I change out my tensioner and belt without removing or lifting the engine. Can be done with a bit of help.
I'd suggest cracking open the chain tensioner bolt BEFORE removing the motor mounts. Or its better to do that -- hella torque on that bolt (especially if it never been changed before). From my POV, the key to these jobs is removing the engine bracket for the simple fact you'll have less interference with parts in your way trying to get r done (it has to be removed for the chain tensioner R&R anyway). Then pulley tensioner is the much easier to deal with. +1 on the technic mount. Its super nice!
Work on the car has been delayed by some unexpected events in my life, but I got out in the garage the other day for some serious wrenching time. It was very good for my soul. I got the top of the engine stripped down (intercooler, fuel rail, valve cover, several brackets) and the belt side prepped (belt off, belt tensioner off, motor mount off). I had a bit of a fight with the E12 bolt that threads up into the bottom of the motor mount, but some penetrating oil, time and an impact wrench finally got it free. I've got the bolt loose on the crank pulley and on the cam sprocket, so I'm about ready to start putting on the new parts. Here's my list for tomorrow: - belt tensioner - crank seal - crank pulley - idler pulley - engine mount - serpentine belt - plugs - valve cover gasket - timing chain guides - timing chain tensioner
Well today it was above freezing so I got to hand wash my car. I was even able to vacuum out the whole car. All salt and crap gone and parked back in the garage on the carpet.
OK... I'm going to go through some iterations of this post (this message will be updated as I collect information and photos), but here are my initial notes that I'm typing up the day that I finished the work. I expect I'll turn this into an article once it's all together. Note: I'm not a mechanic, nor do I play one on TV. I'm just trying to assemble what I did to the best of my ability. I did a bunch of other stuff at the same time, so I might have missed a minor disassembly step here or there, but the essentials are all here. Timing system service (Timing chain tensioner and front/rear timing chain guide replacement) Parts needed: - Front and rear timing chain guides (I'll probably do it every 80k miles or so) - Timing chain tensioner (IMHO, if you have more than 80k miles on it and you are doing this work, replace it) - valve cover gasket and 4 spark plug tube seals (some folks re-use these gaskets... after 80k miles, I was due for new ones) - new valve cover bolts (12 in total, 2 different sizes. Not absolutely necessary, but mine were rusty and one broke during reinstall after 12 years in service. Remarkably expensive for a bolt!) - spark plugs (if you wish... you will be right there and it's easy to do) Note: There is an excellent mechanic that I've found on YouTube that has several R53 wrenching guides. In a series of 2 videos, he takes a car that had a blown head gasket (oil and coolant mixed to make 'chocolate milk' in the engine) and does a repair. His video takes you down to removing the timing chain gear (where you need to get to so you can replace the guides) and then goes a few steps further to take the head off of the engine block. I used his video extensively as I stripped things down. Here's a link: Put the front of the car up on jack stands (lowest setting possible) and remove the front right wheel Remove the fender liner of that wheel (sometimes I just undo the front of the liner and flex it up and out of the way if I'm just doing a belt... go ahead and remove the whole thing this time for better access) Remove the intercooler cover (4 #30 star bolts) and the intercooler itself (more #30 star bolts and the clamps on the rubber intercooler boots) Pull the dipstick and set aside. Disconnect the vacuum lines on the left and right of the valve cover. Remove the 2 brackets under the intercooler (one has 3 8mm bolts where you need a wobble extension, the other has 2 8mm bolts). Pull the spark plug wires off of the spark plugs. (take a photo so you get 'em all back in the right order) Put a floor jack under the passenger rear corner of the oil pan and lift it so that it just barely supports the engine. Remove the engine mount (large u-shaped metal bracket just over the serpentine belt). There is a bolt on top of the engine damper, plus 4 18mm bolts that attach the mount to the engine. There is also a 13mm nut attaching a ground strap to the frame. Remove the many 8mm valve cover attachment bolts (you will need an 8mm DEEP socket for this as several are on tall studs and buried in a recess, so a box-end wrench will be hard to use) . Remove the 2 plugs on the side of the head using a 10mm hex (allen) socket IMPORTANT: Place paint marks (I had a paint pen... liquid paper was used in the video I recommend, above) on the timing chain and the timing chain gear so you can make sure they can be re-aligned perfectly when reassembling. In the photo below, you can see the white line I drew on the gear and the chain link (after cleaning off the oil). As long as these 2 marks are aligned when you reassemble, your timing will be OK. Have someone sit in the driver's seat of the car, put the car in 6th gear, take their foot off of the clutch and hold the brake pedal firmly. Remove the bolt holding the timing chain gear to the cam. Hang the timing chain from the bonnet by a bungee cord, so it is always held upwards (It shouldn't be able to slip off of the lower gear, but I'm not taking that chance). I've been told (after I finished the work and published the first draft of this article, so I can't confirm) that you don't have to remove the sprocket from the chain... that once you remove the bolt, you can just wiggle the chain guide rails out in step 19, below. It's probably still a good idea to mark the chain and gear as I did above... just to be safe. Remove the timing chain tensioner from the rear of the engine block. You will need a 19mm socket and a wobble attachment. It's on there VERY tight and is in a poor location. I lifted the passenger side of the engine a bit, using the floor jack, to give me better