My R53 JCW in for fixing today !!!

[Justin S]

Well was going to wait until we were going on holiday in August, but one of the tensioners for the belt started to whine a bit. So list at my mates garage today is........
1/ Replace both idler and tensioner and drive belt
2/ Replace sump gasket ( can remove oil pad from garage floor from tonight !!!)
3/ Replace supercharger oil ( you MUST do this. Our is 75k miles and is apparently like black tar)
4/ Top up gearbox oil ( I changed it with better oil, but lying on you back getting it right levelled is a pain, when he has hydraulic ramps)
5/ Oil and filter, obviously
6/ New plugs ( didnt trust the garage who serviced it for the guy we bought it from last year to change them)
7/ Find what i think is a noisy wheel bearing ( again ramps make it easier)

And anything else he might find !!! Wish me luck with the bill !!!

[Defcon5]

How do you go about changing the supercharger oil?

[Justin S]

Theres a bung at the front and one behind the water pump on the rear. Syringe out the old and put in new. The rear one dries out due to being next to the water pump and has a smaller resevoir.Then you need a bearing change on the charger.

[hoppinmad]

changing the charger oil is quite an involved job which require removing pretty much the whole front to get to one of the holes to drain/refill, iam very thankful that a close friend is a mini specialist

[Justin S]

Well, just got it back........
New idler and tensioner bearings. The tensioner was the noisy one with a few thou of bearing play thrown in for good measure. The belt was changed as looked old anyway. I bought the tensioner from GSF carparts as BMW wanted £148 plus vat for it !!!. Was £84 next day delivered from GSF.
Sump gasket done, was leaking from the rear of the engine. Oil mat in my garage now in the bin
Supercharger was a bit of a pig, but was done. Happy now thats sorted.
Gearbox checked and topped with oil after I did the most on the drive >needed next to nothing, but also lubed the clutch rod on the bellhousing
Wheelbearing noise, he thinks is a tyre as the bearings seem fine. May just chuck a couple of new tyres on at some point.
Oil and filter done as were the spark plugs.
All suspension and things checked over for a clean bill of health............
Hopefully we can enjoy the silence of rumbly tensioner bearings and listen to the supercharger whine for a lot longer.