As much as I love my Mini, if this is going to be another pricey repair it may be time to move on. I've had my Cooper S since June, I've invested about 1500 dollars in repairs so far all within about a 3 month period.. I drove up to new york yesterday, everything was fine on the way up, on the way back my check engine light came on and the car started making this loud hissing noise from the engine.. I recently had the following done at Helix: Walnut shell blast, spark plugs replaced, oil change, oil leak fixed, and thermostat housing replaced (2 weeks ago)

Any ideas what this could be? thank you for your help guys!

 

Why guess? Have it checked out by a mini dealer or someone knowledgable that you know and trust!

 

Sounds like a vacuum leak. Check all hoses & clamps. I suspect one vibrated loose - nothing major or expensive.

 

Not guessing, its nice to get input from those who are knowledgable about common MINI problems or perhaps someone on here has already experienced a similar problem.

@Mical it ended up being the Valve cover needing to be replaced.. it wasn't as pricey as I thought but still costly!

 

CooperS84, how many miles are on your Mini and what was wrong with the valve cover?

Was it the PCV valve or did the valve cover crack? I am about to turn 60k on the clock and wondering what to expect.

I work in Havertown so I picked up my FMIC at Helix instead of having it shipped. I might have them do the walnut blasting on my Mini this summer if I don't do it myself.

Thanks, Greg

 

I'm at 97K now. I got the work done at Helix and apparently the valve covers are known to fail and cause issues. I did the walnut shell blasting at Helix and all my other maintenance so far since owning my Cooper S and have been very pleased.

 

I replaced my valve cover myself. I was having issues somewhere between 70k and 92k with it.

 

CooperS84 and Porthos, good information, thanks

Greg

 

Valve cover? That's an odd part to fail like that. In my experience, there's no vacuum associated with the VC, and, in fact, breathers got put in with no detrimental effects... This is a new one to me.

 

It is plastic and deals with a lot of heat fluctuation which can cause it to fail. The MINI is the 2nd car with I have had with a plastic valve cover and both of them have failed. 1st car was a Nissan Sentra Spec V. If you can turn a wrench you can replace the cover in about 20 minutes.

 

My '85 CJ7 still has the original plastic valve cover!

 

Not to be argumentative here, but the fact that no one "guessed" your problem simply demonstrates my point! Why GUESS?

 

That is because it Jeep.

 

We all know it is a vacuum leak the question and this is for the OP to find :is where is it coming from?".

 

The orange disc on the under side of the valve cover fails causing the hiss and rough running. I've replaced a few valve covers for that problem

 

Not argumentative, but certainly annoying.
Not only was my car taken in to get fixed appropriately, but it seems like a lot of other people encountered the same thing or have experience with my issue which was my original reason for posting about it..

 

Is this valve cover failure more of an S problem?

 

@amancuso, I would think so since it seems to be a heat issue? but maybe not!

I'm so frustratated right now, this morning it was about 27 degrees when I got out of work (I'm on my night shift rotation) I push my start button and I get a really rough start and my check engine is now back on...