6 months after Mini fixed my cold start rattles with the updated chain tensioner the nosie came back, and now its in the dealership and needs new lifters.. What up with that!! Am I the first S with internal damage from this design fault?

 

Think so, haven't heard of that problem yet. How many miles do you have?

 

Damn French!

 

30'000 km's. cars leased from bmw so it's in their interest to fix it : )

 

Dealer called today, new lifters didnt fix it. New head should be on this week. Strange sounds coming from deep within the engine - damage more than likely resulting from the cold start up issues/chain tensioner

 

Something tells me they're going to end up replacing the whole engine. That could be good!

 

nothing wrong with a new head job

 

I curious why you attribute the problems it now has with the cold start issue which you said was fixed 6 months ago.

Any chance you are guessing and they could be completely unrelated?

 

From the little bit that I've read about the cold start-up issues people are having, it sounds like it's low oil pressure related, which can cause wear throughout the engine, especially if it you don't go easy till it's up to temp, which is nearly impossible tell for sure in these cars unless you added the gauges.

My guess is that if it was low oil pressure, then it's probably developing rod knock, at which point it may be cheaper/easier for them to do the full replacement than replace most of the bottom end.

 

my car went in for the cold start fix and when i picked it up it ran for about twenty minutes and blew up! new engine for me!

 

Did they ever tell you what caused it to let go?

 

they said when they replaced the timing chain and the tensioner that the timing wasn't set correctly...

something about broken rocker, piston damage too

 

Yikes! Wonder how many new engines they're gonna replace over this deal? They have to be scratching their heads right about now, since the R53 motors were so good......

I had my tensioner replaced at 2K and so far so good, but I got it replaced after having the chain saw noise only a coupe of times and it hasn't done it since. I'm at 10K now......

For those of you with new engines, I'm glad they're standing behind the car, but I always wonder how much of this is due to bad mechanics rather than a bad motor design.

 

I think this was a case of mechanic error. They had the timing set wrong and it cause the engine to eat itself.

 

Yeah, in real estate it's location. With internal combustion engines, it's timing, timing, timing.

 

If I was a betting man, I'd bet they are related. Most documented problems with the S's Prince engine have been in the valve train, and the cold start chatter/knock/bang/whateveryouwantocallit is a valve train system problem made worse by the oil delivery system that's unique to this engine (and why the justacoopers dont get it)

Plus, bolts critical to the system's integrity have snapped in these engines, causing catastrophic failure. If I was a MINI SA, I'd be a tad nervous right now.

 

I can see why MINI and BMW executives might be nervous, but why an SA. More work just means job security. Or, are you thinking that owners will start going ballistic at them?

 

yeah, ask any SA that's tried to help a customer get the cold start knock resolved, only to have it recur. Like my SA said, "if this happened to me, I think I'd lock myself and cry over frustration for an hour."

IOW, nervousness over a possible serious mechanical problem can trickle down from the top to the bottom pretty fast Also, I think customers would go ballistic if the dealer attempted to deny or downplay the problem, as opposed to admitting there is one.

 

The problem is definatley related to the cold start chatter. The noise was identical to the first time it happened - this time it sounded no different, just like all the other cold clanging diesel sounding S start ups. Just to update,the dealer says it needs a new head , mini is telling them to run 20 hours of tests on the thing before they will ok the head replacement. The dealer is pissed off with mini because they say the tests are a waste of time. I'll have test results on Monday and post more info. So far since leasing this S in 98 I've been in a saturn astra for over 5 weeks...I don't remember seeing that in my lease agreement

 

They may well be related - I'm not saying they aren't. However, there is a possiblilty they have nothing in common.

It just amazes me how many people will "think" or "be sure" of something and go around stating it as a fact and try to convince everyone else of the 'fact' (while being completely wrong).

 

As they seem to have done at a certain dealership in Mexico City?

 

The dealer gave the results to Mini Canada. All normal according to them. No new head. They suggest to replace the timing belt , guide rail etc etc. 3 weeks in the dealer. What a waste of time. I'll drive it hard once I get it back, I'm not babying this car anymore, they can have it back at the end of lease

 

update. A new engine has been ordered today. cars been at dealer for 4 weeks now. Mini finally agreed to just put a new engine in it. hopefully i can now go back to enjoying the car. Again, only symptom was the cold start chatter.

 

This is insanity. Why are they letting incompetent, undertrained stealerships futz around with expensive "experimental" repairs, taking days or weeks while the customer is without his/her car, only to then find out that they haven't solved the problem? At the first sign of something that seems like internal engine damage, they should swap out the entire shortblock and be done with it. Then do careful analysis of what failed, to hopefully correct whatever is wrong, or if a freak occurrence, determine exactly what happened.

 

I won't have the car back until end of next week, if I'm lucky. That will be 6 weeks without it. I asked Mini about compensation and they said "you are getting a new engine" and "we gave you a loaner" . The car is a lease, so technically they are getting the new engine in their car. I making my lease payment for a mini cooper S and driving an saturn astra. go figure.