just stick with cosmetic mods and wait till after warrantee to do engine mods...that way the parts probably already could use replacement and you get to choose what goes on the car...Im not touching anything other than exterior add-ons/paint, and maybe some tires

 

Adam this seems to be right on the money - I just got of the phone and they don't want to do the teardown because there are aftermarket parts on the car and they don't think that they'll get paid by Mini for the diagnosis labor. They asked if I would put up money to have the motor torn down ($3k?? no thank you) and then told me that I can take it to another dealer and see if they'll fix it (his suggestion not mine).

Well here's an update - they're telling me that the engine had overheated and the car was driven while hot - this seems to make sense as I was getting the warning lights, HOWEVER, the lights would come on at such random times that it was safe to assume that there was a problem with the sensor, not to mention the fact that I never got the more severe "red light" overheat warning. Furthermore, I did take the car in for the temp light problem - and they were unable to find the problem and sent me on my way. On the way home the sputtering continued and the temp light came on again as I got home - the car was brought in the next morning and it has now been there for close to a month.

It really seems as though they're searching for reasons to deny my claim - I'm sure they know that the boost tubes couldn't have caused the failure so he's now trying to call my driving into question, essentially assuming that because I modded the car, I must be the type of person that abuses the car, and that's the reason why it's broken. :rolleyes:

So I suppose that it's safe to say - if you mod your car at all, don't take it to Universal City Mini...

Anyone know of a dealer that is mod friendly? Please PM me if you do. I've been without my car for almost a month now and Universal City Mini has pretty much told me they won't even continue to diagnose the problem without me coming up with a ton of dough.

 

So they're leaving valuable customers dead in the water because they don't want to "risk" loosing what could be considered a few pennies to their organization?.....Unbelievable

Universal Mini's actions are short-sighted and a classic example of poor business practices .

 

JoshK, can you document the times you brought it in for the temp light diagnosis or talked to them about it? If it's on your record, preferably on YOUR copy of the work orders, I'd think they wouldn't have a leg to stand on, especially since they couldn't duplicate and sent you on your merry way.

Just out of curiosity, did they say what CAUSED the overheating?

Sounds like you will have a fight on their hands. If I could predict, their offer will be to go halfsies on it. We had a BMW engine go kablammo--Formula 1-speak here--due to overheating (long story, but known defect), and that's what they did. It was still over $4,000.

 

I do have my copies of the work orders and what is the most unbelievable to me is that they suggested that I take it to another dealer - at that point, it became immediately apparent what their shenanigans were really about and all of their "story changing" made sense.

1st - they tried to blame it on my boost tubes
2nd - when that was shown to be impossible, they tried to blame it on the fact that I performed the installation of the aforementioned
3rd - when that didn't pan out they tried to switch to the assumption that I must have abused it (since I modified it), because as we all know, Mini engines are made by God himself and there's no way that they (or any of the ancillary systems - cooling in this case) could ever fail on their own accord

Part of me wants to take it to another dealer anyway, especially considering that even if I come out ahead, they will already be jaded towards me/my car and half-*** the work...

Not really sure where to go from here, I just know that I have a car that is useless at the moment that I'm paying for

 

whoa, don't take it anywhere else yet, you have a case history already there of bringing it in for a temp problem & now the head gaskets blown. It's entirely on them to fix it now, regardless if Mini reimburses them or not. You can write a letter to your attorney general, call mini corporate, Definitely do not roll over.

Taking it somewhere else for this problem would just make the mess bigger. Of course I probably wouldn't deal with them again after this is fixed.

That they're putting up such a fight not to fix it makes me think the tech who's been working on it probably f'd something up and doesn't want to admit to it.

 

Josh,left you a message,my dealer has seen all my Alta Mods and driven my car,they seem to have no problem with the add ons,In fact they loved the way the car preformed...Maybe I can help...take care

 

I don't know how taking it to another dealer can help. If the computer system they use is like most of the other car brands, the other dealer will see exactly what has transpired.

 

I agree.
First, contact MINI and ask the region Rep to intercede.
If this fails, insist that the dealership begin arbitration as per your contract and the MMA-1975, Title 15, Chapter 50, § 2310

You may also write a letter of protest and open a file with the FTC since Mini is ultimately responsible for warranties. If your dealership and Mini fail to honor the warranty, they are in breach of contract and in violation of federal law.

The car broke because the dealership failed to duplicate your original problem and fix it. Period.
It's like a dog that pooped in the house; the Dog Whisperer might give you a list of reasons but you just want the poop cleaned up.
Bad dealer; off the couch.

 

If I were you and there were several thousand dollars of my money at stake (and my car was sitting) I'd get an attorney experienced in warranty issues. Much as I hate stuff like that it seems that the dealer has your car, and is controlling the cardgame. Unless you can get them to move with what Arnbut suggested I think you need some help. Sounds like you have a good case too. They just want you to go away (document everything they say), you're absolutely right. If you prove to be right you can probably get them to pay for loss of use of your car and use that to pay the attorney.

 

Classic quote - I think that's one of the best quotes of the year!

In all seriousness I agree with Arnbut - I would first call 1-866-ASK-MINI and then also follow-up with an email to Sal Talerico VP of MINI customer service. There's no need to mention the hoses - you just need to indicate that you had the car in for service for a check engine/overheating light - it wasn't fixed. Car blew up. Please fix under warranty.

 

Very well put !

 

A conventional temp gauge would have prevented all this mess...
A thumb down for MINI.

