Sorry to hear of your engine problems.

That's a real cool table.

Here's a pic of our mailbox. It's a crankshaft out of a Caterpillar Diesel. My husband thought I'd lost my mind when I told him I wanted a crankshaft for a mailbox holder. I love it. Most of the neighbors don't have a clue.

 

You're probably right. I did not take a good hard look at the picture.

That new frog engine is a mystery to me...........

I was more familar with the old amazonian iron lump.

 

I understand what you're saying now, but you still never apologized to kakaa. That would have been the right thing to do, regardless of what your initial intentions were. You've danced around it, by trying to explain yourself and posting quotes that seemed to back you up, but unless you did it privately, you never issued a formal apology. Obviously, I wasn't the only one that "misinterpreted" your meaning. However, if I have offended you, then I apologize to you sir. I'm done with this. Sorry everybody.

 

Ahhhh, I was counting on you to clarify...oh well. I'm accustomed to valve springs around the shaft of the valve - they would be hidden under the shiny cam lobes I see in that photo. That other mechanism - I'm not sure. I thought it might be associated with off setting the position of the cam or something that drives the cam which would alter the timing. All guessing on my part.

 

Lava, you are correct - "vanos" is BMW-speak for variable valve timing.

 

kakaa, I hope the communication and spring issues are completely resolved and you have no further problems with your MINI.

I'm a native Californian. The only problem with California is that so many crazy folks from out of state have come here and #$%^&ed things up. So, Alabama, Georgia, and everywhere else, quit exporting your narcissistic lunatics to California. I blame you all.

When I went to school in New Mexico, a favorite local bumpersticker was, "Don't Californucate New Mexico".

 

This is a funny forum. So far, I have read mostly of what I consider MAJOR drivetrain issues on brand new 07's. Yet, everyone on here is optimistic and cheerful. Is it just me? I am a service writer and I'm freaking out about buying one of these now. Tranny issues, people replacing clutches left and right, and now a broken valve spring? Doesn't look good for the future, IMO.

 

It's all part of the fun of owning a MINI....

 

you've never read an auto forum's problem section before have you?

try spending 5 minutes in a honda forum (you know, those cars with a rep for being ultra reliable?) ex: http://www.elementownersclub.com/for...splay.php?f=41

you'll see how a forum can make an uncommon fault seem really widespread.


heck, at least our airbags don't deploy for no reason at all (seems fairly common on the honda element...)

 

I'm quite familiar with auto forums. I'm used to people complaining about chk engine lights, squeaks, rattles, etc. However, the complaints here are for trannies and engines. The cars aren't one year old. I'm a Volvo service writer and I've been doing this for 5 years now. I'm totally familiar with fluke problems and the like, but this is CRAZY.

 

Hehe. A Volvo service writer? I bet you would not own one of those either then. I just got rid of an S60 due to the extremely high costs to keep it running. We averaged over $6,000 a year in extraneous service costs on that car. That is above oil, filter, tires, battery, and coolant. Want to talk about crazy? The car spent more time in the shop than it did on the road while it was in warranty.

All our service writer would say is it costs a lot to keep a Volvo running.

The broken spring is definitely a fluke.

The tranny issues were a problem in some early parts, which has been resolved in later builds. One of the common ways to note the problem is the engaging point of the clutch. If the clutch is engaging near the top of the pedal travel, your car has the problem. A new clutch and flywheel are in order.

There are 4 different check light warnings on the Mini. Only one of them is critical. The others are just for information use. It is known the early builds had the software set to be too sensitive to the O2 sensor readings. It has been adjusted. Mosts all the posts about this do not list the specific check engine light condition. Without that, the posts are pretty meaningless. Honestly, I do not think most people know about the different check engine light warnings the car can present.

I had it once. The day after I ran my Mini through 10 inches of water trying to get home. By the next evening the light and condition had reset itself. It was the one which warned about the emission controls possibly malfunctioning.

There was also a bug in the cruise control, which has been fixed in a software update.

