I have a 2014 Countryman and the alternator is dead (confirmed by Mini). It's a $2k repair on a car that's only about 6 months outside of warranty, so I've appealed to Mini Canada to extend coverage. I consider this a highly unusual failure on a four year old vehicle. Broadly speaking, alternators are parts that rarely fail. I have a couple of questions for the community.

Has anyone else seen alternator failures with a Mini of this age?

How long do you normally have to wait to hear back about out of warranty coverage from Mini? The car has been at the dealership for over a week and I don't have confirmation either way of whether they'll pay for it.

Thanks.

 

You can search this particular 'Problems/Issues' forum for the word 'alternator' to see what pops up. I'm not seeing much (if anything) in the way of complaints about premature alternator failure. Premature battery failure absolutely has been an issue. I haven't had much success in working with MINI Canada to get after warranty problems resolved favourably.

 

I just had the alternator replaced in my 2012 Countryman S All4. It has around 100,000km on it.

I paid about $1,500 for a new battery, belt, and alternator at an independent shop, but I'm having issues again.

Read about my issues here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4434427

 

So Mini came back and as suspected didn't offer me a dime. The customer service person tried to explain to me how a warranty works. What I joke. I'm going to make telling people not to buy Minis my full time job. I'll go back to a Japanese car the moment I get a chance. Yes, my Mazda rusting to oblivion, but it was mechanically indestructible.

 

Minis already have a poor reputation when it comes to reliability and cost of repair. Nobody will be shocked to hear you are dissatisfied. The enthusiasts here love their cars despite their shortcomings. Most buy them with the expectation that it won't always be smooth sailing.

I was concerned about reliability when I bought the 2012 Countryman with 40,000km. It was pretty good for the following 60,000km, with only a minor electrical / fog lamp issue, a door panel issue, and a few broken wheel lock keys. Well, pretty good, given my expectations.

Now that the car is at 100,000km, and having battery / alternator issues, I am not happy about it, but not shocked either. By the time I get hit with a few more major repairs, I might be looking to trade it. Hopefully we can keep the mileage on the car low, so it last a couple more years. I suspect I'll be looking to unload the vehicle before it hits 200,000km.

 

Anyone who buys a MINI and figures it will be just as reliable as their Japanese import, clearly didn't do their homework before they bought the car. As 'rkj' suggests, most members here enjoy their cars despite their well documented shortcomings. Threats of telling everyone they know not to buy a MINI will simply fall on deaf ears and have no effect on their sales. Suck it up, consider it a lesson learned and move on with life.

 

I have a 2015 countryman all4 S that I bought with 5 miles on it first owner brand new in 15. I have a long commute and now, in the close of 2018, I have 95,000miles on it. Last week it's alternator gave up the ghost in just under 4 years, this is unacceptable! I bought a new alternator and going to start the ridiculous process mini/bmw created to do any kind of work in this engine bay. I will document the process hopefully to save others time and money (there is very little out there for this car... I also think i'm going to be car lot surfing for soothing more reliable to trade this in for. so far i've had to recharge the AC, had the lumbar fail and been through 3 windshields ( are these made of crystal).

 

I got the alternator in, did it the SUPAZUK method. I did not have to take off bumper cover or put it in service mode and i did not have to open the AC system as the MINI service method suggests

SO HERE IT IS:
-jacked up front and put jack stands under it
-disconnected negative battery terminal
-removed both head lights (both left head light lower bolts were seized, will have to pick up new Attaching element for headlights 63122752224 )
-removed grill


-removed right inner wheel-well (used a tent stake for the plastic blind rivets, worked slick, pushed it in popped the peice in the pulled the rivet )
-removed radiator top support including hood latches and cable
-removed Inter-cooler to intake tube

-used a large wrench ( don't remember the size) to pull back the pulley tensioner and lock it in place with the pin
-removed tensioner
-disconnected alternator wires
-released the friction drive and removed belt
-unbolted AC compressor ( back bolt has to be patiently turned out by hand wrench turning and moving the compressor out with each turn, as the line is in the way to fully pull the bolt out)
-unlatched the clamp that holds the line behind radiator and in the fender well
-lowered the compressor as low as I could

-unbolted lower alternator bolt
-lowered alternator and took out through the right wheel well

I did it all in reverse to put alternator in and everything back in .. still need some new rivets to finish the wheel wheel cover (broke 2 before i tried the tent stake method) and the lower headlight attachment elements
I hope this helps someone

 

BTW there are a bunch of codes that pop form an alternator failure you will need to clear in both OBDII and in ABS just a heads up also recommend since you disconnected the battery the IBS will want to know that the battery has been changed ... even though it hasn't

 

The alternator just failed on my 2009 bass r56 with 118000 miles.

In my experience and in checking around, this is pretty normal for most any vehicle. Alternators are the one component that certainly do not last for the life of the vehicle.

2K for the replacement sounds insane to me even for a dealer.

I'm finding prices for an alternator from $140 to over $400. Does anyone have any advice or recommendations for an inexpensive replacement that will get the job done?

Thanks so much to the gentleman above for the tear down and for taking the time to post his replacement!

 

get the new Bosch from rock auto