Just thought I put this out.
I took my perfectly running Countryman S ALL4 in for a routine oil change, and recall for a coolant temp sensor to Mini of North Scottsdale, AZ this past Friday. I got the car back Saturday morning, all appeared to be well.
An hour later I started to getting reduced power messages, so attempted to creep back to the dealer. The car shut off and would not re-start.
I called the dealership and they arranged to pick up me and the car.
Long story short the service technician forgot to hookup/tighten down the coolant hoses, and the engine is now a total loss.
To the credit of the Mini dealership and SA, they are going to replace the engine, and provide a loaner for whatever period of time is required to replace the engine.
My concerns are:
1 How does this affect the warranty? does the clock reset becuase it is a new engine?
2. Given what I have seen thus far with service on my car, I am a little concerned of them doing a complete engine replacement.
Anyone know if they tend to outsource these jobs?
any comment or feedback would be appreciated.

I

 

Wow! I was lucky to catch the leaking hose in mine after the coolant temp sensor fix by MINI of Stevens Creek in Santa Clara, CA. I was afraid my result could have been like yours! I wish you luck with the replacement - you raise some important questions. I'm back to the dealership to get mine fixed tomorrow...


Update 9/4/12: Stopped by the dealership Tuesday morning after Labor Day Weekend (didn't drive the CM4 although we had plans) - placed first in line, confirmed that hose clamp not tightened, now tightened and checked out - good to go. They didn't bring out the technician who did the incomplete job, possibly out of damage concerns...

Update 9/5/12: I emailed the GM of MoSC detailing my experience and encouraging them to review their practices to, hopefully, prevent someone else having a similar experience. I got an immediate reply that the service team were reviewing what had happened...

 

That's awful. I don't have any advice to offer but a lot of sympathy.

 

They will do the work in house and your warranty does not reset at all. It happens and at least they are making it right.

 

Maybe you can get a deal on extending the warranty?

 

I would ask for a simple letter explaining what happened and documenting the mileage and what they did. Then I would keep the letter on their letterhead for when I sold the car so that any potential buyer would have a clear understanding that the car was not defective, just the mechanic! And I would be surprised if the mechanic who worked on your car initially is still employed with the dealership.

 

It sucks that it happened, but I wouldn't sweat it. I had a similar experience happen with my 2000 VW New Beetle 1.8t. I don't drive the car in winter, have done a ton of mods to it, and take excellent care of it.

Took it in 3-4 years ago, oil change, manual tranny fluid change, stuff like that. Picked it up after hours, pulled out of the lot, my dash lit up, and the car stalled. Started it back up, got about 50 feet, same thing. Turned around, got it just into the lot when it died for good. Drifted it to a parking spot.

Turned out, they forgot to put oil in the engine after the oil change.

It sucked that it happened, but they took excellent care of me. Replaced the engine with a brand new engine, new turbo, new water pump and timing belt. They also replaced the clutch, I had to pay the parts, but they covered labor since it was all a part anyway (was definitely due).

So for $600 for a new clutch, my car got a whole new lease on life. Haven't hadn't a single issue since. And since this is a car I plan to keep forever, kind of worked out well.

 

I'd be surprised if he were let go. It happens. Everyone makes mistakes. The guy who screwed up my engine is the top VW service tech in the area. In fact, he was the one who ended up doing my engine replacement, and I've been told by many in town, it was in the best hands possible.

 

I would be very concerned about the dealership doing an engine replacement and getting everything perfect. It might just be me but I have had very poor luck with the closest MINI dealership doing a job correctly the first time. It might be worth your time/money to have an independent shop examine the car (engine and suspension) after the engine swap.

 

I couldn't disagree more. A mini Service Tech is going to know better on how to replace a Mini engine than any independent shop. Not to mention the engine and labor should all be warrantied. Take it somewhere else, and it's a much bigger gamble all the way around.

 

To the OP, I'm curious.... didn't you get some indication of the overheating?

- Mark

 

Got the overhearting indication about 30 seconds before the car lost power and shut down completely.

 

there was a recall? i never got any mail regarding this.

 

It wasn't for all CMs. I know it was automatics only and I think just a subset of those.

 

oh ok, mine is auto, keeping fingers crossed.

 

I'd make sure you get a complete list of what's being replaced and what it is being replaced with. My Touareg needed a new engine after only 9k miles and it took about 3 weeks to order it and have it shipped to the dealership. The car model was too new to have remanufactured engines available. I was concerned about them doing the work too after the first mishap that caused the issue, and I was also concerned about the impact of taking the engine out in a new car. Sure enough they damaged the DSG transmission at some point and it didn't take long for my wife to break down.

I would agree that the mini dealer is the best place to get it done; however, I would wo der how often they do a major job like this. I took a lot of notes and asked for a lot of documentation since I was concerned. Unfortunately for me, I was right. Hopefully they know what they're doing and/or get a tech that's done an engine job before on one of these. I've pulled and rebuilt a motor before on an older car and it's a big job. I wouldn't want to do it on newer cars.

Get documentation and confirmation that they have experience doing this.

 

Czar, just curious, exactly what sort of documentation are you suggesting he get to show that they have experience replacing an engine?

 

Grrrr. Just lost my post bc I got logged out.

Basically, I may try documented every single part that was changed in the car. This was several pages long. In addition, I made sure to ask before they get any work if they had done this kind of work to my model car before. They had not. I put that in writing, along with the name of the service person with whom I spoke and who told me that, and made sure to send it to VW.

I was very pleasant and upbeat about my situation with the dealership, although there were sometimes when they weren't being accommodating that I pushed to speak with the regional rep for Volkswagen. In the end it took me several months to get the issue settled with VW of America, but I know having all the documentation Help me.

One important piece too, and I am not sure if this was just a line they were telling me or if it's just a VW thing or if this is how the automakers work, but I was told at one point that faulty work was the responsibility of the dealership, which is franchised. The assignment of blame so to speak was the longest component in the process of me getting my car replaced.

If your car were several years All-Bran a lot of miles on it, I don't think having a remanufactured engine put in would be a bad thing at all – it would actually be a great thing. I am leery of a new car that has a new engine meeting in replaced engine at the beginning of its life. I'm not sure how a local tech, who probably doesn't do this level of work on a regular basis, would be able to replicate what they're able to do at the factory in terms of removing and installing a new engine. Having said that, I'm sure that it's done and there are no issues down the line. I was worried about taking that risk, Since I had originally planned to keep the Touareg for many years, and in the end I realized that I was right when there were other drivetrain issues within a few hundred miles of having major work done to the car. I was sure glad I had all that documentation when I went after VW.

 

^^ Apologies for all the mistakes in the above post, but it was dictated on my iPhone. I lost the stamina to type after I lost the first post.

 

That particular dealership has a STELLAR reputation, and I am sure the tech feels like crap over it too.....

 

Correct, it wasn't a manufacturer defect which would be covered by warranty. The (independently owned) dealer will have to pay for the parts, and the labor will be covered by the mechanic won't get paid for the time that he spends on it. Techs are paid solely on commission, there is no base salary.

I worked as a tech for 25 years and during that time I made one major screw up which damaged a customer's car. I guess working on 5 to 10 cars a day, 5 days a week for 25 years, and only having one big mistake is a pretty good record, but I felt awful about it. The customer turned out to be a great guy, he drove one of our loan cars for several days while his car was being repaired, and he was very gracious about the whole deal... yet I felt so bad about it.