All of a sudden my 07 MCS started idling real rough and smoke started pouring from the exhaust. No codes whatsoever. Took it to my local and trustworthy indy shop. They came back with the following:

FOUND MISFIRE CYLINDER 3 - COMPRESSION TESTED CYLINDER 3 DRY AND WET ARE BOTH AT 75 PSI. WITH BOROSCOPE FOUND THAT CYLINDER WALL HAS MANY HOLES - ENGINE WILL NEED REPLACEMENT. SEE ATTACHED PICTURES.









They recommend a replacement motor for $7k. What options do I have?

 

Used motor, how does that even happen?

 

No idea how that happens. Does anyone sell refurbished motors? I don't want to run into the same issue with a used one.

 

Did they find the spark plug chipped? 75psi isnt bad. at least your cylinder isnt dead. Can you try one of those "engine compression restore" from autozone? if the walls are indeed bad, you can just buy a block and swap everything to it.
try this website as well for parts www.car-part.com

http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/sear...erPage=1&iKey=

 

Plugs are new, I doubt they're chipped plus the shop didn't mention anything about it. I'll give the restore goop a shot and do a little more research in the meantime

 

unfortunately r56 blocks are not cheap at all due to so many timing chain failures

restore goop is not going to help at all

 

I used Restore in a 2003 Nissan, car barely ran after that and had to be flushed. Be careful as that is death to certain engines.

 

Is it the #2 cylinder?!
Seems the n14 usually fail on that one....

A few years ago lots of failures like that...was partly attributeed to odb2 tuning boxes, and tunes that were too aggressive for the stock parts....often the "skirt" on the piston would fail, and that would tear up the wall...
But a similar thread from "oldbrokenwind" is around right now....was a highly modified motor, pushing lots of hp...but similar failure mode.

So many n14's have come appart or been junked due to oil consumption and timing chain issues, I might be learry of a used motor....
Guess you need to decide if you want too fix it and dump it, or keep it longer term....

 

I'm not sure "similar" is the correct term --- mine was a catastrophic failure, all at once, with the wall totally rupturing thru to the coolant. This one looks like a "pitted" wall --- one that's getting ready to fail. But just a lousy wall condition shouldn't cause your sudden rough idle and smoke --- 'specially with 75psi compression. There's probably something else going on. Did your shop do any other tests, like a leak-down? Are the other cylinders OK? No coolant or oil loss? If you can fix the idle / smoke, it might be usable for awhile longer.

You say plugs are new. Any chance the previous #2 was broken, and it's pieces scored the cylinder wall?

My indy shop tells me re-manufactured engines are available thru the dealer's parts dept. You might have your indy shop check there for a replacement --- engine cost plus his labor will probably be around his quoted $7K. There's also an outfit called "LKQ Corp." that sells used Mini parts --- probably a glorified wrecking yard --- maybe check their web site to see what's available --- a bare block can be cleaned up.

As stated earlier, you need to decide whether or not you want to throw that kind of money into a car with a book value about the same, or less. Your engine is definitely on its way out!

 

LKQ is a wrecking yard, I pick parts at them all the time, it's a big chain

 

Just purchased a motor with 51k miles on it. 3 yrs or 36k miles warranty, $3,900. Indy BMW/Mini shop charging $1,650 for labor. Keeping my fingers crossed in hopes of a non-eventful motor swap.

 

Are you parting out the "bad" motor...I need the cylinder head.

 

Yes, I certainly can but it won't be for another 1.5-2 weeks until the replacement motor is shipped and the original motor is extracted. You're welcome to PM me offers on anything you need.

 

No rush..keep me in mind and I'll pm you some time soon :-)

 

No problem. Will do. Thx bud

 

Hopefully I'm "preaching to the choir", but I want to remind both of you that the cam caps are not interchangeable between heads. Caps are installed tight when came journals are bored, therefore "matched" to that specific head. Mine weren't symmetric either --- they only mounted easily one way. Suggest pics or take notes for ease in assembly.

 

Thanks bud, honestly have no idea about the caps. I normally try and do work on my own but I'm turning this one completely over to my mechanic.