Add my 05 to the list of shreaded harmonic balancers. With less than 60k, it grenaded all of a sudden near the Tampa airport, taking out the right axle and power steering lines. It's going to be a couple weeks at Ferman, up to $2100 plus, assuming nothing else is needed once they repair those things to be able to drive it. PISSED.

 

Wow that is the most damage I've seen from one breaking. Good time to upgrade to the ATI damper.

 

I'm starting to think that upgrading to the ATI damper is a must even with my relatively low-mileage R53.

 

Is this a problem with '06 JCW's??

 

Yes it is a problem for the 05-06 models.

 

I just took my car to Edge Motor works in Dublin Ca.,Hooray!! And wanted them to check the vibration coming from the car. There's a wicked rrrummbling through my 08 cab. From front to rear. They said that my Harmonic dampener is out of round and vibrating, yoinks! And could also be my Flywheel. And a couple of repairs on my intake hose to my turbo with silicone. All Dealer repairs. Silicone fix?? Not an OEM replacement. What the customer can't see!! Thank Gosh for an HONEST group of professionals! I have until Feb. for my warranty to run out, it seems like it might a blessing. Tied to a company that's now putting profit well ahead of anything at all!

 

I thought I had some time left on my damper a 66K miles. Nope, mine went south this morning. I have an ATI on order. I think I'm going to change it myself.

 

So how did the ATI damper install went?

 

It's pretty much as simple as getting the serpentine belt off. A belt tool, torque wrench, and a balancer puller are about it for special tools required to do the job.

 

Spent hours trying to unbolt the crank pulley. Even with brakes pressed hard it keeps turning gahh. It should anti-clockwise right? Is it impossible without a torque wrench?

 

It really isn't good to use a torque wrench for loosening items as you can damage the wrench to the point that it is inaccurate enough for doing its intended job. Breaker bars are much more appropriate for that task. As far as the bolt, quick sharp blows like those delivered by an impact wrench will often loosen a bolt much easier than steady amounts of pressure. It does have a bit of Loctite on the bolt but it's only got about 85 ft/lbs of torque applied. If you have the drivers front wheel on the ground, have your helper put it in 6th gear, if you've got a manual trans, and really stand on the brakes while you give the breaker bar sharp impacts with something like a dead blow. If you know someone with an impact wrench, either electric or pneumatic, see if you can borrow it as it will make bolt removal significantly easier. The bolt is conventional thread and does loosen counterclockwise.

 

hmmm I just hit 80k after driving 6k on a road trip from the east coast to the west coast and back.
Should I be concern about mine? it's an 05 R53.

 

The pulley on my 2004 Cooper S developed a massive crack in it that went two-thirds of the way around the pulley when I bought the car with just 43000 miles on it. The pulley had a serious wobble to it. I replaced with an ATI pulley. It was a bit hard getting the old pulley off. I used some really long bolts that I cut to various lengths and stuck in the hole where the pulley bolt used to be, and used a conventional pulley puller to get it off.

 

Are there any warnings/symptoms that might alert you to a Harmonic Balancer about to go bad?

 

If you are lucky, there will be vibration, but for my car, I only discovered it when I used a flashlight/torch and looked down at the pulley when the car was idling. There should be no wobble.