomorrow since he owns two of every tool known to man (he's an industrial contractor). Have I mentioned it's hard to type when you have two toddlers trying to touch the iPad?

 

Reminded me of, "My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it."

 

Hopefully you and your dad were able to figure it out. The task itself isn't so bad but unfortunately the parts are pretty pricey.

Good luck.

 

Unfortunately I didn't get to take the mini to my Dads, I'm going to try tomorrow (technically today) to go check it and maybe buy the belt(s) and plugs, or wait till payday and my next day off...

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...er-pulley.html

That guy is selling a stock one? looks to be the redesigned pulley too -- but you need to look at yours first - start with the cheap stuff:

Belt and plugs -- then move onto the pulley but most importantly double check you dont already have the aftermarket or upgraded pulley.

 

I had read somewhere on here that the early minis had a recall on the crank pulleys, so would that cover mine even since I bought it private party and no warranty since its 12 years old? In case the pulley is bad...

 

I think it was actually a technical service bulletin -- and those are not the same thing as recalls..which means it probably only applied to people who were in warranty...you could ask but I don't think everyone has been wasting their money needlessly for a few years on something that would have been covered by the dealership.

Also -- I relooked at this picture and the top side of that belt looks pretty warn and glazed compared ot the bottom part. Points to some sort of slipping going on.

 

Hey man - I was thinking and I have my old crank pulley from my 2003 if you want it. It's the old design which is prone to failure. BUT it would be FREE and could get you by for a few thousand miles I think....the job is about a 1 hour job....so it's not that much effort to do it again.

I never had a problem with it - it seems to be in okay shape (rusty). I'll even send down the longer bolt so you could just borrow the 3 arm puller from autozone or wherever. Just PM me...and I'll shoot it over to you via USPS.

 

Dude that'd be awesome! I'm going to my Dads today to actually jack the car up to check the pulley and change the belt (had to wait on payday). If it looks bad then I'll send you a PM!

 

Since I'm going to get to look at the pulley and change the belt, what do I need to be looking for as far diagnosing the crank pulley?

 

So thats the hard part -- unless its completely apparent -- with cracks on the front side of the pulley its not very easy to tell that failure has occurred... sometimes the failure happens on the back or in non-visible places.

I would release the tension of the belt (using your belt tool) and then grab the pulley and see if it is wobbly at all -- a little bit of wobble is not great but not terrible -- a lot of wobble or if it comes off in your hands -- well that will tell you a lot.

Take a look at this article : http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm