I left for a 3 hour trip this morning and made it a half our before trouble. I was cruising at about 70mph when the car started running rough and the check engine light began flashing. I pulled over and shut the car off. Luckily I had my code reader with me and I pulled the following codes.

P0300
P0301
P0302
B2AAA

I let the car sit for a few minutes while I looked up the codes. Saw misfires and we to look at coils and plugs. They seemed fine but couldn't test them with what I had with me. I started the car again and the check engine light remained solid and did not flash. I was able to drive it home again with it sounding essentially like a Subaru and parked it. Only if i gave it too much gas would the CEL begin flashing. For some reason I am thinking it is the CAT based on the sounds it was making but I haven't taken a deep look yet. Any ideas?

 

You have misfires, so you suspect the catalyst?

More likely to be the plugs, the coils, the control module, carbon fouling, HPFP...

 

So I got a call from the dealer today, They replaced the coils and the car still wouldn't run right. They did a compression test and found that cylinder 1 has no compression. They suspect that it is a cracked valve and want to pull the head off the look. They say it will be near $1000 before anything is done to fix it. If it is it will be another $1500 to redo the valves. If it is a piston or cylinder wall, they want to put a re-manufactured motor in at $5000. I have to pay $500 to get it back from the dealer and it is going home to sit for a month before I have time to work on it. Anyone ever heard of anything like this happening? Also suggestions or comments?

 

This makes me really consider selling my 09. Nothing has gone wrong yet, but an engine failure cruising on the highway? Screw that. I think I'm out.

 

It's all to common especially with the N14 engine, a cracked valve seems more likely than piston or cylinder wall damage. Why on earth did you take it to the dealer if out of warranty, you could cut your repair bill in half by going to an indy shop! If it is just a valve you could just replace the valve or valves or even rebuild the head and valve train since the head must come off anyways. Now is the time to think of either keeping the Mini long term or selling it down the road.

I'm thinking about keeping my Mini because my bottom end is solid, compression is where it would be if it were almost new. I have thought about rebuilding my head just to prevent a valve crashing my party as it did you.

What's location if you don't mind my asking, there's plenty of indy shops that specifically work on German/UK inports.

Link

 

I am in the upstate NY region. I did manage to talk the dealer down in price on some things as they have had to do it on a few cars and understand the problems with these motors. If I had the time and a second vehicle that I could drive daily, I would do it myself and invest in some of the specialist tools required to do the job. I've rebuild other motors, mostly American, and many small motors including doing some valve jobs where the valves got bent, but in this case it comes back to time and money.

 

Keep us updated on what they find when pulling the head off, glad you got that inflated price down some.

 

So after talking with the mini dealer who has now changed the price a few times, they dropped the initial charges to do the work that didn't solve the problem. For them to take the head off the car is $1000 and to completely do the job would be $4300 and they will replace all valves, gaskets, and the coil packs which are needed. They used a camera on a stick to see inside the cylinders and they said the pistons look fine in all cylinders and have no signs of problems. They couldn't see the cylinder walls for scoring though but they feel that the valves are the problem. I am having trouble deciding what to do as the cost to repair it is half the worth of the car at this point. If the valves don't solve the problem, then I am out a lot. At this point, its almost worth sitting until I have time to fix it myself.

 

Have they performed a leak-down test? This should tell where it is leaking, intake valves, exhaust valves, head gasket.

Did they look at the intake valves for carbon build up? If the build up is bad enough you will loose compression and get misfires. This is a fairly common problem. The only way to clean the valves is by walnut blasting. The dealer usually charges $1000 while independent shops are known to perform the service in the $400 - $500 range. Any BMW shop should know how to do the service. Don't do the chemical cleaning it is a waste of money.

If the valves have never been blasted then that is my bet.

 

They did a leak down test and found no compression on cylinder 1. they think the valve is burnt/cracked but don't know until they look. No matter what, it is going to be expensive.

 

$4300 to rebuild the head seems a little high, the $1000 for labor isn't to bad.

 

A leak down test and compression test are different things. A compression test only tells you that you have poor compression. A leak down test tells you what is leaking. Leak down tests are done after a poor compression test.

In a leak down test you pressurize the system then listen for the hissing noise. It will give definitive answers on where it it leaking. Either intake valves, exhaust valves or head gasket.

It might not be an expensive repair if it is only carbon build up. They should look at that before pulling the head.

 

So basically, the car is going to come home. I am going to call a few friends who are technicians at other dealerships and see if I can't have them point me in the right direction. I remember seeing a post for a completely re manufactured motor purchased and to someones door for $3500. I can't remember if it was for an R53 or not but if someone could find the post, it would be very helpful.

I would rather see If I can get a new motor, rip the front of the car apart and do it over the course of a couple weeks and have a new motor in the car for less than the head job without needing any specialist tools that I can think of right now.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but it sounds almost exactly what I went through 14 months ago. After my leak down test, exhaust valves on cyl 4 were confirmed to be the culprit (N14 with 56K miles at that time). I ended up buying a new/re-manufactured MINI engine with 2 year factory warranty, and DIY installed it over the course of about 6-8 weeks (over the weekends).

More info here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...n-cyl-4-a.html
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-in-there.html
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...14-engine.html

Feel free to PM me for more info.

alex

 

If I can get the motor for Sewell for the price others have gotten it for, I would rather do a swap than tear into the motor. It also gives me the option to replace the clutch while it is out. Optimistically I would come in under $4000 and I will drive it for a while. I only put about 3000 miles on it a year now as I don't drive far.

 

So essentially you are willing to write-off your car even though you say nothing has gone wrong with it just because you read one person's post on an internet forum. Good one!

 

I believe that the overwhelming volume of negative information (bad experiences) found on forums such as this one can affect people differently. You don't see too many posts about the awesome experiences that the members have had or the unparalleled reliability of the products that have brought us together. So I wouldn't be surprised if someone found it all to be too much and bailed out. But if that is the case, I would challenge them surf the forums of whatever they choose as their next vehicle. I'm pretty confident that it will be similar.

That said, there are a number of technical issues with the Mini, much like Audi's that I have owned, that can be tremendously expensive if you are forced to take it home to the dealer at $100/hr.

The true power of a forum such as this, is the sharing of information. This information prepares you better to deal with any issues (car related) that you may encounter and for the DIY'ers out there it is indispensable.

Just my thoughts,,

 

As it pertains to a motor replacement, I would assume that if I am just swapping the mechanical bits and hooking the plumbing and electronics back up, that the motor should run as long as I connect/torque everything correctly. Is there any ECU fun that I might not know of that will make this job difficult?

 

Yes.
Just label every connector you take apart.
Expect to break a few plastic ties, push-in pins, and clips, so buy plenty in advance. There are a few one-use bolts/nuts that you will also need, but your parts source will tell you what they are (or PM me and I will dig up my Sewell invoice).

None.
As long as the replacement engine is for your year and model, it's pure plug'n'play.

Things would get more complicated fast if you try to upgrade to a JCW engine, or decide to get a cheap used block from another model year ....

True.
New/remanufactured MINI engine also comes in with new:
- water pump
- thermostat
- vacuum pump
- plugs
- clean intake valves ;-)

a