Hello everyone !! So a week ago, while going to school, the check engine lite up and I started to smell burning oil. I stopped the car, checked for smoke or anything. Nothing. I restarted the car ,drove and I could feel a loss of power. The next day I brought the car to a euro garage to see what was wrong, after a few hours they called back and told me that compression on cylinder 2,3 and 4 are low (90 psi) and I have to change the engine, because the piston rings don't seal properly. So I asked them to change the rings and they say it can't be done ,because the material of the cylinder walls are not made to be machined and a machine shop would cost way more to do it. I find it a bit weird that they go straight to the engine swap solution with just a few tests . I finally asked if they did a leak down test to confirm that it was the rings. They told me that they can't do it because mini/bmw does not sell the tool. So today, I decided to bring the car to the dealer so they can do the test and give me a second opinion, because this is not a simple decision haha. So my question is: what do you guys think ? Are they right ? Do I need an engine swap ? Thanks guys and girls

My car is a 2011 R56 MINI COOPER S JCW

 

well, depending on the mileage and if you have the N14 engine, I would check the intake valves for carbon buildup. how often do you change the oil? was the timing chain replaced?

 

There are a lot of older Minis than your’s running on the original engine. If you have taken good care of it, done routine maintenance, etc. it seems unlikely the engine is suddenly shot. You are right to request a second opinion. I hope, for your sake, you get a better answer from the new service shop.

Kat

 

The cylinder walls can absolutely be machined and the piston rings replaced. Though it still may not be worth it depending how much you can get a used short block for. This is also assuming they properly diagnosed it as bad ring, which I have honestly never heard of before on these cars outside of extreme abuse cases. Burning oil is usually more of an issue with the turbos, valve stem, and PCV system. However if you're down on power as well and losing compression I'd lean more toward a valve issue.

 

FYI - I had a bunch of engine related work done, included new piston rings (compression & oil control rings). My saga is documented here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...work-rant.html

Good luck.

 

Hello, sorry for the late update. This is what my options are currently. The dealer did confirm the problem of the rings but with more accurate readings. The compression on all cylinders is at about 160 psi.However on cylinder 3 the blowby is at 18%. They cleaned the intake valves as well and nothing changed.they think a small piece of harden carbon must of entered the intake and lodge itself in between the ring and the cylinder wall. So the dealer suggested to replace the engine with a refurbished one (14k $CAN) or replace the piston and rings and all the other stuff ( head gasket, rear main seal,rods,main bearings) for 6k$CAN, they would send the head for measurement and the crankshaft too. Both of them come with a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty. My dad called his mechanic and he told him he could replace the engine for 6k$CAN with 6 months warranty on a 110k km engine. I think that replacing the piston and rings is a better deal since the car has 92k km on it and it would fix all the major problems that engine has and if we find something we can take care of it right away.What do you guys think ?

 

IMHO - I suggest you consider the current value of the car against the cost of repairs and make a, as informed rational decision as you can...

In my case mentioned above in post #5: I had a independent mini specialist whom I trusted. This weighed heavily in my decision to basically pour $'s into repairs (almost the same amount as car was valued). I 'rationalized' if I got another 2-3 years of life out of the car, it would be worth it - lol. Oh, and wife wanted us to keep it also :-)

Good luck.

 

We bought the car for 10k$CAN and the dealership values the car at 2500$CAN at its current state. so if we put 6k on repairs we could probably sell it for 10-13k like the dealer said. But if someone would take the car for like 6k or 7k maybe we would consider selling it and losing 3-4k$. Its a though decision man :/

 

So I talked to my uncle who owns a shop and knows a lot about euro cars especially BMW. He thinks the dealer is trying to screw us over. He argues that the 18% blowby is not related to a bad piston, but a bad coil, because if it was a ring the blowby result would be higher. He thinks that the blowby is a temporary problem caused by the fuel that is injected on to the cylinder walls which would couse the piston not seal properly. So here we go again I am going to test the coils and see. He was shocked when I told him it was a short block problem, because when he works on mini's its usually burned valves.

 

If this is the case --- "--a small piece of harden carbon must of entered the intake and lodge itself in between the ring and the cylinder wall. --" you might want to find a borescope and check cylinder wall for damage. Also, in addition to a bad coil not burning fuel, how about an injector that's stuck open. Again, a borescope can see if one cylinder is wetter than the others. Another test is to squirt oil into the cylinder, to create a better seal. If compression reading goes up, that indicates rings aren't seating properly. Hopefully your uncle or the dealer tried this.

You haven't mentioned whether or not there are any codes associated with your CEL. Can the CEL be cleared? Does it return immediately?

I'd check a lot of other stuff before committing to a new ring job, or more, especially with readings of 160. "Burned oil smell" and "loss of power" can be caused by all kinds of things. Have you checked the turbo for excess center shaft play? There should be zero side-to-side and end movement, only rotation. And no oil in the air inlet chamber.