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Wish I could just post and say hi but I need help instead.
SES came on a few weeks ago and we took it into the dealership to see what the problem is. '05 Cooper w/50560 miles on it so I figured it was something to do with the emission controls and would be warrantied.
OK, stop laughing! My bad. They started with a bad spark plug, then a bad injector, then too many confusing codes (couldn't tell me the codes), then maybe it's a blown head gasket, head or engine, then maybe ??? They said the computer says there's a misfire and they were tryin to find it. They couldn't make up they're mind so I got MiniUSA involved and they did a couple of more days of troubleshooting (leakdown and compression test at my suggestion) and determined it was a compression leak between 3 and 4.
Heads pulled and at the machine shop which says all the exhaust valves are burnt and it needs a valve job. Dealer says it was all due to us overheating the engine and it must have been running really badly due to all the damage.
Problem is, it was never overheated and running like the day it was built! No misfire, idle problems, pulled through all the gears well or anything else wrong. I drove it down to the dealership for my wife and if it wasn't for the SES light, I wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong with it at all.
All exhaust valves burnt at the same time? Not due to overheating, or if it was I would have probably melted a piston or two. It sounds more like a lean mixture or retarded timing problem than a possible overheat scenario. God knows how many sensors could be bad to cause that...
I'm no dummy when it comes to engines (except I don't own a OBDII reader, but will soon). I've rebuilt a few performance engines, trannys etc, I keep my cars for 20 years or so so I have to keep up on their maintenance. I've done a fair share of troubleshooting and repair episodes so I'm getting a feeling that I'm getting scammed!
So,,, I've read a few of the SES posts and get a feeling that they don't really know what they're doing!
Now they say when the engine's put back together that it will only be 90% repaired and that there may still be a bad spark plug wire or sensor that's bad.
Ok, now I know they don't know what they're doing for sure! How did they find the misfire if they think there's more wrong with it and how did they determine it had a compression leak?
So, basically, it looks like this scenario has played out in different versions quite a bit with the R50's. Any help you all can give me to sort this out? It's been 2 weeks and no repairs yet! And I don't think they have a clue what's wrong...
They couldn't tell me the code or codes they were getting. Just playing the shell game I guess.
Yeah, I took it to Universal City MINI figuring it was an emissions related problem and it would be covered by the emissions warranty. DOH! It's amazing how little they cover under that warranty. I guess I should have checked on here prior to doing so but I expected more from them than a Kia dealership. My bad...
I got a call from my case manager this afternoon and vented pretty good to him. He's contacting the service manager to see what's going on so we'll see what happens.
I figure I'm screwed...
Picking up the OBDII reader tomorrow for future problems. dan
