4 problems I'm dealing with
 

Tell me what you think.

First, my MINI is at ~155K miles. I like to take long driving vacations and just returned from a 6K journey from Colorado to So Cal to Florida and home.

While in So Cal the change oil light came on so I went to MINI of Camarillo for service and to get a couple of new things looked at. Note I drove the scenic route and got gas in some out of the way places.

1. I was getting a whining noise from the engine area that rises and falls with engine speed. M of C said this was related to the crankshaft guide bearing shell issue. This was looked at by Schomp MINI, my local MINI dealer in 12/16 and they didn't see any problems. M of C said I will need an engine replacement. I'm past the warranty but they thought MINI would help.

When I returned home I brought the car to Schomp. They diagnosed the problem as coming from the clutch kit area with a possible failing throw out bearing. (I don't know what this means.) Repairs would be $4,100.

Wow! 2 very different answers!

I'm going to MINI of Loveland tomorrow for them to take a look.

2. When I fill the car with gas I no longer get the whoosh when removing the gas cap. After filling the car the first start requires 4-5 seconds of cranking. For subsequent starts the engine starts right up with a brief amount of cranking. M of C said this was due to an NVLD failure (not sure the right term) and something needed to be replaced. Schomp looked at this in 9/17 as it was a MINI PM inspection issue and didn't find and problems.

Schomp just re-looked at this and said the car needed a software update, which they did.

I still have the problem and MINI of Loveland will look at it.

Anyone been thru this?

3. My gas mileage has dropped by ~5mpg. Air filters were replaced by M of C. Schomp says I need to get the fuel injectors cleaned. I put some injector cleaner in the gas the last couple of fills and think the mileage is getting better.

Is this the right thing to do? Or do I need a garage to blow out the injectors?

I'm suspicious I got some bad gas in my travels as the mileage drop happened all of a sudden.

4. Schomp says the battery is failing and they detected a weak battery fault. I have an OBD2 reader and can see battery voltage but don't know what it means. The voltage seems to stay around 14.4 volts. Will this drop as the battery weakens? What should I look for?

TIA.

If it was my F56 I'd be contacting MINI corporate and tell them that you need help. Someone has to take responsibility for multiple diagnosis of the same issue. You don't want to be paying for repairs that don't fix the problem.

I've got about 140K miles to catch up with you, which will never happen!

Good luck!!!

Hi Conrad, Do you follow Mini maintenance schedule or do you change oil and oil filter more frequently than Mini recommends? Impressive mileage!

I followed MINI's maintenance schedule, so oil changes every 10-11K miles.

How long do you plan on running it? Really impressive mileage for 4 years.

I plan to drive it as long as I can. I'm retired and don't have the luxury of buying a new car every few years.

Having said that, the 3rd dealer I went to found more problems, about $10K worth. I going to get some help from MINI corporate as the answers should be more consistent. $10K is more than the car is worth, so I'll have to figure out a Plan B.

I really do like the car. Fun to drive, inexpensive to run, and reliable until now.

Maybe run it over to Paddock Imports : http://www.paddockimports.com

and let them look at it. I've had them maintain and repair my BMWs for the last 10 years.

If you had a MPG drop and a whine it is possible it might be a plugged fuel filter since you said you got some shady gas.

can you elaborate on what the third place found? I am just curious to follow the diagnosis path for this. If it were me, I would go back to engine replacement dealership and work from there.

FYI, the throwout bearing is engaged when you press in on the clutch pedal and takes the rotational motion of the engine from the clutch pressure plate. To me, if this was the failing component then the sound would be present in far greater quantities when your car had the clutch pedal depressed.

First, the engine replacement dealer is in California and I'm in Colorado. So not an easy option.

The third dealer found the whining noise was coming from the transmission. They found metal flakes in the transmission fluid. The transmission needs to be replaced for $6.7K.

For the lack of pressure in the gas tank when opening the gas cap: the valve cover is faulty. Need to replace the valve cover assembly and some other parts for $1.7K.

New battery: $495. (There's a special on the MINIUSA website for new batteries for $320.)

I'm mostly worried about the transmission. MINI's recommended maintenance doesn't say to replace the transmission fluid as it's a lifetime fluid. I'm suspicious that's the problem.

I talked to MINIUSA today and they said they can't help because of the mileage. They also said they haven't seen any transmission issues with the 2014s. I've asked to have a supervisor call me back.

I'm going to start a separate thread for transmission replacement.