Hey folks, Looking for some ideas on troubleshooting. My supercharger let go on the track car earlier this year and while it only has 55k miles it has been used only on the track for the last 3 years (12+ weekends a year) so I figured that may have accelerated the wear (using a jcw pulley not a 19% or something crazy toasty). I ordered a kit from way including: a new OEM Eaton supercharger w/JCW pulley, Supercharger Inlet Gasket, Supercharger Outlet Gasket, Water Pump, Water Pump Oring, Water Pump Flange Oring. As it looked like a good deal and have always had good service from him. Here is the snag, it appears that the supercharger pulley is pressed onto the shaft too far. I am honestly not even sure that is possible, but that what it looks like. It is causing the belt to walk inwards towards the timing cover. The core hasn’t gone back yet so comparing them the pulleys do look the same but if he accidently sent a normal pulley would that cause this? The local shop has a normal pulley puller but not a jcw puller. Regardless, I am not sure using a puller to pull it out a bit is a great idea as it might just work back to the “too deep†position and shred the belt. I have sent Way a message but I know with the dragon he is probably crazy backlogged so thought someone more knowledgeable than me might have an idea. I have missed all but one event this year trying to get the mini running right and it is getting depressing :C
I do not believe any New Easton M45 Superchargers are available MINI's. Wait for Way to get back to you and see what he says. FYI~ Easton does not make a rebuild kits for the M45. Period If anyone tells you otherwise ask for the Eaton Part #'s and call Eaton yourself. Rebuilds are done by 3rd party companies but are know to fail. When my OEM SC fails I will be going with a TVS or a Rotrex because they are more much efficient and can generate much more boost. I will not put a non Eaton 3rd party rebuild on my car and I would rather drive a Prius then even look at a Sprintex heat pump. :devil:
Yeah I wasn't really looking for a rebuild as I figure with the track abuse it would just die faster. Here is what i ordered: Supercharger, Water Pump, & Seal Replacement Package R52 R53 - Way Motor Works I did talk to him before ordering and he said with oem/jcw pulleys they have the same 2 year warranty as the ones you used to get from the dealerships. The ones he rebuilds (not sure how) have a 1 year warranty, hence my decision. I did actually google around for the TVS as I remembered hearing about it ages ago but couldn't find anything recent or talking about a ready to install kit and I figured a new M45 would be cheaper and more straight forward of an install :-/ That said a TVS would bork my TT class now, eventually I want to go GTS2 where it is power/weight based classing.
Dave's 100% right. The problem with rebuilds is there aren't a ton of parts to chose from, and the tolerances can be off big time. It doesn't mean the WILL be off, but if they are off, you're stuck, because you can't go to a part bin with a million different parts to find one that fits better.
RMW / JAN is still testing, building, testing, refining and testing again the TVS for the MINI R53's. Just like he is with the Rotrex.
I took a closer look after work today, it basically looks like the pulley is a 1/8” or so further towards the engine than it should be in order to align with the other pulleys. I am not sure how the pulleys are mounted if it is a case of just press one till snug or if there should be a gap of 1/8” via some jig that is used when installing. If the car is turned on it's basically pulling the serpentine belt off of the other pulleys and will shred to pieces. Maybe the pulley is supposed to be flush with the charger and some install issue means the whole supercharger is misaligned (fairly unlikely as the bolts all went in fine). I was talking to the local race shop and they said pulling it off a smidge via a jcw puller (which they don’t have) not the standard puller (which they do) would be a solid solution. That said they are more a BMW than MINI specialist so I want to hear back from someone like Way/Chad etc before I do that. Does anyone know the part number for the JCW puller? The local dealership just keep trying to sell a normal puller which will just damage the pulley :-/
Alright Way called me a little while ago (well after business hours so yay for customer service) and had some thoughts. He said he hasn't seen something like that before. The pulley is supposed to be flush with the charger, he doesn't think backing it out a bit is a good idea and that shouldn't be required. He did say those bolts that the belt was hitting on do back out sometimes so recommended checking for that or if one of the other pulleys has an issue which is messing up the belt alignment. He said that if those things don't check out and it is definitely a faulty shaft/pulley than it is a warranty issue with BMW/MINI. As such it would need to be taken to the dealership which would contact him to verify the purchase/registration and then replace it under warranty.
Yeah I just saw that post and that's the first time I have seen new ones available in years. I think I will go TVS at this point with my car since the Eaton is not capable of doing much more for me at this point.
Still trying to get the invoice from Way (showing he bought it from BMW) to the dealership to figure something out warranty wise, to get this DOA supercharger dealt with. Season is ruined :-/ next time I am not bothering with an M45 if it is going to be this much hassle and downtime might as well do something better.