While driving over a busy bridge in my 2009 Clubman with 70K, temp. light goes red, very shortly thereafter we stall out and now it turns out my engine is completely wrecked. Turns out all of the coolant leaked out around the thermostat housing and the engine quickly fried. Mini-USA refuses to do anything b/c they say these sorts of catastrophic failures can happen with the car w/ 70K...That's great. Anybody have a similar fatal experience? Seems like this is a regular happening and has got to be a design flaw..Costs more to fix it than it is worth...Ideas?

 

Yikes! Are you still under warranty? If you are, I would fight to get that engine replaced. Coolant leaking out catastophically at 70K is not normal for any car that has been well maintained. Unless they can prove that it was neglect on your part (no maintenance, drove 10miles after losing coolant, etc), they should replace the motor. If no warranty, then you might be out of luck....

 

That is a bummer...

 

Well just out of warranty but I am going to pursue Mini-USA relentlessly..Can't believe that Mini would leave me high and dry on this one....I am event nuts enough to get a new Clubman if they give me a decent credit but so far just the middle finger I;'m afraid....The car has a Blue Book of 10K and the dealer wants to charge me nearly 13K to drop in a new motor..Somehow that does not add up for me to correct what looks like a surefire design flaw...From what I can see on these forums, Minis getting "involuntarily drained" of coolant is a frequent occurrence to just be bad luck or old age (if you agree with Mini that 70K is a ton of miles)...For the moment just disgusted and w/o wheels...

 

No kidding..I guess it is sqeaky wheel time for me and my "Customer Satisfaction Specialist" over at Mini...Gonna have to bring my "A" pissed Mini-owner game

 

I hope things work out for you.. How long was this temp light on for?

 

yup, they'll do that. Mine lasted 65k, never a drop or drip on the garage floor, then roasted engine. Mini cust relations very polite, but you know, warranty till 50k, thats it. Dealer offered minor break on labor costs. Bought a new motor and just finishing installing it myself. It's a big job. '09 Clubby non-S. N12 motor needs much looking after, BMW/Mini does us a disservice by spec-ing a 15k maint interval. Ah well, live and learn.

 

Sorry for your troubles. Be persistent, but cordial, with Mini USA, and escalate as far as you can. If you rant/rave, they'll just blow you off. They are correct.... if you're out of warranty they have no legal requirement to do anything despite any insistence you make that the failure is premature. So you're looking for a favor from them.... they have some money for this sort of thing but it is not unlimited and the more you can present yourself as a good customer who would like to keep driving a Mini, the more they're likely to help. I doubt they'll cover the entire costs, so look for some kind of compromise.

If they won't help, then a used engine is the way to go. You should be able to get a used engine installed for $3K or so.

As someone else alluded to, the key to minimizing this sort of problem is to shut down the engine as soon as the problem starts manifesting itself. Most don't, then continue to drive the cars until they quit, and then say it happened suddenly. Not accusing, but if you drive an obviously overheating car until it quits, then the problem is looking back at you in the mirror.

- Mark

 

Sorry to hear it, but you may have luck finding an engine at a "junk" yard. There are several in the Elizabeth, Linden and North NJ area. Call them. All you really need is the main complete block. I am not sure if Mini is going to help you out at all.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/07-10-MINI-COOPER-CLUBMAN-N12-R56-R55-R57-BASE-ENGINE-REMAN-REMANUFACTURED-/251342075940?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a8527b824&vxp=mtr
The above is a Reman'd block, just expensive. You can probably pick up a "wrecked" car engine complete fwith low miles for about $1500-$2000.

I may be way off the mark on your desire to replace it yourself, but it would be the least expensive option. Hope it helps.

 

Like many have said a used motor would be way cheaper. Also, get it towed to an independent shop. There isn't anything super fancy about the mini that any regular shop can't swap a motor in. Should be able to be out the door for 4-5k. Sucks to hear about the motor though

 

yeesh sorry to hear... good luck with it

 

I concur with this poster's advice.

When my clutch blew, I took this approach and Mini threw in the flywheel for free (dollar value approximately €560) in addition to an across the board 10% labour discount. On a €1500 job, that's a substantial reduction.

It doesn't pay to raise a stink when you're out of warranty. They'll just label you as an obnoxious customer and you won't get squat out of them.

Be unfailingly polite, but insistent. It's the only hope you've got as they've already indicated how they want to proceed...

 

This sucks, but the question to be answered by Andrew is how long was that red light on & how long did you drive your MINI with it on?? When a red light comes on it means stop now, not later.

I do hope MINI helps you, but I would not hold my breath while waiting.

 

I am a new 2009 Clubman S owner and I keep being warned by dealer and independent MINI shops of the importance of oil & coolant in MINI's. Think I will fork over the $1000 my independent MINI specialist estimated to add a coolant and oil pressure gauge cluster. I think this is for a non-MINI OEM gauge, will have to look and see if any OEM gauges exist.

 

Get a Scangauge unit, they are $150 tops... and show coolant and oil temperature..

Oil pressure has to be added separately with an external pressure sensor.

 

Is there an aftermarket thermostat housing that doesn't fail? Might be something to consider for out of warranty cars.

 

+1

 

I feared a situation like this when I made the decision to trade my 08 Clubman S before it went out of warranty in 2012. I really miss the Clubman, but not enough for a situation like this.

I agree with those saying you will catch more with honey than vinegar. My Customer Service Rep told me that MINI was chipping in to help those with "out of warranty" catastrophic engine failures (but maybe that was just him trying to keep me in the family at the time).

Now I drive a 2012 Focus Ti. Nice little car so far. Not a lick of trouble, but it ain't my Clubman. However I do sleep easier at night.

Rich

 

Wow! Sorry to hear this and now really frightened. My new to me MCS has exactly this: 69K miles. Nothing leaks, nothing carbon related, Run Flats seem to be fine! This is all we've talked about since I bought it 2 weeks ago. Ahhhh! '05 MCS supercharged.

Be afraid? I really can't afford to put 50% of the price of the car in the first 6 months. or more...I knew these were spendy cars, but now i'm scared to death. what have I done? Perhaps I wasn't ready for this....Love the car however!

 

Catastrophic failure at 70,000 miles? That says volumes about poor engine design.

 

Don't panic folks. Did you notice the OP of this thread had a red temp light? He continued to drive, not sure how far & ended up with a junk engine. There is an owner component to this failure.

Seems to me if you open the hood, check the oil & look at the coolant level this is not likely to happen. It is all about being aware of how your car is running & keeping up with the required maintenance.

 

According to your post you have a R-53 . The engine problems here are with the r-56 . You have nothing to worry about . We have several r-53 owners locally with over 200,000 miles and no issues .

 

That's true, but thermostat housings shouldn't fail at 70,000 miles, either. Yes, if you get a red light, stop ASAP and turn the damned car off. But MINI needs to make a better thermostat housing, which should not be failing like this. Why isn't there an aftermarket part that is better, to replace this? A lot of market for that, it looks like. I sure as heck would buy one.

 

i will sleep better tonight with my '05. Ahhhhh! Today is the last nice day for awhile, so took her out for a spin over lunch and found some curvy roads. Yes, it does corner like a go-kart! Awesome. I love my Mini-Me.

 

Agreed, sorry to say there is no aftermarket part. The thermostat housings leak on R53's also. You'd think MINI would have come up with a better solution once they came out with the R56.

I have a high mileage R53 that is on its third thermostat. Since I lift the hood & check things it has not been a problem other than installing another one. The R53 does have a temp gauge that gives me early warning if I don't catch the coolant level going down.