 

+1. On more than one occasion I've suspected that my MINI was running a bit hot. No CEL or other lights, but the fans were absolutely screaming. Temperature gauge would have spared me the doubt.

More than likely I'll be adding the temp and boost gauges from ALTA soon.

 

Any idea how hard this will be to install/program, etc? Will it void the warranty to play with the electronics this way?

 

Well one guy has already done it on his own and said the install was quite straightforward. I'll be getting a mechanic to install mine. I simply prefer to leave tinkering with my baby to the pros.

No idea if it'd void the warranty. At this point I honestly don't know what doesn't... Although I will say that I can't imagine the gauges causing any problems with the car itself.

 

Apparently you've been living under a rock for the last 10-20 years.
It's not the gauge that's at fault, it's the sensor, and it's a super common problem. While I was working for VW, we'd change temp sensors (and brake light switches) practically with every oil change, it's still a running joke & a regular occurance. I've seen the same problem with pretty much every other brand I've worked with as well.

What's really fun, (and it might be a bit hard for some to believe) is when the coolant passes through the sender & is wicked up the wiring often passing through connectors in the harness until it takes out your ECM, fusebox, or even into the instrument cluster itself; Beware a VW with a foggy instrument cluster.

If you're going to add an aftermarket gauge, you'll need to add another temp. sensor as well, which'll probably require making some modification to the engine and tapping into the wiring. Maybe a bit more piece of mind for you, but just imagine the hassle your dealer will give you when they see that bit of hacking.

 

Okay, now you've got me mucho confusedo. Are you saying that each time we get an oil change (or do our own), we need a new temp sensor? And is the dealer actually doing this? Or is this a typical VW thing, and not a MINI thing?

And whether or not the sensor is at fault, how do you know when you're about to burn up that $9000 thing up front?? If the idiot light is supposed to go on, but it's getting the wrong information, then what? I mean, if this is all true, I'd think blowing an engine would be routine, but it's clearly not...

 

Obviously whatever determines the temperature of the system is the key element no matter is you have a guage or a warning light to send it to. If the VW temp sensors were a joke as you say changing them with every oil change woudn't make me feel any better about the car, I don't know about you. If the brake system sensors were a similar joke I wouldn't feel too good if you oil change dudes just swapped 'em out and yukked it up at happy hour saying "hey maybe he'll hit the wall on the way home!".

 

VW's have been notorious of late for having poor electronics; this is the first time that I've heard of capillary action inducing failures though. I had heard of other means of water intrusion, mostly from third-eye brake housings and sunroofs.

A temp gauge might've helped avoid this mess; they can be added and run completely independant of the existing CANBUS. The R56 glitch, however, is in the t-stat and cooling system.

 

It's a bosch/parts maker thing, nothing inherently flawed in the design, but the sensors are shared with many other car makers.
The point was that you can't rely on using a stock sensor to feed your aftermarket gauge, you need to add a second sensor independant of the factory one to have a useful backup.

I'm not the oil change boy at our dealership, I've rebuilt 3 motors this week with another one getting finished this afternoon, prior to the brand I'm on now, I worked for VW & before that a number of independant shops including building motors for SCCA/PCA porsche club racers. When I get on a rant about taking care of your motor & regular oil changes, it's because I'm tearing into the cars that weren't maintained regularly, every day.

usually when your temp sensor fails it will go full cold or full hot depending on how the systems wired, which will make your car run like crap, but if it's reading full cold it's not going to turn the cooling fans on & you can overheat & blow a headgasket. It's very rare for someone not to notice the problem and not to bring it into the dealership before it turns into a real problem.

which brings me back on topic, as much as I think the dealership is responsible for fixing this problem, it's partly the owners fault for modding a car that's got some known problems & then continuing to drive it while it's coughing & sputtering (that was probably the ecm running way rich due to a shorted temp sensor). It's like going in for a tattoo while you think you may have skin cancer.

It's all speculation without seeing the car firsthand.

 

So how did this turn out?

 

lesson to be learned here: always clear any possible mods you wish to do with yr service advisor, whether or not they could affect the warranty if something goes wrong, and get it in writing if possible. The only two mods Ive done with my R53 are a drop in K&N high flow air filter, and conventional tires. That's quite enough for me, although i may drop in a JCW air box...

 

Well here's an update:

After Universal City Mini had my car for close to a month (refusing to perform any work without me fronting several thousand dollars) I had it towed to Nick Alexander Mini.

All I can say is - what a difference. They got a tech on my car immediately, and when they saw the Alta parts that Universal City Mini was trying to deny my warranty for, they laughed and told me that there was no way that they could have caused the problem.

While Universal City Mini had my car for close to a month and left it to me to call them to get updates on the situation, Nick Alexander Mini has been great about letting me know what's going on.

They received the last of the replacement parts yesterday and will complete the repairs over the next week. The cause of the failure ended up being an unfortunate combination of a bad temp sensor and a manufacturing defect in the cylinder head - and I thought it might have been because of my stripes. ;0)

So in short - I would NOT in any way recommend Universal City Mini. It's quite clear that they:

1. Rely almost completely on computer diagnosing
2. Are in NO way mod friendly
3. Will look for any excuse to deny warranty coverage

I would also like to give a huge thumbs up to Nick Alexander Mini. They came in after I had been jerked around, and handled the problem. And many thanks to Mark Kurzius for recommending them.

 

Glad to hear that the different dealer was able to assist! Now have fun!