I have a 2002 MCS with roughly 52,500 miles on it, and recently added an Alta CAI, and went for a pulley install for the Alta 15% reduction pulley. My mechaninc did the install and the car ran awsome. I noticed the next day that the new belt was being shredded and so I took the car back to him. It seems the belt wasn't on the pulley totaly it was running 2 grooves off towards the supercharger, and running dead on the rest of the pulleys. After talking with Jeff at Alta I had a 2nd pulley sent and it did the same thing. So we looked at the supercharger shaft and it was sticking out of the collar of the first piece of the pulley not allowing the second piece to seat fully. When I questioned about play in the supercharger shaft he said there should be none but with just a little pressure on the end of the shaft it slid back into the supercharger housing by at least 3/8" that would be about the length of the 2 grooves that it was off. I contacted Alta again and was told that there should be no play and the supercharger shaft had become unseated from the seal somehow and now the supercharger would need to be taken off and the seals repressed . What a PIA, the car was running great but just eating belts no excessive noise, smoke, anything. Does anyone think that irreversible damage was done to the S/C, because I know a new S/C has to be $$$$$. Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'd pick up a used supercharger here or on ebay (lots of low-mileage take-offs from JCW installs).

 

Your Bearing seal in your SC is cooked. It is not a warranty item and the dealer cost to replace is just over 3K.

Hate to break to the news to you but this is the fact. I had the exact same thing back in 2003 and it was a real PIA. I too had the Alta Pulley at 15% and the bearings gave out in my SC which caused the shaft to pertrude 8MM from the seat.

Before I went to the dealer, I replaced the pulley to the stock one (sneaky, I know) and told them that it just started making noises and I smelled a buring so I checked the belt and it looked like it was "cooked".

Still had to pay the price as they said the original pulley seat was altered and I had boost guages installed which voided the wty in the 1st place.

Good luck on this one. US Mini dealers just don't bend the rules at all. My MCS was @ the dealer for over 3 weeks for this exact same thing.

Don't despair... I sold my last MCS in FL and just bought another one her ein the UK. They are well worth the labor of love.

K

 

Anyone know of anyone with a used supercharger to sell? Ebay has only one and its for a cylinder head and supercharger from the UK.

 

Any possibility that the installer used the wrong type of puller to get the oem pulley off? Seems too coincidental to me.

 

Seals are not meant to position the shaft. The bearings are shot.

Follow Andy's advice and go used and do it yourself. Good practice for future enhancements.

 

the shaft itself does not move up/down/or side to side but it does slide in and out; the car was run a good 1500 miles after the initial install and the second belt install with no smoking or noise or anything unusual. What does a supercharger with shot bearings sound like? I probably will replace the s/c with a used one....now if I can just find one...I suppose I should post a WTB in the marketplace and hope for pity.

 

Bid on that UK one. If you can pick it up for $200 or so shipped, you could sell the head and make a profit! Well, at least partially cover the installation charges.

Also, try searching www.car-part.com

I picked

2003
BMW Mini Cooper
Supercharger/Turbocharger
All areas

I found 3, $450, $750, and call$.

 

sorry off topic...
andy @ ross-tech:
do u know when the mini bim-com will be available for sale?

 

No release date has been set ... we're working on it right now.

 

Just out of curiosity, how does installing a boost guage void your warranty?

 

There is most likely "thrust bearings' located on each end of the two supercharger shafts that position the shafts end to end. These most likely are seperate from the bearing that control the up-down and side to side movement. There might even be shims between the thrust bearings and the shaft to fine tune the clearences.

 

Great Question !!!

Ask Ferman Mini of Tampa Bay. They have got to be the most rubbish Mini Dealer on the planet. I mean total rubbish. They have a new guy named Victor who is supposed to be pretty good. I had dealt with him 2 times and he was okay, better than the old guy they had named Klaus aka Hitler. Victor at least is more relaxed and understands Mini owners are fanatics not cheap BMW wannabees.

The entire dilemma is documented here in NAM in one of the older forums. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...0&page=1&pp=25

Also, bad bearings in your SC sounds like a diesel engine, chattering, or very loud valves in the SC area like a the old flat 6 BMW's that need valve jobs every 75K miles. Our 1988 M6 had this loud valve tell tale sound that told us she needed to have a valve job. Just sounds like valve noise, quite hard to explain really. I first thought it was that tell tale BMW noise, but no, it was the bearing and bearing seat for the SC along with shredded belts.

Kesh