I had my 17% pulley installed at Helix in March, I had to replace the belt that they installed after residue got on the belt and caused squeaking. So the belt that I put on was a NAPA 060353 belt (same that as installed at the same time as the pulley). After about 2,000 miles of driving and after MINIs on the Dragon, I pull off the belt because it seemed off center. Here is a picture of the belt...



If you notice, the last rib on the belt has almost been completely ripped off with the backing remaining.

Today I replaced the belt with a NAPA 060352 belt. When I put the belt on, it is almost right at the edge of the pulley. Here is a picture of what the belt does right after I start the engine.



The belt jumps over one slot. So my question is, should it be aligned like this? My gut tells me no.

If it shouldn't be, I am not sure what is causing this as the tensioner was replaced with the pulley and it seems that the belt is aligned properly everywhere else.


Any help is appreciated...

 

From the pic, it looks like one of the bolts has backed out of the pulley. No, it shouldn't be one rib off. I'd pull the belt, loosen the pulley and confirm that it's firmly seated.

 

Excellent eye, I was too focused on the belt that I didn't even notice that. I will jack up the engine and check the seating of the pulley then tighten it up.

 

Yes it looks like you have a loose bolt on the pulley. Look in the center hole of the pulley and make sure the shaft is bottomed out into the face of the pulley. If it is the pulley is on all the way and something else is causing it, possibly a crank pulley failing, we know we've seen a bunch of those.

 

Turns out that two bolts were very loose and a third needed to be tightened. The belt is staying were it should now and the car seems to be running fine. Under hard acceleration or if I give it a lot of gas while parked a slight whine-like sound can be heard now though. So I will have to investigate further to see what might be causing that.

 

Are you kidding or am I being dense, the super charger has a lovely whine when you get on it... I miss that in my justacooper (my S had the 15% pulley and the whine when pressed a little was sweet I thought)

 

No no! I know the sound that the supercharger makes LOL

I mean besides the supercharger whine, which makes this other sound hard to hear, there is another whine kind of sound. I tried to take a video but you can only hear the supercharger.

Oh well, it is running fine, I know there is a problem when my engine catches fire... haha

 

So I have an update. Tightening the bolts didn't fix the problem. After a few days the belt skipped over again.

I sent Eric at Helix the pictures of the problem and talked to him on the phone for a bit on Friday. Today I was able to drive down to the shop and an hour later the problem was fixed - The whole pulley was not aligned.

Wasn't charged at all for the work and they threw in a new belt for me for free. I can't thank Helix enough for all the help they have done on my car.

 

I'm having a somewhat similar problem..... I had a 15% Craven S/C pulley & 2% ATI Super Damper crank pulley installed at the same time and they used a JCW belt. On day 3 of the install, it threw the belt and shredded it. They shop towed it back and replaced the belt with the same type and drove it for a couple days and on the second day it threw the belt again. They found that "MY" particular S/C had some "slop" in the shaft and the pulley didn't seat completely. They corrected the "slop" and have the pulley fully seated and installed the new JCW belt. I've driven it and it sounded fine for 2 months and continues to run great but it has developed a "chirping" or cricket like sound only during startup and running for the first 20min. or so (I guess until it warms up) and then it goes away. A quick squirt some baking powder on the S/C pulley and it goes away instantly. But by the time I leave about 4 hours later, IT'S BACK! WTH? Is there a way to "rough up" the belt or pulley slightly and gently to cure this without taking the belt off. I'm not a mechanic and don't have the tools to do so. The belt looks great, it's just the sound that's KILLING me for about 40min. a day, daily! Should I try a Gatorback or something that is known for less belt noise? I drove it pretty hard @ MOTD this year and no problems except for the belt noise. Help!

 

Well for one it would be good to see if that belt is even the right size. Also, I would not put anything on the belt, don't need to contaminate it. That's what I did and I needed a new belt.

Can you see if any fluids are getting on the belt?

 

I did have a failed coolant reservoir cap that dribbled a little for about a week until I replaced it. Could that really be it? Got a little coolant spray or mist on the belt?

 

I am by no means a mechanic, just trying to brain storm. Do you have a tensioner tool to replace belts on your own?

 

I would call Way Motor Works, since they are close to you, and explain to them what you have done with the car with the pulley and such to see if they can hook you up with the proper size belt and see if that helps at all too.

 

Starting to think I need to purchase one though...........

 

It would be a good idea to. And heck, even if you replace this belt and everything is solved. You will need to replace the belt anyways and I am sure the tool will pay for itself the next time you need a new belt.

 

Reading this tells me your mechanic did something wrong, there is no such thing as slop in the supercharger shaft that you could correct without rebuilding the supercharger. I'd guess they don't have the pulleys installed correctly. But the only way to tell is have the car in my shop looking at it.

 

your pulley is not installed Close enough to the engine. Mini did the same thing to my car. it shredded the outside of the belt, just like yours.

they had to take OFF the pulley, and put the adapter back on, closer to the engine, then re-install everything. the belt should be FULLY on that pulley, with no S shape to it when it goes to the other pulleys on the engine.

take it back to Helix. tell them to "do it right this time!" lol.

 

Please read post #8