I have a 2008 MCS "S" with the dealer installed JCW package with 39,000 miles. Just before running in the Mini's on the Dragon, I had engine lights come on. Turns out that cylinder 2 was misfiring.

Drove it 2 hours to the dealership. They say that cylinder 2 has no compression and it probably needs a new engine? Anybody have experience or an opinion?

Also, what exactly does a "new" engine mean? Cost estimates?

 

Sure, the dealer is not a machine shop. Provided u didn't puch a hole in the block and just lifted the head with an overheating situation the car should go to a machine shop to have the block and head "decked" and a new head gasket installed. The dealer does not have the capacity to offer this.

 

If u lost a valve on 2 and the piston is not damaged, have the head taken off replace all the valves and valve guides only a couple hundred bucks for a garage to do

 

There wasn't any overheating issues. Just drove like crap once the cylinder starting misfiring. Unfortunately, I'm not mechanically inclined. Is overheating a tell-tale sign of what you describe? If I had punched a hole in the block, would the car drive? What would signs of this be?

 

I also can't image paying for a new engine on a Cooper with 39,000 miles. It has never been driven hard. Surely this is a Mini dealership issue? I'm like 6 months out of my "warranty"

 

What are they saying caused a misfire? That will determine what is needed.

 

Ok, most likely you had a carbon build up issuse which causes the valves to get hotter than designed and you burned your # 2 valve. You need to find out if the top of the piston on 2 was damaged. If not have the head rebuilt with new valves and seals. This unfortunately is not all that uncommon for N14's.

 

Homework..Best of luck

 

I don't know yet. They are having the "shop manager" look at it Monday and were simply kind enough to tell me they think it needs a new engine based upon no compression in the cylinder.

Problem in my town is that there isn't anyone else that works on Mini's besides the dealership.

If you all will keep giving me alternative ideas, I'm going to print them all out and go prepared to the dealership on Monday.

 

I do think I have carbon build-up issues. The car was already showing signs of it and I was intending to get it walnut blasted next month. Sometimes under hard acceleration it would stutter or hesitate and spit black exhaust out the back. I was told that was a tell-tale sign of carbon build-up. The one shop in town I spoke to didn't act like it was an emergency to have it blasted.

 

And what do you do if the top of the piston IS damaged?

 

Then u will have to pull the engine and rebuild both the top and bottom end of the engine at which point more than likely it would be cheaper to find a used n14 to buy. You may have gotten lucky and that valve did not come apart, instead burned a guide or slightly bent the valve face.

 

Sounds like what happened to me.....

It was a bad install of a valve seat at the factory that caused a hot spot on the valve until a piece broke off.

$2700 at a MINI shop but I replaced all the valves, seats, and guides. If you only did one it will run about $2000. See the thread "Dropped Valve" for the whole story.

 

Do you know if all the mods and tune caused the problem or just the engine design flawed?

 

There would have been an enormous bang and clatter, smoke, and maybe even fire, accompanied by the smell of smoke and poo. You didn't mention anything like that so, it probably hasn't happened. ;-)

I agree with the posts above; zero compression in one cylinder shouldn't automatically mean an engine replacement. Find out the cause first, and then decide accordingly.

Spridget

 

Not to mention pieces of rod/piston being strewn everywhere along with fluid leaking.

 

Second opinion, I will buy a car from a stealership....I mean dealership but that is about it unless something is warranty.

 

Sorry this happened to you, it's going to be expensive even if it's the lesser of all the bad things here.

You're 1st step should be finding a mechanic that has one of those cameras you can drop in thru the spark plug hole. Only then will you get the cheapest way of knowing what's wrong.

I'd say you're looking at a top or bottom end rebuild so you're best route is either look for a used motor or get one out of a wreck and build it up with some good parts. No compression is a really bad thing. You either have top end damage so the cylinder isn't sealing or you have blown rings in the bottom end... that's if there's no damage you can see like metal in the oil or a thrown rod. My buddy has a race shop for mostly Porsches and he has one with a piece of rod sitting in the oil pan.. and it was still running?!?

The only good side is that people do this willingly with good engines so if you were to get a junker and build it up you can tell yourself you're just making it faster.

