I did a variation of Dave's method. Had my car flat bedded to a trusted shop with a very good MINI tech. Paid some money & was on the road again. Thanks to Anson at Best Motor Werks.
Update alternator was replaced while mechanic fixed oil pan and crank sensor seals, now he says the stater is bad:| said most likely caused from the oil leak he says it's covered in oil, I got the car back thou I'm going to attempt this one myself ! Wish me luck! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I am also new to Mini....first week I bought it the Supercharger went out....I had to remove the front en of the mini to get to SC, pretty much same thing needs to be done for alternator replacement....... It looks like a major work but it really is not that hard at all..........I took the front clip off within an hour....I am a Realtor....lol Last night I kept blowing the fuse for Alternator/battery....not sure if Alternator is fried or it is something else..I might have to do it all over again! Buy the tensioners tool from ebay or Amazon.....it is only $25.00 and well worth it.
OEM Alternators regularly last well over 100k miles....for my efforts (and poor experience with aftermarket alternators), I'd never consider anything but a Mini Alternator. As others have said getting the car in service mode is pretty easy, particularly when at home in your own shop....but out on the road when the aftermarket alternator blows out and you're 300 miles from your tools....well, I don't want to experience that. I've actually acquired a low mileage alternator as a spare part for when my original one needs replacing....I'm at 121,000 miles and counting....