:thumbsup:

All modern day cars are going to be high maintanence vehicles regardless of brand due to all the electronics and especially if they are turbo driven.
My wife has a 2011 Nissan Juke that is on it's second recall now. Life goes on.

Maintenance is one thing. Constant repairs and recalls are another. Look the car is a blast but quick acceleration, tight turns, and a feeling of gripping the road are soon overcome by high repair bills, concern about breakdown, and overall poor quality.

If we as consumers continue with this attitude then yes we will get crap cars. If demand for quality is a requirement for car purchases then suppliers will be forced to listen. If not another manufacturer will step up and do that. It's simple economics.

I don't mean to sound unsympathic about your issues, we all get a little nerved by recalls and breakdowns but I don't know if total blame on Mini/BMW is warranted.
Now, blame the damn Gov't. for pushing ethonal and ethonal causing havic on our cars fuel systems is another story. Now we're going to be seeing more stations with 15% ethonal added in the near future.

I am a conspiracy theorist as much as the next guy :nod:. Unfortunately this is all mechanical. I rarely run ETOH through my engine and 15K miles isn't enough to do that much damage. My used 1994 Civic with 175K that I had in school is more mechanically reliable than my 3 year old mini. Love to drive it but not sure it's going to last.

Where in the world do you live where you get 0% added ethonal. I use only Shell and Chevron and even they have 10%. Up to about 4 yrs ago the Chevron's down here didn't have any but that changed.

Major Oil Leak
 

Hi, I had the similar oil leak issue.

This happened last year around Jan 2012. I was driving back home from work ..my oil pressure light suddenly went on and the car displayed a message asking to pull over...just as I pulled over onto the shoulder my engine completely shut down .. tremendous amount of oil leaked all over the car including the exhaust pipes.. However I was able to fix it as it was covered under warranty..

Not sure if this is a known issue with mini cooper s 2009 models...

Timing Tensioner Oil Leak
 

Got the Chronic today - Timing Tensioner Oil Leak - Hopefully fixed before complete tining chain or massive oil failure event. If you've got an 09 model MINI then apparently you've either experienced this failure already or you've got it coming - beware. Oil began leaking on my <60K mile Clubman S shortly after a dealer oil change. Dealer decided to fix it On the house even though it was out of warranty. I'ts apparently an easy fix - Accept nothing less where this issue is concerned.

This is sounding way to familiar to my experience today. Not happy. Hopefully the dealership will help me out and not charge me a fortune.

been there, done that. Like I said I think the Mini is a POS....too many issues and too expensive to get repaired. My 2010 has had several expensive repairs and now the radio is dead, another $500 a $1000 repair out of my pocket. Just not a quality/ dependable car. :no:

New engine replacement for oil leak?
 

Like you, I drove to work yesterday morning and the low oil pressure light came on shortly after. Halfway to work (5 miles into the drive) I saw a "Drivetrain malfunction: Drive moderately. Maximum drivetrain output not available. Consult service center." When I exited the freeway and stopped at a red light, I felt the car shake a few times when accelerating from the light, then smelled smoke.

Called Mini dealer from office and was told to bring it in the following morning (today) @ 7:30a. Thankfully I made it to the dealer... the car clanked and rattled and shook every time I gassed. I was told when I arrived that it might just be a software issue, but then received a call midday to tell me that I might need a new engine (the car is 4.5 months old and has almost 3k miles).

He called a few times, each time with a more detailed explanation: the oil leak caused the low oil pressure warning, and a defective oil filter/gasket (he wasn't exactly sure what it was) caused the leak. He said that the gasket was recalled, but I guess they overlooked the car I purchased from them. Well, they said they tried to salvage the engine, but they couldn't and ended up ordering an engine from the manufacturer in Germany (they claimed there are no spare engines stocked in the country) and that it is guaranteed to be a brand new, off the production line engine.

I'm pretty disappointed that this happened to a (almost) brand new car.

Why would you continue to drive with the oil pressure warning light on?

Dave

I am a mechanic for a living. I think I can aswer the question of "why did you keep driving". The answer (far too often) is "it was still running", or "I was trying to get home, or to the next off-ramp". Not putting anyone down here, but when your car is having obvious major issues, pull over and stop the engine. Unless you are being chased by aliens, bigfoot, or a serial killer. And, yes, I understand that MINI's "seem" to have a lot of stupid reliability and/or manufacturing issues. But here on these forums, we are hearing of ONLY the ones with issues. That is why they are here, venting, or looking for a solution to their problems. The majority of MINI owners, I would suspect, are very happy with their cars. But we do not hear from them. I see a lot of MINI's on the road lately, so I have to assume that most folks are just loving their MINI, as I am, and only reading these forums in order to know what to look for as far as issues go, if indeed there are any issues. The "silent majority", if you will. With 36k on my 2011 MCS, I have been thouroghly impressed by my MINI so far, and any issues were covered under my factory warranty, which just expired. I have an independent extended warranty, and my local MINI dealer says they will honor that warranty if issues should arise. As others have said, these MINI's are NOT Hondas or Toyotas, and require a bit more attention. There is a bit of a tradeoff as far as fun vs reliability. I choose more fun with a bit more maintenance required. Just me. Motor On!

Hi, I'm new here, but have been studying the r56 and carefully taking apart my recently acquired 07 cooper S with messed up timing components and couple bent valves.

This was probably the first thread I stumbled upon through google, so I figured I'd post this since I think it's the main reason a few of you are seeing the tensioner back out so easily. Very poor decision on Mini's part imho...

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...417466cc09.png