as I wrote in this thread,
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-driving.html
while driving home, the engine just stopped, i pulled over and tried starting it with no luck. Got it towed home(on my own expense, as i couldnt find nor i didnt know about the roadside assistance # on my hatch lol). Anyway finally got it towed to the dealer to find out whats the cause of the problem. They said the chain snapped and valves were bent. What I have on the car(engine) are the Alta boost tubes, downpipe, RMW tune(which they dont know about), and exhaust. Intake Manifold was also drilled for a boost guage source. I got a call today and was told that warranty will not cover the engine because of the aftermarket parts. and i also have to pay 300$ for 2 hours of work that was started on the car.

What do i do in this case?

Wow. that sucks!!!
Hope someone here acn help you.

866-ask-mini....and ask them how an exhaust system and boost tubes can blow a timing chain off...Are there other dealer in your area?

Talk with the service manager at the dealership to see it there is anything they can do to help you. Be real nice to them because they do have lots of latitude with "goodwill".

K&N Filters has a good article discussing this problem:

http://www.knfilters.com/warrantyletter.htm

Sort of explains the Magnuson-Moss Act.

Whatever the result .. keep us in the loop. I suspect many of us can learn from your experience.

~jproz

there are a couple of other dealers in my area...a little further away..i will have to stop by the dealer and have a talk with the service manager.

Should i be paying that 300$? seems unfair

I would do more research the the Magnuson-Ross Act. It has worked for me in the past with a Volvo Dealer denying warrenty.

also i was researching the cold start up rattle on the 07-08 MCS's and how a lot of them had the timing chain and tensioner replaced. Can i mentioned that too?

Of course you have to know your rights before you go to see them. But in the world of car repair, broken parts and the "causes" of it, everything is not so black and white. Was it abuse or was it poor quality or both?

Everything is negiotiable. Just don't be confrontational or nasty. Ask for clarification so you can understand what happened. Ask to look at the damage and how they came to that conclusion. Ask if it was their own car, what would they do? Get all the facts then go home to think about it just to reflect. Don't make any hasty decisions.

You can always get a second opinion from the other dealers as well since this is an expensive repair. Do this last or at another time.

well i did misshift and over revved a couple of times. otherwise everything was running smoothly.

and if worse comes to worse, what would happen if i went thru insurance?

Those hiccups do not sound too significant to me at this distance.

I think that you would no be able to claim insurance because the damage was not caused by a vehicular accident.

You have to decide if you are going to be confrontational or not. If you go down the I am not to blame for faulty parts, it is OK too. Your call.

Where are you located? in CA?

The over revving can cause the timing belt to skip and cause some valves to bend, did the car drive normal after the mis shift? The miss-shift sounds like the same what happened to my mini 2 years ago. $6.4k total in labor and new engine at my local performance shop for me.

Good catch.

I assumed normal reving to redline and the delimiter shut off the gas. A money shift could be a problem.

I hate the phrase "money shift"...it reminds me of the headache I had.

it drove normally after the mis shift. and im in queens, ny

I don't think a mis shift would skip a timing chain...That would be crazy.

This is a very touchy issue when it comes to manufacturers and dealerships. I have been a tech for the last 10 years and have seen many issues with aftermarket parts and warranty concerns. First, the reason for the dealership saying the concern will not be covered under warranty due to the aftermarket parts is them protecting themselves. In the owners manual they discuss the use of aftermarket parts and warranty. That is their defense of course.

If the dealership goes and replaces the engine or parts, they will be on the hook for the repair until they get reimbursed from Mini. This will not be a small warranty claim and usually will be questioned by the warranty department at Mini USA. If they ask for pictures of the vehicle for aftermarket parts this will further make it an issue for the dealers or if they need authorization to replace engines and such. I do not work for Mini so I do not know their procedures.That is where it gets tough.

With confidence I can say that the aftermarket parts did not cause this failure. In my opinion, it was probably caused by low oil pressure or a failure of the timing chain tensioner. In my experience, those are the most common failures of timing chains.

The real issue is finding the cause of the problem. I would want to take a good look at the timing chain tensioner and check the spring tension. Also, most full coverage insurance policies do cover engines under the comprehensive part of the policy.

Yea..I forgot the minis coming with timing chains. I'm used to the Honda days with timing BELTS

so this is my plan.
Pick up the car on tuesday. Return everything to stock, and try another dealer. Ill update you guys once i get some more info.

Richi0207,

Almost had one myself, but not in the Mini.

When I first started running track many years ago. Lime Rock, Big Bend, fifth gear, wanted to go to fourth but went into second. 8800 rpm before I depressed the clutch and continued to hit the brakes, hard. As vivid as yesterday.

The dealer looked at it with the downloaded rev history and smiled. He said maybe another hundred rpm and boom. He showed me another customer's car with a blown engine. Did the same thing but his rev history read 10,200 rpm. Blew out the timing chain and bent everything.

Ya I just found out about the cols start noise, I have had it for a few weeks (the noise that is). So it looks like this weekend will be spent puting my car back to stock (except the intercooler) So when I go in for my apointment it will all be stock......

Why not pm minicoopers081381 to see if he can help you. He seems close in NJ.

I know a really good Mini service manager but he is a little far.

Be careful with this one. If they worked on the car the repair order was logged against your VIN and the next dealer will know about it.

you already lost, computer logged all info from key fob and your sa at dealership won't cover