96 Rover Mini Cooper Air Con Belt Alignment

[Snoop]

Hello, I noticed today than the air con belt is not aligned to the engine pulley - see the attached photo. Is this correct for a 96 Rover Mini Cooper? I have checked this out closely and there does not seem a way that you can make any adjustments to align the belt, thanks

[Tedwong]

Not looking right! Is there a spacer between the water pump and fan pulley?

[Snoop]

I am not sure at all - I have been trying to find a good parts drwg showing all of the parts for the Japanese model with air con

[GraemeC]

Looks like someone has put the fan spacer on the wrong side of the pulley.

[Peter Laidler]

I don't know if it's me, but BOTH belts look slightly off-line

[Snoop]

Yes, I agree, the air con belt also looks slightly out. Is this the fan spacer that I have shown on the attached photo?

The big question is, can you fix this in place or would you need to take the radiator and/or the engine out?

[coopersean]

You could try this Facebook group, which is specific for Mini air conditioning:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/756900611517382

[GraemeC]

This is the fan spacer:
http://www.minispares.com/product/Class ... o%20search

It should go between the top pulley and the plastic fan. I think yours is between the water pump and the pulley.

It should be: water pump -> top pulley -> fan spacer -> fan

You’ll not be able to see the spacer unfortunately, and you’ll probably need to pull the rad out to find out.


The other belt does look slightly out of alignment, but it could just be the camera angle

[Snoop]

Great, thanks for the info which I will check out

[Snoop]

Hello,

I checked with my mechanic who fitted a new water pump recently and he told me that everything has been fitted correctly and the fan spacer has not been fitted at back of the pulley by mistake. I put a post on the Mini facebook page with is pending - not sure how that works, however in the meantime, I would be keen to know if anyone with a Rover Mini Copper 35 Japanese model with air con could check to see if their pulley and belt alignment is like my one?

[minibitz]

I think your mechanic might be mistaken.

The amount of misalignment, which looks roughly 4mm in the picture, would tally up with having a 4mm thick fan spacer fitted incorrectly behind the pulley!

If installed correctly you should be able to see the fan spacer as shown on picture.

IMG_1017.jpg

[Snoop]

Thanks for the photo and info - I'll check it out on my Mini

[Snoop]

I used a small mirror to see the back of the yellow fan and pulley (see the second photo) and there doesn't seem to be a spacer fitted between the back of the fan and the pulley. The first photo is looking at the back of the water pump flange which is hard to see and there could be a spacer fitted in front of the water pump flange. I think the cause of the problem is obvious.

[minibitz]

Yep, spacer most likely behind pulley so incorrect.

Who knows, it may have been that way when you took the car in for work.

At least the fan is on the correct way. That's the most common rookie error.

[Snoop]

As mentioned earlier, a new water pump was fitted by the original owner 5mths ago - do all classic Mini water pumps have the same mounting dimensions from the engine to the pulley flange? I assume a GWP188 pump was fitted, however does this pump have the same dimensions are the GWP187 water pump?

Also, could the water pump pulley be the wrong size which is causing the belt misalignment? - just wanting to get all my ducks in a row

[GraemeC]

Yes, all pumps have the same dimensions.
The belt running area to the inside face of the pulley is also the same across all pulleys (although the PO is unlikely to have changed the pulley for a different one).

[Snoop]

Thanks for the info, cheers

[Snoop]

I have the Mini booked into the mechanic next Tuesday to check out the misaligned of the water pump belt. He advised that it would not be possible to have the spacer on the water pump side at the back of the pulley as you would not have enough room left to fit the pulley onto the water pump spigot, - would this be correct?

I was looking at the pulley again today and it doesn't seem straight to me so I put a rule across the pulley with a level and it shows that the pulley is not straight. Just wondering if this could be the problem. When you fit the pulley onto the water spigot before you fit the spacer and the radiator fan, is this normally a tight fit or a loose fit?

[Peter Laidler]

Thinking out aloud regarding your misaligned fan belts Snoopy, and living in Christchurch, I'm bound to ask whether you really NEED a/c down there?

Why not just carefully take it out, flush it out, clean it up and leave it for the next owner - and sucker for punishment - to re-install if he needs it. Mini owning life must be easier without it, surely.

What I'm saying is that there's originality......... and then there's sensible NON originality. For example, like replacing an oily-arm-oil-and-garage-floor filter with the screw-on type

[Exminiman]

and then there's sensible NON originality. For example, like replacing an oily-arm-oil-and-garage-floor filter with the screw-on type

Sorry off topic, but guess who just re-installed an "oily Arm" filter - bloody thing pissed oil all over the floor - had to resort to a Dowty washer to stop it, next time its coming off....