I am here to vent and provide some information for others with my recent experience.

My 2008 Mini Cooper S with approx. 80,000 miles has P0300 CEL.

On a very cold day, my wife was backing out and she noticed the car is shaking a lot. She immediately contacted me and informed me that CEL came on. I immediately advice her to shut the engine off for the time being. In the afternoon, told her to get the codes read for the CEL. The AutoZone people told her it was P0300 and a misfire on the engine. She drove it back. We rented a car for 2 week while we wait to bring it to the dealership. They were booked so couldn't get it in earlier.

Tow truck arrived and engine will not fire. It didn't matter, because it was going to the dealership to get diagnosed.

The dealership finally called me after 2 days. They found spark plug was soaked in oil preventing it from starting. They did a compression check and no compression on 2 cylinders. It make sense how the P0300 is also related to misfire but could be caused by other issues. When it was said and done, dealership wants to do a tear down for $600 but recommend that the issue is most likely severe to a point it will require new engine. They will discount it for 6k for a new one. FML.

/end vent

Good luck too all R56 owners with high mileage and no warranty. This can easily happen to anyone. Dealership said, this is very rare but seems like I am not the only one who had an issue like this based on my forum searches.

 

Have a reputable independent mini shop look at it. Post where you are so someone can give you some names. I'd rather go used on a car with 80K and not give mini $6K.

 

Indeed. I would definitely try that route for sanity's sake.

 

We've gotten pretty good at replacing burnt valves/seats. I'd be willing to bet that that's what your problem is. There's no need to replace the whole engine if that the issue.

 

Just updating this thread for sanity's sake.
Here is what was done to the car. I declined the fix or suggestion to replace the engine.
However, the work order got me new HPFP as this thought it was the cause. I am putting the mini to shelf until it gets warm. I'll try to fix it myself. This will officially be my project car.

 

If you confirm that your valves are burned, then you will be in exactly the same boat as I was this time last year.

Long story short, cyl 4 exhaust valves decided to self destruct. Causation undetermined, but carbon buildup is the assumed culprit.

After much searching and price shipping, I ended up buying a new / re-manufactured MINI engine for around $3400. About 6 week of DIY-ing later, she fired up and has been running fine 10K miles later.

Here are some threads that may help you get over this disaster:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-in-there.html
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...14-engine.html


Feel free to PM me if you need more info.

a

 

Thank you my fellow NYC-er.

I read your post and at least I have an option if a new engine is required. This is most likely the case and I want to set expectation on my end. With Mini, and its often unpredictable issues, I assume the worst.