Sell the damn thing.

 

I would say it's time to get your hands dirty. That's what I did for my Mini S 03, as well as my BMW M5. Saved over 5-8k in maintenance and labor, did inspection I and II myself. Goodluck!

 

Why is this thread still going? The OP has yet to come back and post any follow up regarding what is wrong.

 

I look at it this way. If you can't do the service yourself or have a local trusted mechanic locally, you probably shouldn't own a GERMAN, ENGLISH, or ITALIAN car that's out of warranty.

I don't see why people that live hours away from a dealer buy a MINI...

 

Sludge and blocked passages. At 12k miles, 2 years old. WOW.

 

There could be a lot of different things that can cause that. Like improperly cooling the car down or using the wrong oil. I would have to see pictures of that to believe it. I have a 93 BMW that has 194k on it and when I tore into the engine there was a decent amount of sludge. The reason it was like that was from pure neglect.

 

I bought my 2008 MCS two weeks ago, and comes out of warranty in May. I started noticing a very harsh engine sound on cold start up. The sound faded after a couple of minutes, but it was very out of character from the noises the engine made the rest of the time so, it went back to the dealer, and it is the timing chain. I showed the service rep the bulletin on it, and he said he already suspected that when I told him how it was behaving. They're doing the repairs, now, and it won't cost me a cent, thankfully.
This is the second time I've had it back to the dealer, having spent time with the car, and discovering things that needed to be addressed. Last time I got it back, and the paperwork had the auxiliary water pump replacement done without me having to say a thing. Otherwise, excellent car, having a blast.

 

If your car doesn't have a oil catch can and boost tap stop installed, I'd buy one and install it. Very easy to install. BSH is a good one.
Check oil frequently especially if you run it hard as well as the radiator coolant, the thermostats are know to leak.
Other than that, enjoy.

 

I was looking through MINI You Tube videos last night, and saw one. It's easy to install you say? How much do they run?

 

I recently began having trouble starting my 07 cooper S in the mornings as well as experiencing a substantial drop in power so two weeks ago I used the info here: Attached Files
R56 Carbon Build-Up Cleaning Procedure.pdf (546.4 KB, 511 views)
I performed the work myself (the valves were caked with a thick layer of carbon-what a mess) after a test drive, I was very happy to have found the power I've been missing but the hard starting symptoms remained. The dealer had my mini for a day last week and they changed out the high pressure fuel pump for free and now my mini starts right up. They also replaced the water pump for free. This is the grand total of issues that I have had on my 66,000 mile mini so far...

 

Got mine from www.waymotorworks.com
OCC is $170
Boost tap is $60
Well worth the investment.
I wouldn't call it a mod, I'd call it a necessity.