This may have turned out to be an excellent Ebay car! Used/pristine with a brand new motor!

 

I am glad you are getting the new motor Zack!

I have had some recent problems with my car and the dealer has been exellent to me and have bent over backwards to make things right.

Now if you will do a proper break in you will be very pleased with the new car.
My procedure is to run the rpms up to 4k, and let off the throttle and let the tranny decellorate the car to 1500 rpm. I do this several times in the first few weeks while also constantly changing the rpm's while crusing.
My mini has 42k miles in 16 months and doesnt burn a drop of oil between changes

 

Thanks guys--if everything works out, it should be a good deal!

Speaking of break-in, anyone do the 'stick a super strong magent on the oil filter' trick?

I guess I should change the oil at 1K, as well. Other suggestions?
Thanks.


Zack

 

Hey, Zack! Great news that the dealership is doing right by you and fixing your MINI under warranty! Looks like you got a VERY good deal on ebay! Congrats and welcome to NAM!


Clover

 

It is great that the dealer is stepping up to the issue. I really hope you have the beginning of a great ownership experience.

There are break-in particles that are not ferrous which will not get trapped by the magnet. Personally, I would change the oil and filter at 1K per your comment below.

The single best thing you can do for motor longevity during the break-in process is to change the oil and filter early on. 1K is a good point at which to change the oil and filter. I personally plan to change oil and filter at 1K, 3K, 7.5K and every 12 months or 7.5K thereafter. 10K strikes me as just too long of an oil change interval.

 

Hi Zack,

Just read your thread now. I'm surprised no one pointed out that this is one of the first documented "blown" engines on any new MINI site. We've had seized engines due to lack of oil. ...Cracked blocks and or leaky head gaskets due to coolant leaks, even hydro-locked engines that had ingested water ... but to the best of my knowledge yours is one of the first outright blow-ups on record.

If you want some idea how tough the little engine normally is just visit the 430 horsepower MINI thread. There are several MINI's running turbo's in addition to the supercharger. Each of these cars all push more than 250 wheel horsepower - we've got a STRONG 1.6L!

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. But also glad to hear its being fixed, and that you'll get a new engine to brake in. While not a new car, its looking like inconvenience may have turned into a great deal!

As for the members here who were so quick to chastise... WTF?! The guy comes here looking for help and experience. ....Possibly some sympathy from some MINI folks. What does he get for his first visit/experience on NAM? ...Instead of answering his question you criticize his purchase & shopping forum. NICE. Way to welcome new MINI folks to the fold

Give your head a shake, and then think why you came here, and how you'd like to be received?

 

Very well put by Minimc...Zack, sorry to hear about your MCS, I hope you enjoy your "new" one as much as you should have enjoyed the original.:smile:

 

I will soon join these ranks of distinguished twincharged Minis

The engine is durable. You just ran into some bad luck. Sorry to hear it man.

 

Thanks again for the info & support, guys. Will let you know how it goes.

Z

 

I don't know how you can say she didn't abuse it. You never know, my old car I treated like the pos it was (and I bought it new) and by the it was 4 years old it was in the shop once a month. My mini I baby tho. Just a thought, but you just don't know... all the checks and test drives in the world don't tell the full story. Heck when I sold my old car it was having a "good" day.

 

Hey Zach,

Now you will have a brand new motor in your Cooper, it doesn't get much better than that!

 

I would blame the lack of miles put on the car as a suspect as condensation could have caused corrosion in the one cylinder, there may have been a clogged injector from the long time spent sitting idle and then he drove it a long distance... with heat building in the one cylinder causing detonation, heck even old gas will cause that!

But he will soon have a "New Heart" in his new addition to his life

 

Don't forget if there was an ECU mod such as MTH put in place, the rev limiter can be disabled, and the software is undetectable, so he wouldn't even know if it was there.

 

Except that the motor's good to some 8300 rpm. ...Its the S/C in combination with the engine that's not. ...Not that I'd suggest anyone try running the limiter that high

As others have said the rev limiter can't protect you from a horrible downshift!

I think the real issue here was the low milage & the blown engine. For all we know the wife could be the local drag race champ.

Irrespective whether it was babied or not it's an engine on a new car with low milage and factory maintnance. It shouldn't blow.

 

Well, you guys aren't going to believe this, but I should be getting my car back tomorrow!

The tech here is pretty badass--has only had the new motor since noon, yesterday.

Below are some pics of the block & metal pieces. The pic quality isn't that great, since it's from my Treo--enjoy, though.


Zack

 

more pics

 

Yeah it was definately the piston/wrist pin area that hand grenaded But darn the luck - you still have to suffer through the 1,250 mile break in period

 

i'm more than happy to know that it'll be done right this time. thanks for the break-in info, btw.

Z

 

I think anybody that has the nerve to set here and talk smack to a guy who just joined our community and had this sort of bad luck is has some bad problems! What if it was you on the side of the road after just buying the car? It could have easily been from the dealership used and happen also so zack sorry for your problems and the bad attitudes you found here cause that does not represent most.

 

By the way zack what did the guy you bought it from say? I may have missed it in here and if I did sorry.

 

thanks, kenny. actually, i haven't even talked to the guy about it, yet.

as i mentioned, he was pretty laid-back, and seemingly trustworthy. i think we all agree now that this failure was as likely to happen to him, as me. minus, me driving the car for a few hours, after it had been sitting for a while.

speaking of, could this be the weakness of our 1.6L? or, is the corrosion scenario common for motors that haven't been driven for a while?

thanks.

 

I doubt it Zack because your is the first one I have heard of with this type of failure and there are plenty of mini owners that only drive their mini's on occasion such as weekends so I think you just had some real bad luck but it seems that it is turning out better with the new engine.

 

1 k, 3k, then factory or every 5 k. Talk to the dealer about engine run in. Some cars need help with setting the rings. You will likely be getting a new block, not a rebuilt block. The change at one K is more important with a rebuilt motor. If you find that you are getting a rebuilt motor I would concider changing the oil after the first 30 minutes, then 1, 3, 5 and normal factory (or again 5k if that is what you like). The first change is to catch any filings or tailings that might have been missed in the machining process. All the barring material is nonferrous (sp).