It is like MotorMouth said, there are a few who have problems with thier cars, but the lion share of owners do not have these problems. My Mini has been as trouble free as the new Lexus we have.

Is the Mini perfect? No! It has its own unique quirks. Are they a problem? It depends on your expectations. If you are expecting perfection. Then go buy a Lexus. Are you wanting a car which never needs anything doen to it? The Mini is not for you. As an example, the side driver and passenger glass make a noise when it rubs against the rubber seal, if the glass is not kept clean.

 

As a service writer I don't expect cars to be trouble free. However, I'm leary about what I read here. The cracked pressure plate is scary, cars on multiple clutches are scary, and valve springs are scary. That's what a warranty is for though, right? That argument only works to a certain extent with me. I'm not expecting miracles--I've replaced trannies right off the trailer before. That's a fluke. But the number of complaints for drivetrain issues are frightening.

On a side note, Volvo's are an expensive car to maintain. Not $6k per year though. I wanted my little boy's mom to buy one but she couldn't afford the maint and went with something else. I wouldn't buy one either, but that's because they aren't fast enough for me. I got a bit of a problem with that. My DD is a Saturn that I have about $15k in mods done.

 

Ok, so you have replaced the one-off problem part. I am not sure why you are reacting the way you are then. Do you think the few in this forum are representative of the majority?

This forum exsists for complaints about problems. So they are always going to look more exaggerated. Walk through your shop and list all the warranty problems you have in house right now and meet with all the owners at one time.

Not much difference, would be my guess.

My $6K per year maintenance expense was an average over 6 years. We spent over $35,000 dollars on maintenance. Service writers from three different dealerships all acted like that was normal. I asked the question point-blank. I'll never own another one.

 

Is there a TSB or other document to corroborate this?
My early-build R56 is at the shop; it's been making the squeal and I like it fixed. I'm afraid they're going to send it home claiming that they can't reproduce the problem.

I'm on hold with the dealer now and they're unaware of a PuMA on it...

 

The number of people complaining about 3-2 gearshift noise is very high IMO. The first post about the valve spring metions a second car at the same dealer for the same thing. The response here is that is a normal noise, so it makes me wonder about everyone's engine. The cracked pressure plate with no signs of abuse. That makes me question the build quality.

If we were talking about chk engine lights it would be one thing, but these are drivetrain complaints. That is a BIG problem. Sure I could walk through the shop and get some common problems nationwide, but they wouldn't be trannies. A computer reprogram because the a/c doesn't always cool properly maybe, but not harsh loud screaming noises when downshifting that no one knows how to fix.

I'm not trying to anger anyone, just voicing my opinion. And FWIW, I think that you paid way too much in maintenance.

 

I first joined this forum to get all the info I could on Mini's and get a feel about the motoring maddness that I got from a couple of friends that have them. Now I just read it for the entertainment!! I can honestly say that's the hardest I've laughed in a few months... I guess that's just from being a vet, although different generation, or just my off sense of humor...
Thanks for the laugh and sorry for getting this conversation off track again.

 

Drivetrain complaints from a handful of people.

And according to my Volvo service folks, there were a ton of problems with the transmissions in the S60's. I had a ton of problems with the transmission. The worst one and what finally lead us to get rid of the car was the one where it would arbitrarily drop into neutral. Not the shifter itself, just the transmission. To get it back into gear, you had to slow to under 30 miles per hour. Very dangerous and it existed for 3 years. No one could fix it. That is why it got all the software updates it did. They kept promising it would fix it. Then after the sixth update, they tried replacing the shift body. All at my cost, and it did nothing to stop the problem.

Yes, it costs too much to maintain a Volvo and that is why I will never own another one.

By the way, I do not think anyone is angry. Just confused as how you could lump a handful of people together and tag an entire car line as being problematic. At least I am confused. It would be easier to understand if you knew nothing about cars, but you are not ignorant about these things.

Most of the common issues have been quickly addressed at the factory. Unfortunately, the dealerships are not so quick to get the updates or parts to correct the problem in the field.

