I have a 2006 R 50 Auto 88,000 miles

How does one know when to change these vital parts ?

Harmonic balancer and any other pullyes


Purchased it last October with 86,000 miles

Runs awesome !!!!

Clean transmission oil

Was checked at the Mini dealer

Thank you .....appreciate any and all help

 

I think the R50 pulley is a little different than than the S as it has pull tabs. Regardless of how the pulley is made, most stock harmonic damper/crank pulleys have a rubber layer that holds the inner and outer sections together. On the S you loosen the belt and if you can push the pulley into the motor, it is bad. When the rubber starts to go the pulley will start to wobble a little similar to an unbalanced tire. You can sometimes see the wobble by removing the passenger side tire and looking at the pulley as the engine is on.

 

Good to know. Thanks for sharing this.

 

We have seen the R50 non S pulleys fail like the R53, but it's not nearly as common as the R53 pulleys failing. So I would just recommend checking it when you service the car to see if you see the rubber coming apart or cracking on it then replace it when you do. Otherwise I wouldn't do it as a preventive thing.
If it was an R53 I would for sure do it as a preventive maint item.

 

Do you need a special tool to remove the crank pulley on the R53? I'm about to do that job soon. I have regular pulley puller but didn't know if BMW decided to make these ones extra special like they sometimes do.

 

Yes this is the puller you would use
https://www.waymotorworks.com/crank-...l-r52-r53.html

 

My R50 which is also a 2006 has nearly 150K on it and short of normal maintenance/issues (power steering pump/CVT Transmission Fluid Changes/Oil & Filter/Air Filter/Cabin Filter/Thermostat & housing/Coolant flush) it runs great. I've never noticed any problems with the pulley nor the motor mounts. My wife dirves the car most of the time...especially now that I have an R53.

 

mine failed catastrophically at about 90K miles.

If you want the write-up on how I did everything, Read my recent post.... the last post is the write-up of how i did everything.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...y-removal.html

~mike

 

Thank you ALL for your input....especially WMW..

Would it make a noise prior to failure ?

Or run differently ?

 

Usually they just fail with no warning. If you are seeing the rubber on it come apart or crack that is the best warning if any you can get.