+1 2007 MCS
We bought a late 2007 Mini Cooper S recently received from a dealer, shipped to us from Houston Tx, with Check engine light on and running poorly, Mini of Portland diagnosed for $165, timing chain stretched @ only $60K miles! $1700 to replace. Further research informs us this is a known manufacturing defect and BMW gambling it won't be discovered until after warrantee expires, not smart business.
We're most disgusted with our first BMW experience and all the excitement of having a Mini, gone at this point. We're in our earlyb60's and trying to be careful yet have some fun. After 3 wks. of hell ready to walk away from any BMW product.

 

IMO you could not be any more correct. Mini knows of this problem and has redesigned parts to improve reliablilty and still only patch works repairs even when cars are under warranty and will ony do a complete repair of all deffective parts if chain is stretched beyond a certain limit.

Sorry to here about your needed repairs, but an indepentant Mini shop might save you on the repair bill if you can find a good one close to you.

 

+1 07' MCS JCW

Last replaced Sept 2010, although I think it's back now. All work done at Prestige it's entire life, which btw is a great dealer. HPFP was replace already as well, and a turbo. 100k warranty.

 

+1 2007 r56

 

Happy to say our issue with the timing chain out of spec. @ 60k miles has been resolved. The dealer Laszlo Coman at Euro2Motors, MiniUSA and Mini of Portland(Or) , thanks Jarid; combined to cover the cost of repairs. The little blue rocket box now runs as it should. Like a little watch with the heart of Big Ben. None too soon as I'm off to Cullman Alabama for a month of disaster relief work. My wife will now take over duties driving the car while I'm gone. Someone has to do it. Heartfelt thanks to all who helped.

 

+1 2009 Hatchback

 

Just got my tensioner replaced today. I just hope they are correct when they tell me the timing chain was fine. Hard to believe a company when you have to argue with them to get the darn thing looked at.

 

FACEBOOK --> In order that all of the PSA Group cars manufacturers (Peugeot and Citroen) & BMW Motors Group, are supporting 100% of the THP engine breakage: Turbo + timing chain + power loss on acceleration + cold-start problem

Here --> http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php...9151303&v=info

Sign up Here --> http://distributionthp.free.fr/index...n_view_eng.php (116)

 

Timing Chain Problems for me

 

+1 MCCS R55

And I've just had the car for a week! :(

 

Let me as blunt as possible: when the warranty on my 09 S expires in about 15 months, the car is gone. These turbo Prince engines are ticking time bombs (FYI Ive had my fair share of Cold Start and other drivetrain issues). While my dealer senses a bailout, they are bending over backwards to help, and I cannot fault them for that. However, my first MCS was a problem-riddled shop queen, and my current one is following the same path.

The main difference? The 05 had a solid engine, but everything that surrounded it was pure shiite.

The 09 is relatively solid, but the engine is pure SHIITE.

Thus, while a blast to drive, it's just not worth the pain and uncertainty anymore.

 

Our '09 JCW Clubbie (~26K) is having the whole timing chain/tensioner replacement performed as I type. When we brought her in for service , a year ago, I told them we were having the cold-start rattle issue, but they couldn't reproduce the problem, so no repair. Now, a year later, the chain was getting so loose it would chatter until the engine was fully warmed up. This time it was easy to reproduce even with the outside temp over 100.

 

+1
The timing chain tensioner broke on my 2009 Mini Cooper S back in April 2011 which also caused the timing chain/belt to break. They (New Country Mini) had it for about a week and told me it was fixed. When I went to pick the car up, it was very hard starting, idling very hard, had no power ( it was like trying to take off in 4th gear) AND the engine light was on. I only made it 1/4 miles from the dealer before turning around and giving it back to them. The car obviously was never road tested after repair.

New Country Mini then kept the car for an additional 3 weeks and claimed the problem/problems were fixed. My guess is that the mechanic had the timing chain off by a tooth or two. In any case, it should not take a month to fix a timing chain issue.

Sadly enough my 2009 Mini is back at New Country Mini (went in on July 14, 2011), with the engine light on and idling rough. Since my Mini was returned in May I had not driven it much due to being away from home, plus the fact I ride a 2009 Goldwing most of the time in the summer.

New Country Mini has had the car for over a week now, and claim they have opened a PUMA case and are waiting for a response from Mini.
I am now going on six weeks that my 2009 Mini Cooper S has been out of service. I paid cash for my Mini and right now its looking like the 30K bought me nothing but a huge headache. I hope not. I really love my mini!

Update July 29, 2011: As a result of the PUMA case the engine was torn down completely. The engine was found to have two bent valves on one cylinder.I assume they mean either the valve stems or push rods. The engine is now being reassembled with new valves.