 

What constitutes a handful to you? 12 people complained about having the 3-2 downshift noise in the one thread that I read. Considering that most owners aren't online and don't post their problems, one would believe this number to be much higher. In my professional opinion, that is VERY bad for a brand new car that has just come out. I don't understand how someone could see it any other way.

I'm not saying EVERY car will have trouble, some will be perfect. Most may be perfect even. However, there are far too many complaints for me to not be concerned as a potential buyer. I'm an AMAZINGLY tolerant person with cars because of what I do for a living. I always buy an extended warranty because I know cars. Still, not a promising start for a vehicle.

If you want to talk about Volvo's I most certainly will. But let's do that through PM's so we don't waste everyone's time.

 

Out of the thousands who flow through NAM, I call a dozen or so a pretty insignificant, in terms of numbers. The issue which caused these problems appears to have been addressed at the factory already. If it was a design problem, all cars would have had it. It appears a bad run of parts caused it.

I only brought up the Volvo as a point of reference and continued after you made some claims about it. I have no need to talk about it. It is done.

 

We are only talking about 2007 vehicles here. Then the tranny noise is only for manuals. That will bring the number of total people way down from thousands. Then you take that 12 and see what's left. That's a high number. From the posts on here about that noise, the problem has not been fixed and Mini does not have a fix yet. I'm sure they are working on it, but it doesn't leave a warm feeling for me.

 

Jusst FYI. I really do not think you have a handle on the sheer number of people who cruise this site. And you are really underestimating the number of manual transmission owners that make up this population.

I can see where you would feel the why you do now.

Logically, if this was a design flaw, it would show up in every Mini. It doesn't.

 

Man, nevermind. It's like this on my car forum. When someone says anything negative about their car someone always gets all defensive.

I never said it was a design flaw. I said the number of drivetrain complaints is very high.

I'd LOVE to see the percentage of owners who are on this car forum versus the total sales number. 15,585 since the beginning of the year so far from what I found total sales. Minus the number of non-s, minus the number of 06's sold, minus the number of automatics. Let's say that number is 10,000 which is a stupid high est IMO and figure that about 1/3 of Mini owners are regular posters on this site. That would make the number of people here 3000 with 07's. I tried looking for a user list but that's disabled.

 

Skuzzy if you downshifted and heard a noise like Chubaka the Wookie from Starwars and then your dealer says theres nothing wrong with it and they have never heard of this problem before you probably would have a different point of view.

 

Lets put some REAL perspective into the numbers See http://www.gbmini.net/wp/mini_sales/

I dont know the breakdown of auto/manual but 12450 R56 (MC & MCS) sold in US. 10,000 manuals is maybe inline. 196,382 MINIs sold overall. Throwing out totalled cars/two MINI families, your looking at "maybe" 5% of all MINIs being manual R56.

Now look at NAM numbers. The total number of registered users is meaningless. There are many, many members with zero posts. Many who have come and gone for whatever their reasons. There are maybe, guessing, 1000 active posters. And that is probably on the high side. If you figure 5% are R56 owners (and it may not be linear but I bet there are more Gen One active posters than R56) then your looking at 50 R56 manual owners on this website. OK, thats probably to small so multiple by what? 5? Maybe 250 "active" R56 owners. That's probably too many. That makes about 5% of the cars with this problem

Its probably in the noise You need to wait until it reaches "cold start stumble"/mushrooming/rust levels ... then worry about it The only troubling thing to me is that is does continue with the theme that MINI reliability may not be the best but then again, Skuzzy hit it on the head

If you are expecting perfection. Then go buy a Lexus. Are you wanting a car which never needs anything doen to it? The Mini is not for you.

True words

 

They obviously didn't "address" it thoroughly --- unsold early-manufacture cars with the defective part(s) still went to consumers after they were aware of the problem.

Again, does anybody have a copy of a TSB or PuMA that I can bring to my SA so that my car will get fixed?
I bought the car 25 days ago and there's a Malibu in the garage instead...