Hello fellow members,
I’m new to Mini’s and this forum. I have had many different cars and motorcycles, but the R56 Mini I bought a couple of weeks ago is my first German car. I bought If for the gas mileage and the go-cart handling. My Dodge Ram was getting about 17mpg average, so I traded it up. I just hope the Mini doesn’t have typical BMW reliability issues, because I don’t want to work in the tight engine compartment or pay for expensive German parts. she has 78k miles.

So far I’ve changed the oil, debadged the rear, put in stubby antenna.

I plan to get windows and panorama tinted with a brow, dechromewith vinyl wrap, do completed tune up, install roof rack.

Does the timing chain require preventative maintinenece on a R56?

 

Looks great! I'm loving my F55. I've had it 3 weeks now and averaging 33.4MPG. I did get the M2 out today and it was exhilarating. I love them both.

 

Hi and welcome to NAM!
Congrats on moving to a Mini!
German cars all require pretty specific maintenance, so be prepare to take care of it!
The gen 2 area on the forum, has many tips and tricks to keep your Go=kart running well!
Also check out the stock problems in that same area.
Two very important things: #1 Make sure to only use 100% synthetic motor oil, #2 Make sure to only use high octane fuel

 

 

Welcome! Congrats on your mini

 

Hey Buddy,

I'm in NorCal as well. Where about? I am in San Mateo. Also got an R56 that I've had for about 5 yrs now

 

I’m in Stockton. I’m from the East Bay though.

 

So I put a K&N air filter today. My butt dyno says that it has a little more pep, then again the old filter was pretty filthy so it could just be because of a clean filter it’s running normal now.

 

I try to tell everyone to stay away from the oiled type filters. Most companies make the dry ones too!

 

Which one do you recommend?

 

I recommend the factory stock one, but if you must, anyone of the dry filters will do, but if you just have it sticking in the engine compartment, without cold air coming to it, it will be worse than the factory one! You need to keep the air as cold as possible, as you want the air as dense as possible. The trick is staying around the 14:1 air fuel ratio. Adding more fuel to colder air, gives you more power!

This is the one thing wrong with the "S" models. The intercoolers are all but useless. The supercharger heats the heck out of the air and the intercooler is not designed well enough, to cool the air!
I have talked with several intercooler manufactures and all have told me there is not enough people willing to pay for a Mini mod, as the superchargers ended in 2006 for Mini! Turbo intercoolers, could work, but then there is no room to fit one large enough to really do the job! The water exchange coolers don't cool enough to be effective either. (of course I am wanting a supercharger intercooler, that actually cools the air. Water injection can help a bit, but again air volume is the issue.
The secret is chilled air, then larger injectors and a tune! Drag racers use ice, but this will not work for a road car, like Mini!

 

Why?

 

They have a tendency to clog up the map sensor and cause codes and creep mode!

 

"Does the timing chain require preventative maintenance on a R56?".

YES. It's probably at the top of the list, the list being the "top 5 failures for the R56 with the Prince / PSA engine".
I think most would agree on this 5, maybe the order is different.

1. Timing tensioner and chain stretch
2. Turbo oil feed line + return ( non S motors can ignore this one )
3. Thermostat housing and plastic water pump
4. Valve cover gaskets / valve cover
5. Front control arm bushings

This forum has excellent input / pics / reports / fixes for all of these issues.

If these issues were address prior to purchase, happy days, otherwise start budgeting for some repair and preventive maintenance.

 

Mine is not an S model. Mine is NA. I read that the S models have timing chain issues with failure and there was a recall. However the Base model was not listed or mentioned in the recall. So what I am really asking is, does the BASE MODEL timing chain need servicing?

 

I've spent 90% of my energy just focused on the N14 engine in the S, I have little experience in the NA cars.
That said, I've read several times that they are not immune to timing chain issues.

With both, I think it comes down to more frequent oil changes ( ignoring the OEM condition based service ) and always keeping it full of oil.
I use about a liter every 1000kms. If I waited on what the car told me to do, my next oil service is in 17,000 kms. I suspect I'd be out of oil about 5000kms into that 17,000kms.

I'm learning to be oil paranoid, which is new for me.

 

The PO told me that the my car consumes 1 quart every 2000 miles, which seems normal for these cars rom what I have read. I will probably replace the oil before the 10,000 mile interval, maybe around 7k miles.

The timing chain is not noisy for a chain, it seems very quiet. I might replace it at 100k miles just for insurance. I am disappointed that the chains in these cars are so unreliable. it basically defeats the whole purpose of having a chain instead of a belt. Part of me thinks I should have bought a Honda instead, but only time will tell. Form my own experience, cars treat you the same way you treat them.

 

So these are the things I have done to the girl so far...

Stubby antenna (for roof rack)
oil/filter change (was at 13000 miles since last change when I bought it)
coolant flush
Front license plate mount (was off when I bought it)
debadged rear

to do list
full inspection
flush brake fluid
flush clutch fluid
replace bad wheel bearing
install vinyl wrap on roof (turning sunroof into moonroof)
replace front grill piece (it broke off today in car wash, it was already halfway off when I bought the car)
dechrome

 

Welcome to NAM. Nice looking MINI. Did you notice and reception difference with the stubby antenna? My car came with the larger antenna installed but the previous owner left a stubby in the sunglass holder.