My wife bought a 2013 Cooper S in July 2018 from our local Mini dealership. It developed a serious oil consumption problem almost right away, and has been using about a quart each month ever since (I've posted about this issue before). The cause of this has turned out to be a leaky PCV valve and hose and leaky valve cover gasket. Last month a plastic T connector leading to the turbo charger burst and all the coolant leaked out, causing the engine to shut down. Had this replaced and new coolant put in, then 2 weeks later the car started to run very rough and die. My mechanic confirmed that the timing chain has developed a lot of slack and needs to be changed (at only 60k miles). After doing a lot of research I have found that this Peugeot engine is notorious for timing chain failures at around 50-60k. I've had MANY cars in my day (I'm in my 50s) and I must say that I am completely shocked, surprised, (not to mention REALLY PISSED!!) to hear that "it's normal" for this car to need a timing chain replacement so soon. My mechanic quoted me $1500 for the job. How many others on this forum have experienced this same fate? We are tempted to trade in the damn car as soon as it's repaired and get something more reliable.

 

the timing chain failure could have been caused by the low oil condition. How often have you been checking/changing oil?

 

Yes, if you had and oil leak and it ran low, you get the oil light on when you turn corners, you will also hear the chain rattle at start up a lot. It should not be that soon on the N18, but we have seen people with oil leaks and leaking oil lines have issues. Its the N14s in early production that have the timing chain failure but again half the time its because of something else going on that contributes. Only when they are in higher mileage do we see chain guides and slack in the chain (their was a tensioner update). Most people dont change the oil often or wait till 15K and the oil runs low. I do mine 5-7K on both my MINIs.