Long story short, I have discovered that my timing chain tensioner, chain and guides have been replaced by BMW under warranty roughly a year and a half and 6k miles ago. Now, however, the tensioner has failed again and needs to be replaced. Since this repair was done by BMW previously, can I go back to the dealer and ask them to do the repair again free of charge since it was them who installed the part and it has failed again. I know companies like Ford do have a lifetime warranty on repairs that they do under warranty, but I am not sure if Mini/BMW do the same. There are also two catches to this, one the repair was done in a dealer in another state than I am in and two, the car is no longer under warranty. Anyone have experience with this?

 

Matter of fact, yes, I had two dealer repairs fail on my '07 MCS and done again --- both FOC and after original warranty expired, and neither was a recall. 1st one was a front crank seal, replaced by a CA dealer after swapping heads --- it failed after a couple months and was replaced again by a NV dealer. 2nd time was a thermostat housing I bought from my NV dealer and replaced myself. About a year later, it failed --- they exchanged the unit but I had to do the replacement myself. Mini dealers warranty their parts and labor for at least year, possibly two (I forget). You need to check with them for specifics.

 

2 years, unlimited mileage is my understanding....major reason why I pay the premium to have dealer fix it