access from the top (I couldn't get a good angle on it from the wheel well... I followed the advice from the video and got it off fairly quickly. A bit of oil will leak out, but just a tablespoon or so. You won't need to drain the engine oil. Remove the 10mm bolts at the top of the timing chain guide rails (both front and rear) and replace the guides with new ones. You get to the 10mm bolts through the 2 large, round ports on the side of the housing. There is a pin at the bottom to hold the lower side of each guide rail... be sure the new rail sits down on the pin. Replace the bolts. Replace the timing chain tensioner that you removed in step 18. I put in a new one as the work is a bit of a PITA and I don't like to skimp when it comes to MINI reliability, but you can check to make sure that the piston moves freely, wipe it clean and reinstall if you wish. It is oil powered, so it's going to be drippy. There is a very high torque rating on this sucker (over 90-100 ft-lbs, if I recall), but I couldn't get my torque wrench down there anyway, so I just installed it as firmly as my short 1/2" drive would let me by hand. Reattach the timing chain gear, ensuring that the chain and gear marks you made earlier are aligned and the pin on the cam is in the hole on the gear. I got my wife back in the driver's seat to hold the brake w/ the car in 6th gear again when tightening the bolt. Put a new valve cover gasket on the valve cover. I also replaced the 4 spark plug tube seals. The valve cover bolts are tightened in a specific order, starting in the middle and alternating front and then back. Do one set to the left, then one set to the right, then one set to the left... continue until you run out of bolts. Tighten 'em in 3 stages... first just snug, then a bit tighter, then to the final torque. Reassemble
It's great to see you got this done! I don't remember touching he injectors or fuel line, but good job.
Great info. I had forgotten about modMini's headgasket video. I kept searching and always found the chain tensioner video, never this one. The tensioner itself is best removed when you drop the subframe and pull the axles - totally open access. I could kick myself for not doing the tensioner on the dark silver car last summer when that side of the engine was all open and exposed. Thing is, some of that rattle I am hearing in my cars is coming from the transmission, not the timing chain. Easy test and very repeatable on my daily driver: cold start, let clutch out fast, there's the knocking/rattle sound. Then push the clutch back in and release very slowly, noise is gone. I read about this on NAM but never got an explanation as to what is behind that noise, but it is something very common to those cars I understand. Higher mileage manual transmission R53s seem to have that noise depending on how you release the clutch. It is only audible when the transmission is un neutral and you release the clutch quickly, at least in 2 of my cars. The 32k mile car doesn't do it (yet).
I sure hope that's all it is - "easy" fix compared to anything else But why would the throw out bearing make noise if you release the clutch fast and then make no noise when you move your foot back a little slower? Same condition - it's spinning on the shaft in the same place. I don't have a link, but others have shown that it's not always clutch related. Maybe I'll record the sound. Easy to replicate on my blue car.
@fishmonger Perhaps when released tased it moves further back on the shaft. How many miles on the clutch?
It's possible... I was playing along with the video as I had never removed the valve cover before. I've got a whole new set of valve cover bolts coming (rust caused one to break, causing a minor leak, so I'm replacing all of Em as they looked a bit shady), so I'll confirm and adjust when I get a second look under there with my new-found experience.
I might have had a hard time doing the tensioner (it took several minutes to figure out how to get the old way me out and the new one in (even with the engine mount removed), but it might be possible. I needed to replace the engine mount, so I grouped this first batch of engine work so that I could do everything over on that side of the engine while I had all of the room granted by stripping it off.
Note: I updated the timing chain guide rail replacement post, above, with some photos and new formatting. I should probably look up the torque values and add 'em.... After that and a few more edits, I'll turn that post into an article. https://www.motoringalliance.com/threads/refreshing-rufus-2005-mcs-jcw.29878/page-13#post-400327 Oh yeah... I just heard back from Mr. Greene. My new coil overs are almost done and should be on their way to me by the end of the week! I might as well get myself in gear and order the rest of the suspension bits... Another 'oh yeah' moment... I forgot to report back in on my success/failure of the timing chain service work (plus crank pulley, crank seal, plugs, idler pulley, tensioner, belt, engine mount)! I got everything put back together and it started right up and ran smoothly. Unfortunately, I had a small leak in the valve cover gasket (due to a broken bolt... parts on the way) and the oil was dripping down onto the exhaust, so I shut Rufus off fairly quickly. I'll call it a success... gotta start planning the supercharger service next.
88k on the one that makes the most noise, 100k on the other that sounds similar, but not as loud and not as often. Sounds louder/worse when the transmission is cold.
Mine made a noice till I changed it at 150k. When it was cold sometimes My clutch would make a squealing noise. Sorry I didn't mean to highjack the thread
Decided to work on the thermostat housing and thermostat replacement today. I spent 90% of my time fighting with a stripped out and rusty filister head screw that didn't want to move for the longest time... then decided to break off, leaving the shaft down in the threaded bracket. Luckily the bracket was only $11, so 2 new screws and a bracket are on the way. Sigh. My new valve cover bolts arrived, but there are 2 different sizes (8 short ones, 4 tall ones). The vendor decided to send all tall ones. Morons!