Hi,

I am the owner of a 2010 Mini Eng: 1.6L, In-Line4 (98CI) VIN(C). It is really my daughter's car and she loves/ed it. It Has about 92K miles on it. We bought it used a couple years ago as her college car. I am looking to figure out how to post a question on this forum, but it is not yet intuitive to me.

Here is my story and what I am going to ask once I find the proper forum that I can post it:

Earlier this year my daughter's mini 2010 (92K miles)mini was up for license renewal and had to go to the DEQ to get emission tested. It failed as the exhaust was too smokey after being revved, after idling in line. I took it to a local shop with a good reputation and was told that it was most likely a valve seal issue and that it needed work. They also found plastic pieces in the oil pan and told me that this was not an uncommon issue with these models. I decided to have it fixed, the cost of which was similar to what the car is worth. I was hoping that this would get my daughter through the rest of her college without too many other issues. We had the head/valves and timing work all done. We drove the car a bit and then took it on one long trip. Because of covid, it was only driven about every two weeks for a half hour after that. The car seemed great, lots of zip and we were very happy.

One morning my daughter started the car up and got an engine light. She took it to the local auto parts store to get it read, and it said she had misfires in several cylinders. She was out of town at college so I had her take it to the local mini dealer. They confirmed that the reading and performed a leak-down test at the request of our local shop. They did not seem to really know how to do this or come up with any conclusions other than it had issues. We had it towed to the local shop and they also did a leak down test, which it failed. They think that the issue is a bottom-end issue with ring wear due to leakage into the bottom end, They seem to be up-front type of guys, however, I find it very improbable that two cylinders (3 and 4) would show leak-down issues within 1.5K miles of getting the top end work done. I admit having worked on a lot of equipment in my youth, I am a "last thing fixed, first thing too look at when an issue arises" type person. I am also told that bottom-end issues are not common in this mileage. For two cylinders to have issues at the same time just seems improbable. Engine codes shoed misfire issues in at least three cylinders. The shop does not see any signes of some sort of head issue like moisture in the oil, sparkplugs looking too clean etc.

My question will be, has anyone run into a similar issue where it has not been a bottom end issue, and is there any other diagnostic that could be used without tearing the car apart again. At this point, since I have already spent as much as the car is worth, any furute work on it, I will most likely do myself due to labor costs. Any advice?

Regards,

Kevin

 

I’d put each piston at Top Dead Center (just before the power stroke) and attach a source of compressed air.

You should be able to tell whether it’s a valve is leaking or getting past the rings.

To check if it’s the rings, check for air flow out the PCV valve grommet and/or the oil dipstick.

I’d check all cylinders, don’t stop if you find one problem because there may be others.