Driving home from work last night when my 2007 Mini Cooper just stopped accelerating, had to get it towed home because the dealership I purchased from is 50 miles away, long story short the dealership is super shady and keep giving me the run around about sending a tow truck to come get it and how they are going to dispatch one as soon as possible and take it to there shop but it’s been about a day now and they keep giving me the run around so I’m looking for help to see if anyone can give me a ball park of what looks wrong and the cost it might. I’m thinking of just doing a engine swap but I was told the 1.6L is hard to come across. Please help! Also it had oil on it and everything recently had a oil change from that dealership from above and another from a Pennzoil once car came to a stop the check engine light came on and the code it came with is P0012 and P0015 (intake camshaft position timing over retarded bank one and exhaust camshaft position timing over retarded bank 1) I’ve only had vehicle for 45ish days in Texas so if anyone has any advice to how to go about this i would greatly appreciate it. When I lifted the hood I was shocked at the visible damage I was able to see because when driving I did not hear any loud bang or pop to cause it so I’m assuming chain could have snapped and broke the cover or so but I am not familiar with it. Vehicle only has 45k miles on it

 

What warranty agreement do you have with the car lot? Have you emailed them a photo of the broken valve cover? Are they a qualified MINI repair shop? You might want to pay for a tow truck just to get it to a qualified shop & get going on the repair. A generic car shop may not be the best choice for this project.

 

they are not a qualified repair shop this was the only Mini in there sale lot. Do you have any idea how much a repair like this will cost me? I am unsure to just make it a total vehicle or attempt to try and get it fixed if the repairs are not overly expensive like over 3k that’s why I haven’t towed it anywhere yet I was hoping maybe someone has had a similar experience with the timing chain bust like that and they have a estimated price range it would cost me . Thank you for replying

 

Yep, can see chain jumped the sprocket. Which means the valves hit the pistons. Your chances of needed a new engine are pretty high, especially if you getting on it when it happened. Like Minidogger says, hope you have some kind of warranty.

 

Thank you for the reply, I appreciate the insight I’m going to try and take the cover off and see if there are anymore visible damage I can see do any of you know how mich a engine swap would be on a 2007 Mini Cooper?

 

Not necessarily a replacement engine. Many folks have taken the head off and replaced valves that are bent and saved the engine. Do some more reading on the subject. With the correct timing tools, etc, it is possible to fix it if you have the time and patience. Not a viable cost exercise if you have to pay someone to do it though on that age of car so all DIY. Depends what broke first, if the chain jumped you may be good for repair. If the vacuum pump seized up and a cam is sheared or broken not such good news. Wont know till the cover is off.

 

I just rebuilt my motor that had a number of issues, but mostly cylinder head issues. By the the time I was done, which included changing the water pump, timing chain set, valve cover, thermostat housing, coil packs and the head work I was into it about $1300. I did all the work myself accept the head work, machine shop did that ($650), I am no mechanic but with the help of YouTube and a few phone calls to some shops, I was able to do it. I would say with the right tools and bit of guts anyone could do it.

 

UK prices.
Timing chain + guides £120
Crank seal £18
Cam bolts x 2 £7
Crank bolt x 1 £5
Second hand valve cover £50
Cover seal and gasket sealant £25
Lower sprocket £25
Timing locking tools £35
Guide bolt seals x 2 £3
£288 for parts. (maybe a new ancillary belt)
Tools -
shifting spanner up to 30mm
metric socket set
screw drivers
1/2" socket angle guage
torque wrench + breaker bar
trolley jack

 

Back in the day, I bought a '10 Clubman S with a similar issue. The top was gone and the chain had slipped. it cost $3 to fix it lol. In my case, there was no damage to the valves, only the top guide.

SO, i suggest removing the valve cover and do some clean up. Then, reset the timing and see if you have compression. The results will decide the next step. Dont spend money just yet