I'm looking at a 2011 Mini Cooper Clubman S with a bad turbo. The seller states that the CEL went on and that the car was taken to a shop and they were given a repair bill of $2000-2500. Apparently the car runs and drives fine. Would there be a code that would indicate a bad turbo? If the turbo is bad and the engine still runs smoothly I suppose I could put on a used turbo and roll? That would be assuming that the oil was not significantly contaminated by turbo bearing material as to cause engine damage. What do you think?

 

I think you would get a code for the charging system (not power but boost). Also, if I'm not mistaking, there is a warranty on the turbo or a TSB. it is worth calling the dealer to verify. Lastly, check the vacuum lines.

 

I'm going through this with mine right now, the dealer says the wastegate is not closing properly causing the motor to go into half power mode. This seems to be a somewhat common problem on these cars, there is no code using a basic code reader but i'm sure there is a manufacturers specific code.

 

if the turbo isnt working its very noticeable when driving. i just had a 07 MCS that was ran without an oil pump and the turbo seized up due to lack of oil. I would say that it has much less power than a normally aspirated n14 motor. if your good with wrenches, you can do like i did and get a turbo cartridge and the entire fix was less than $100. if its your waste gate that's giving you issues, like the other post said, check your vacuum lines and you can try to adjust/replace the actuator.

 

I've had two bad turbos (one at 8K, replaced under warranty, and one at 180K). The second one was mostly the wastegate, but when they took it off there was excessive play in the turbine and they advised replacement. Neither failure was subtle (so if the car really runs and drives fine, it might be something else).

Anyway, I wouldn't let a turbo alone scare you, just make sure that you get the car at a price that reflects the cost to have someone replace it, plus some for the unknown risk that there's also another failure hiding.