This evening as I was driving down the highway, my 06 cooper s shuttered and went into limp home mode. There was an EML, SES, and battery light illuminated. I checked for codes and there were none. I started it back up and the lights went away but there is a terrible squawking noise from the passenger side of the engine (audible at ). Is this likely a bad harmonic balancer?

 

Absolutely. Just had this happen 2 weeks ago. Exact same sound. Not too difficult if you can rent a small compressor and air impact. 2 hours tops if you are inclined. Feel free to ask questions towards me if you need help. I bough the PRW crank pulley off Amazon for 240 shipped

 

Agreed that the pulley can be changed in 2-hours, but you will also need a puller, along with the M8 bolts to affix it to the failed pulley. Read up on the process online, and consult Mod MINI's video on performing the task. If you have the pulley off, I'd highly recommend that you also change the crankshaft oil seal.

 

Modmini has a good video on the pulley replacement.

 

Yeah should of mentioned that. M8x60 is what I used if I remember correctly. You can use a normal harmonic balancer puller if you get the right bolts.

 

Fantastic, thanks for all the advice!

 

Is the part number for the shaft seal 11111485171? There seem to be a lot of shaft seals so I want to make sure to get the right one.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=11_3083

 

That's it.

FWIW, This is one of those instances where I paid more and went with the 'Genuine MINI' version of the part. There are many off-brand seals, and since this one is not in an easily accessible location, I'd rather go with the known commodity.

 

we have the seals in stock can ship tomorrow if you need
https://www.waymotorworks.com/front-crank-seal.html

 

I ordered the PRW unit, it should be in tomorrow. In the meantime I went ahead and pulled the old one, and it is definately the problem. It seems the horrible squaking sound was from the the pulley part of the balancer now scraping against the case.

I did come up with a couple quick notes that are probably obvious to everyone but me:

• Use hardened bolts and washers. The hardware from lowes is not hardened unless it says otherwise, and will shear off spectacularly
• If using washers to mate the M6 bolts to the puller tool, double up on the washers
• Do not use an impact wrench on the puller tool, it will strip the threads
• Mod mini must be built like thor to run the puller tool down with a 3/8" drive. I needed a huge breaker bar and all the strength I could put behind it
• I used 3 of M6x1.0x60 to screw into the pulley
• I used 1 each of M12x1.75x90, M12x1.75x110, and M12x1.75x130 to press against

I'll add more notes if I do something stupid putting the new one back on.