Recently my Supercharger has failed and I took into the dealership for repairs but they said since I put a 15% Madness Pulley on there that it voids the warranty!! IS THIS TRUE? Anyone have any experience with this please let me know - I cant afford a 3000 dollar repair bill..

 

Unfortunately I think so..

 

I don't think it is the super charger - The dealership told me that they disconnected the belts and the noise was still coming from the super charger? How can this be? If the belt is disconnected the super charger is not running, so in theory it shouldn't make a noise? I think they are jerking me around.. Any helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

They cranked it with out the belt on?

 

A few questions:
1) Are you very mechanical?
2) What 'failed' in the supercharger? Gears? Water pump? Bearings?

Note that you can get a(n) SC for far less than a new one from MINI. Try turbosupersales on ebay.
With a pulley they do have a pretty good case for denying warranty, but it really depends on what failed.
If they did remove the belt, the SC should make no noise - as you say, it wouldn't be turning at that point.
If you DO need a new SC, the work will be FAR cheaper at an independent shop.

Give us updates and we'll try to help.

 

This is the noise that it is making - Thanks for someone on Nam posting this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX1mPmu9kpE

 

The dealership told me that they first thought it was the belt tensioner, and after replacing it and put everything back on the noise was still there.

 

I am not that mechanical. Plus the car is at the dealership now, so I cant diagnose.. But if someone can listen to this video and tell me if they had the same issue and what it was .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX1mPmu9kpE

 

The other thing it really was running fine, the noise was loud enough to hear in the cabin. No performance loss what so ever.

 

Know anything about the harmonic balancing pulley? I think that's what broke on our car... the rubber parts inside got hot and it broke. The guy at the garage showed us how it split and that affected the belt (which broke) which affected the Supercharger and so on. We were told it had been the second one seen in just a couple of weeks. He wasn't expecting it and didn't really know that it could happen.

The husband is sitting here answering my question... I don't know how any of this works but it was cheaper than replacing the Supercharger. Just trying to be helpful. Thankfully we never did anything with the pulley so it was covered under warranty. Hope you are able to get it fixed.

 

Is that part of the belt tension device? I'm really only going on what the dealership has relayed to me. I just spoke to a mechanic who works on Minis and he said if noise was still there even after the belt was taken off that it has to be something internal in the engine. Makes sense to me.

 

With 'warranty' are you talking about your whole dealership warranty?

I know that adding aftermarket parts to your MINI can void the warranty repair on any particular part that is found to have been damaged by the addition of the aftermarket part. So, if the dealership determines that your 15% pulley caused the supercharger to fail they have the right to deny warranty repairs on the supercharger since they are not liable for the pulley.

 

No just the super charger... But it does not makes since if it is coming from the Super charger if the belt that runs the super charger is disconnected. Or am I completely wrong. Besides my pulley is only 15% and not much bigger then the JCW Pulley. I could understand if I put a 19% on there ,but come on

 

I think miniola is talking about the crank pulley which is heavy and balanced to help smooth out any crank vibration (others here at NAM may have a better technical answer). Mine was replaced with an Alta 2% a couple years ago and all I remember is that thing was ugly. The belt tensioner is located above the crank pulley. If that went, you'd know it since it would swing out and make a mess of the belt.

Let us know what you find out.

Makes sense that the noise could be something else. Since the engine appears to run well to you, it must be something loose that doesn't affect power. The sound track wasn't really helpful other than it was a nasty sounding noise. I assume the sound track was with the belt and SC running.

I'd have to think that any reasonably good mechanic at a dealership would know the things to inspect to locate such a noise. Then again, maybe not.

 

Thanks for the input ToBFree.. Ya we have only one good tech here at our dealership.. unfortunately he wasn't there today because he was sick.. Honestly we have had other people in our club with the same problem, instead of diagnosing the problem.. they push parts at it until it goes away. Honestly I am afraid that this is the last straw for me.. If it cant be fixed, I will have to sell the car and go buy something more dependable.

 

Dang that sounds pretty rough. I've not heard a bad supercharger but if they took the belt off I can't see how it could make that noise, nothing in it should be moving. Sounds to me like something in the valve train. I have had a bad valve in a V8 and they click just about like that.

 

Just yelled to the husband (he's in the shower) and asked about the "crank pulley"... he said, "same difference"... so I guess we're talking about the same thing.

I listened to the video and the sound reminded me of my old cars when they needed oil. Probably not that simple though.

 

My MINI makes a noise similar to that, but quite a bit quieter (you pretty much have to have the hood up to hear it). I just always thought that's how the MINI's engine sounded because I hadn't really modified anything at that point. I just recently "reset" my ECU by leaving the battery disconnected for 30 min. someone on NAM posted something about it so I tried it, I left the battery disconnected for about 45 min. It may just be my imagination, but my car seemed a bit faster and that noise was less noticeable. It could just be in my head, but I doubt it would hurt.
NOTE: if you are disconnection your battery I would recommend putting one of your windows down first b/c you won't be able to open the hatch (it's electronic) so to open it you have to pull the small ring under the center of the back seats. even if you don't plan on shutting the hatch, it's a good safety measure, just incase someone decides to shut it for you. I suspect that you can still manually unlock the door, but I didn't try it

 

Aftermarket pulley = bye, bye warranty.

You play, you pay. Is that simple.

Sorry to hear about your problems.

 

Oh, the old unplug the battery and forget to leave the boot open. Been there, did that. And for some reason my MINI doesn't have the manual release gadget under the rear seats. I had to reconnect the battery the hard way to get the boot open.

The valve train thought might be a good lead. Anything worn or loose in there could make a racket. You didn't happen to change the spark plugs in your MINI lately?

 

Although it's difficult to tell from the video, it sounds like it's valvetrain related. If it were the supercharger, it would probably be making that sound alot quicker, as the SC spins fast (rpm) even at idle.

I'd recommend going to a reputable independent MINI shop in your area. If you can't find one, then make the trip to LA as you suggested, and take it to one of the MINI shops in and around LA. Good luck!

 

Thanks for everyone's in put - Just been hit hard lately with money and was not expecting this. Every mini mechanic says that a 15% pulley would not cause the super charger to fail. Under the moss magnuson act, mini is going to have to prove that the part actually cause the part to fail. Lets hope mini does the right thing..

 

What you can always do is...dish out $200 to $300 bucks to switch the pulley back to stock and then bring it to another dealer.

 

It's also up to you to prove that it didn't. Did anyone say Lawyer$. Take it somewhere else.

 

Ahh