 

Here is an update on my saga:

Just got back from the dealership. Turns out the damage is not in the top end but rather the bottom end. It either has a cracked or burnt piston and possible broken piston ring. The cylinder walls might also be scored. No way of knowing until you take the head apart. They don't want to take it apart because while it will tell them exactly what is wrong, they won't know why and the end result is still the same. The car needs a new engine. They quoted me $8,000.00

Obviously that didn't sit well. The car is a 2008 with 39,000 miles. Outside of the time warranty, but well under the mileage warranty. I have filed an official complaint with Mini USA (per the dealer recommendation) to see what assistance they will be with the engine replacement. The head mechanic told me he had never seen a Mini engine do this before. Plenty of top end problems, but not piston problems at such low mileage.

If they say "no" I guess my option is a used engine or one from a junkyard, as recommended above. I am close enough to Way Motorworks in Atlanta to have him do the work.

Any other thoughts or recommendations?

 

That's not a question I'm going to ask the dealership, but is there really any chance of that? The only mod I was running was a Helix intercooler and Stage 1 Accessport tune.

Has anyone ever had engine problems as a result of the AP tune?

 

I had the same issue and had to replace my engine. I had an Accessport Stage 1 but I had not been running the tune for about two months prior to my engine. So for a intents and purposes my car was on a stock tune. Here's a breakdown of what happened with mine:

Driving on a highway at 70 mph. I had not driven the car hard in weeks and I had used the highest octane available (In CO it's 91). I exit the highway and come to a stop. The light turns greens and I begin to modestly accelerate. Suddenly my car is lacking power for how far down the gas pedal was pressed. I pressed the gas pedal to the floor (thinking I may have a gas bubble or something that needs to work itself out). Still poor acceleration response. I check my dash and there are no CELs, nothing lit up. I look in my rearview to see if spoke is coming out of the tailpipes (thinking maybe my turbo was blown). I come to a stop and the car lingers to turn over. I park in my apartment complex (I was about 1/3 mile away from when I had issues). I let it sit for 6hrs and come back to start it. The car barely turns over but it does start. Still a terrible idle sound. I go to take it around the block to see if the issue will work itself out. It did not. I drive it back to my apartment. I then called my girlfriend that I would need to be picked up at the Mini dealership. En route a yellow CEL comes on. I park, install the AP, and check the codes. I don't remember the code number but I remember the "Cylinder 3 Misfire" description. I uinstalled the AP and the car again barely starts. Dropped it off at the dealer.

The dealer calls me the next day and said the reason for the misfire was because there was no compression. They told me they would have to open up the engine to get a peek at the cyclinder to find out why there was no compression. I get a call the day after that and the dealership informs me that the connecting rod had broken and sent metal fragments throughout the engine block and that I had to replace my engine....my engine only had 46,000 miles on it.

 

Solskjaer1999,

What happened then? Did you replace the motor? Used, new, salvage yard? What did it end up costing you?

 

Oh and I should note as well, there was no smell, smoke, or leaking of any kind when I had my problems. And the fact that after about 10 miles of driving on it, then the yellow CEL came on....I always would have assumed that it would throw a red CEL. Had any of the ECU warnings been significant or there were sensory warnings (smell, seeing smoke, etc) I would have never driven it to the dealership in the first place.

 

I had/have a 2008 like yours. It had the JCW tuning package (not to be confused with a JCW engine). The dealership said they would replace the motor for free (I bitched about the car only having 46,000 miles on it). I decided to get an actual JCW engine to replace the S engine because I am planning on modding my engine and figured I would need the better internals. I just paid the difference between the two engines so it cost me about $6000 for a brand new *actual* JCW engine. If your car had less than 100,000 miles on it I would raise hell.

And make sure they replace the turbo and everything as well. If you do a new engine you don't want a turbo with a bunch of miles put back on it because if the turbo goes then the dealership will probably say they can't replace that under warranty since it was only the engine you replaced.

 

Very interesting. You are being very very helpful. I also have the JCW tuning package (dealer installed) and not the actual JCW engine. However, the head tech told me today that there is not difference between my engine and a JCW engine, which I questioned. I wanted to make sure that if they replaced my engine that I would be getting the same as prior. He acted like a JCW engine was not much more, but it sounds like from you it was a $6,000 difference.

Did you do all your griping through the dealership and was it them that replaced the engine or Mini USA the corporation? I don't think my dealer is going to be happy footing the bill as I didn't even buy the car from them.

I do plan on raising cain though