Should I Keep It?
 

I bought my 2007 MCS just 4 months ago. It had only one previous owner and 39,000. Family, friends and coworkers were all surprised when I told them that it was a used car... it looks new, inside and out. It ran beautifully. So. Much. Fun...

Then it threw a CEL for a cracked thermostat housing. That's when I found out that 2,000 miles ago, it had the water pump replaced (known issue, replaced under warranty). No biggie, right?

Except that it started having cold start issues. The timing chain was replaced (known issue #2, factory replaced). That didn't fix the problem.

This time it was the high pressure fuel pump (known issue #3, factory replaced). All good, right? Nope. There was a serious carbon build up on the valves (known issue #4, no support from the factory on this). I'm told that if I don't get the carbon removed (walnut shell blasting) that the new HPFP will fail prematurely.

So, let's look at the Pros and Cons:

Pros
-------------------------
- it's SO MUCH FUN!
- it's BEAUTIFUL TO LOOK AT!
- I have always wanted a MINI since I saw the original Italian Job

Cons
-------------------------
- 4 non-trivial repairs within 6,000 miles (3 known issues)
- 1 non-trivial service (carbon build up, $570-$1000) that will need to be repeated for the life of the car (or invest in a OCC and PCV check valve)
- EVERYTHING for repairs (parts, labor) are 50% more expensive than Japanese or American cars

Just looking for some perspective...

Get the walnut blasting done. Call around you could probably save some money. Get a oil catch can. And I think you should be good to go. I have an 08s that has experienced some of the issues you have had as has most of the owners of the earlier R56's about the same things. You also hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the fun factor.

The carbon in the intake should not cause the HPFP to fail. It might cause other problems, but not an HPFP failure.

I had almost all of those issues right around that same time (I bought mine at 36K), and since then, it's been rock solid and all fun all the time. I haven't had to do the HPFP yet, but since that's covered to 100K or something, I'm not concerned. A few repairs are well worth the amount of fun this car produces. That said, I did buy mechanical breakdown insurance so I won't get nailed with crazy out of warranty fixes.

Yep, those are the issues with early "S" MINIs. You've had them all. Go have fun! I am

Our new 07 S had the hpfp and carbon done at about 40K, before it was a covered item. Since then we haven't had any problems outside body issues, like the roof doesn't like to work, but I haven't gotten into that yet. It still works, but not when it's cold. I think the carbon thing was mostly because she was buying cheap Sheets gas. We only buy top line fuel now and no more issues at about 90K. But yes, it's the most expensive car repair wise we have ever had and we stay away from Sterling Mini as much as we can and I do as much as I can tolerate.

It's up to you. You may be free from here on out, can't tell.

I found an independent BMW/MINI garage and spoke to the owner about the carbon build up. He was convinced that the dealership was full of it ("43K? There's no way there is enough build up to make a difference.").

For $75 he would inspect it and take a picture of the valves with his inspection camera to prove his point. If he's wrong, he says it's a two hour job to hand scrub the valves and ports... total cost = $150 (including the inspection since he'll already be in there). He's willing to take photos after as well, again to prove his point.

This is mighty tempting.

I would go for that - can't hurt, right?

Got for it. He will surprised by the amount of build up on the valves.

I would jump all over that valve cleaning for that price. That is what is holding me back is that every where is charging too much/

Well, it is a tough decision. Can't really tell you what to do, but can only relay my story. And, as of today, I am no longer the owner of an 07 Cooper S. Everyone's situation is different and I had some of the known problems that your car had repaired plus worse, bad intake valve and a burned cylinder. I had 56,000 miles on mine. For me, the dealers closest to me are too far away for a car that needs this much attention (1 and a half hour for one dealer, two hours for the other.) In my area, I've been hard pressed to find a mechanic that will touch the car. I also do a lot of highway driving and I need something a little more dependable.

Like I said in another thread, if my finances were better I would have liked to keep the Mini as the weekend car. But I can't swing that at this time. It sucks because my Mini was one I ordered up to my specs and I spent the most I'd ever spent on a car in my life and now it's gone. But, at the end of the day, it is just a car.

I would add some more bullet points to your pros and cons:

Pros:
-Car is super quick
-It hugs the corners like a child clutching a teddy bear

Cons:
-Another known issue, turbo's oil feed line will most likely leak at some point
-Even though yours has had the timing chain fixed, I've read that issue returned for some people.
-You have to be super vigilant about the car's oil level and consumption. For some people that really love cars, that's not a problem. For others that would rather not worry about it, it's a bit of a hassle.

All I can say is good luck with whatever you choose to do. I get why we love the Mini. It looks and handles like nothing else in it's price range with great gas mileage to boot. But for me, at the end of the day, it had too many mechanical warts.

And for those wondering, I traded mine in on a new Suzuki SX4 Crossover. Yeah, it's a big step down in the acceleration department and styling. But on my current budget, the price was right. And living in the northeast, the 4 wheel drive is a nice bonus. Also, there's 5 dealers around me all within 25 minutes to an hour. Plus, a big portion of the local mechanics will work on it once the warranty is up.

I had every one of those problems on my 2007 Cooper S, between 45k and 50k. The undiagnosed thermostat housing issue led to an overheating on the highway, which in turn led to the oil cooler gaskets going bad.

All in all, beween chain tensioner, timing chain, carbon deposits, therm housing and oil cooler, I've sunk more than $5k into her this year.

My recommendation - check your wallet and see what it is telling you. These aren't for the faint of heart, even if you have a good indie mechanic.

For me, I'll be keeping her because I love her and can afford it, for now :lol:

So are you going to keep your car..........We have a right to know

UPDATE: The valve cleaning went as planned. I did more research and it seemed like I had hit all of the major, known issues with my year. Now that I have a mechanic that I believe I can trust, I decided to hold on to Mr. Tabasco (Chili Red, get it?).

To date, everything has been rock solid (knock wood). I bought a couple of ramps and have been doing my own oil changes (who'da thought that would be fun?). The wifey and I go for Sunday morning drives through the local twisties (gotta love SoCal). I even found a local track that let's street cars on once a week. Now I just need the nerve to risk hitting the barriers and scuffing my prized go kart.

Thank you for all the input. This forum is such a great place. There are so many trolls on other car sites, it's refreshing to deal with grown ups that still want to have fun like kids.

What track?

Glad you're happy! I bought a 2009 CPO "Just-a-Cooper" and sprung for the extended warranty.

I've been a motorcycle rider my entire life, H-D and BMW's. This car is the MOST frickin' fun on four wheels I could hope for and I'm happy as a pig in his element that I bought it!

+1

only real tracks in socal are chuckwalla, streets, and button. where's this hidden track?

Heh. I didn't claim it was a "real" track. There's a huge go kart track out in Riverside that has a Tuesday night event (Time Attack) for street cars. It looks like fun.

http://www.adamsmotorsportspark.com/...me-attackgrip/