Update Aug 1, 2011: I was told my Mini was ready to be picked up. They replaced only the bent valve rod. They removed and inspected the pistons. The pistons were found to have uneven wear, but were not replace with new ones. When I tried to drive my Mini away from the dealership, I found that the car had no power (again it was like taking off in 4th gear) and the engine light came on almost immediately. I turned around and returned the car to the dealer was it is now being fixed. AGAIN! At this point my car has been out of service for 20 consecutive days and counting. the prior repair visit which is related to this visit, was for over 30 consecutive days. Simply put , in the last four months my 2009 Mini Cooper, which is still under warranty has been in the repair shop for over 50 days, all for the same problem.

Update Aug 8, 2011: (final & sadly last update) New Country Mini called and said my car was ready and had been extensively road test. I took possesion of the car and twas told that a vacuum line was bent and a gasket on the exhaust manifold was cracked and replaced. When I went to pick it up it had no gas in it. I mean the computer read dashes for miles left and the fuel bar had zero lights. The service concierge went with me of a quick test ride. First I had to buy gas or we would not make it back to the dealer. The car ran okay, but on the highway ocassionaly it would hesitate when you stepped on the gas. Regardless of that I took my car because I fealt confident that without a fault light going on they would not fix it.

This is the last update on this problem as I intend to unload this lemon as soon as possible. The CT Lemon laws can not be used because the car is over 2 years old and has over 24k miles on it. Regardless of the fact that it is still under warranty and only 2 1/2 years old with a little over 40k miles, the lemon law does not apply. The CT Division of Consumer Affairs New Car Lemon Law supervisor even suggested I trade the car in.

 

Is it possible to have the rattle even after the full blown SIM110207 is performed?

It was supposedly performed on my car before I bought it used from a Mini dealer, but I think I heard a feint noise this morning.

 

It's conceivable; if your oil level is low, it could induce a timing chain rattle because the tensioner utilizes oil pressure to keep the chain at the proper tension. If the oil level is low your oil pressure will drop accordingly; perhaps not enough to induce the oil pressure warning in the instrument cluster, but enough to prevent the tensioner from keeping the chain taut enough, and it could start rattling a bit.

Check the oil level regularly on these MINI's! Some of them are problematic "oil eaters!"

 

So I checked the oil level, it seems OK. It is about 0.25" from the low end of the 2 markings.

I bought a quart of oil and will put some in before leaving work this evening.


The noise isnt terrible, I cant really hear it with the hood closed. Only when it's open.

 

Well, that's approaching a quart low, if I understand the description of your reading off the dipstick. Don't know how low you've got to get before triggering a faint rattle, but a quart low might be in the range... Remember: these engines only hold 4-4.5 quarts to begin with, so a quart low is between 22-25% of the total oil volume of the engine...!

Adding oil to the upper ("FULL") mark should theoretically solve your problem, though...

 

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So the dipstick looks roughly like that... the oil level is represented by the red line. The lines between the "blocks" represents 25% increments. So, the "red line" is roughly 25% up between the two points. That is how I read my dipstick at 130pm today after it had been sitting since 9am.

 

Yup. That's basically what I took your description to mean. You're 3/4 of a quart low.

 

Seems to quiet down once the car is warm. When the car is first started from "cold" you can only really hear the noise when the hood is up.

 

Well, that may not be the timing chain then (although you still need to keep the oil topped off); the engine will normally "chatter" a bit for the first minute or so after a "room-temperature" start, and if the hood (er, excuse me, bonnet) is down, you're not likely to notice it.

There's a thread floating around the forum somewhere that offers an explanation about why the engine produces this "chattering" noise on a cold start (can't recall the reason myself right now), but it's nothing to be concerned about.

 

Bad dealer or Lemon law it.

 

Right here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...n-twitter.html

 

Well, i just got off the phone with the MINI USA rep about hy my 2008 Cooper S is not being covered by the warranty stated at the dealer after I bought it. Since the previous owner did not change the oil properly, he was 2500 miles out, they have decided that my MINI no longer has warranty to cover the TSB issued by MINI as a known defect. The service manager even stated that this issue could happen whether the oil was changed properly or not. Looks like I will be going back to the dealer with my trailer to pick mine up to do myself.
anyone know how hard this job will be?

Evidently MINI does not care about customer service at all. They will get taking care of known issues when there is an out.
HEEP

 

Follow me on Twitter baby - Tweet your case and I will re-Tweet - we are "preaching to the choir" here on NAM: @MINIengineFails !

(I just emailed Marissa at New Country regarding my SECOND engine failure last night - for vacuum pump/engine failure they only replaced a couple of valves instead of total engine rebuild/replacement so here we are 15K and 15 months later