Hello,
I'm looking for some advice on an issue I'm facing with my out-of-warranty Mini.

I have a 2007 Mini Cooper S 2nd Gen with 105,000 miles.
The other day when driving to work, going 75mph down the freeway, my check engine light came on. I did not hear anything occur when the light came on. I was 5 miles or so from work so I continued driving. Upon getting off of the freeway I noticed my car was sputtering and did not have full power. I made it to work where it has been ever since.

There are some mechanics at work and they have attempted to diagnose the problem. It boils down to having no compression in cylinder 3.
All other cylinders have proper compression.
This leads us to believe there is an issue with valve, seal, or.....

The car currently sits with the cylinder head cover off, and I am trying to decide how to proceed. I understand many special tools are needed to replace the cylinder head and get the timing set correctly.

A new cylinder head is $2K. I've managed to find a used one for $700.
The dealer said they would charge $2600 in labor charges.
So I'm looking at $3300 in cost for that option.

I've considered purchasing the tools myself and convincing the mechanic at my work to do the job. I'm not 100% sure on the tools I need. I've found the Koch timing tools for $170: http://www.kochtools.com/index.php?p...parent=14&pg=1
I'm not sure if that is all the tools that is needed though.

I've talked to a local mini specialist, Detroit Tuned. They haven't even worked internally on R56 engines yet and don't have the tools.

I've yet to call around to any other import mechanics.

I was hoping to get some feedback and advice from the community here first.

Any help is much appreciated.

Current Mood:

 

maybe a bad head gasket? has the head been checked for linearity?

 

The cylinder head is not the only possible reason for a loss of compression. It is possible for the piston to have been damaged, or the cylinder wall to have been damaged, and cause a loss of compression. (For instance: A hole through the piston will result in compression problems! Don't ask how I know.)

See if the guys at work can do a "leak down" test. You set the suspect cylinder to TDC so that all the valves are closed, then you thread an air fitting into the spark plug hole. You measure how fast the air leaks out of the cylinder, and you listen for where the air gets out. If you hear hissing at the intake or at the exhaust, you have a valve problem. If you hear hissing at the oil filler, you likely have a cylinder or piston problem. If you hear hissing at the radiator cap, you likely have a blown head gasket, or possibly (lower odds) a crack in the head or block.

Once you get the problem more isolated, you can make better-informed decisions on where to go with this repair.

 

Hello,
We performed a leak down test, the hissing it coming out at the exhaust.
Seems to be a valve problem....

 

Detroit Tuned hasn't worked on R56's? That doesn't sound right...

Why is replacing the cylinder head the first option? Burnt/ruined valve or seat, just have it repaired...new seat, new valve. Some machine work, shouldn't be anywhere near $2000. Of course the labor to have the head pulled and replaced, but that's the same regardless.

 

A family member referred me to a friend that can do the labor for me, but I need to purchase the special tools though. I believe it will be a cheaper option going that route.
Whether or not the cylinder head will be replaced or simply repairing the valve is yet to be determined. He is going to pull the head and we will go from there.
I was considering replacing the whole head because I could have the valve repaired, and then it could happen again to another one.

I've purchased the Bentley manual and am waiting for that to arrive so I can determine the special tools that are needed. If anyone in the mean time could tell me if all that is needed is the Koch tool I listed above it would relieve some of my worries in the tool costs that I heard can be over $1,000 alone.

The guy at Detroit Tuned said he hasn't worked on a 2nd gen yet. I was kind of surprised too. He is the one that mentioned the high price tool cost.

 

There are only 2 special tools required, the Koch set to lock the cams and crank in place, and Mini special tool 11 9 280 which bolts to the crank hub so an assistant can hold it while you loosen the crank bolt. The Bentley manual is very helpful, but you do a lot of jumping around in it, and I felt some steps where left out. I recently had to replace piston #4, just with the 2 tools and a mechanics tool set. I made a Mini special tool 11 9 280, so I'm not sure the cost.

 

Well that's some relief. DetroitTuned said 6 tools were needed @ $300 a piece. Which would be $1800. Glad to hear it is considerably less then that.

 

Im sorry to hear this MPIIIMan.
I had the exact same problem a while ago. My only options were a new engine for 9000 from my mechanic or take it to BMW and hope for good will or risk paying $20000!! It was a hard choice but I gambled on the good will and luckily they fixed it all for free. The problem was a burnt valve and a cracked piston ring land in cylinder 3 which destroyed the oil pump. It was all due to a manufacturing defect of the piston number 3.
My car is a 07 but had done a quarter of the miles of yours. All I can say is these cars are a lot of trouble and I hope yours isn’t too bad.

 

Could very well be a piston issue as well...as they have been known to fail. Usually #3 or #4. Drain the oil/pull the oil pan off and make sure you don't have bits of piston down there.

Have you verified specifically what the problem is with the head? Don't just start replacing valves and seals because you think they are leaking...

If it is the head, you should just be able to get the head repaired/redone. You can get it ported/polished while your at it!

 

We stopped once we took the valve cover off. We can see from topside no visible issues.
Looking at what we can see from topside no issue with pistons (that we can see)
I wanted to run a camera scope but I don't have one available.
We have not pulled off the head due to tools and time required.
Tomorrow I am having it towed to the mini dealer to have them diagnose it at least.
Once I get it diagnosed then I can make a decision from there.
I have a friend of the family that can do the repair.
However....Two weeks ago I took it in for the aux water pump replacement for the recall.
It seems suspicious for this to happen right after that.
That's why I decided to take it to the dealer and at least have them look at it.
Maybe I can get some goodwill......

 

yeah mine had crap in the oil pan. your lucky you have friends to help. BMW charged $4000 just to take the head off!

 

MPIIIMan: Check out the link below....timing tools for the N14 engine at Amazon.com for less than $200

http://www.amazon.com/Assenmacher-Sp...2824520&sr=8-4

 

last i looked, the tools where very expensive, they might have come down. but that was a few years ago. we work on R56, but we have not gone inside a engine yet. there has not been a need to yet. i am sure we will buy the tools, but at this point we have not needed too. i also tend to make sure they are the MINI tools so that they are life time warranty and we know they work correctly. not every tool is made the same and have tools that didn't make the cut like the real one.

 

I have a 2008 Clubman S with 65000 miles and Mini just diagnosed a burnt valve and $4 K to replace head, valves and what ever else is needed. Trying to get good will here especially due to all the issues we have been dealing with (timing chain twice, head sand blasted to remove carbon, and others). If they do agree to do the head, what else should I do since the engine will be taken apart. New piston rings or other items? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Agree that these engines are are just problematic and debating whether to keep this with the reliability issues I have had.

 

Everyone here is so civil and nicely behaved. It's a nice calming effect - especially after I just got off the phone with my dealer who tells me that Cylinder #3 has a burnt exhaust valve. $6200 to fix (with all the parts and labor). I bought the car less than 2 years ago, have had all the wonderful experiences of everyone else here with the timing chain, carbon blasting, injector failures, oil leaks, HPFP failure, water pump failure....etc. etc. - and NOW!!! You must be kidding me (breathe...breathe....).

My dealer said he would ask Mini for assistance "for me"...and I'm talking to Mini directly. Take a polite "i love the car" approach? Take the opposite approach (that's what I feel like doing right now)? What works best?

I love the comment from my dealer that "carbon is not seen as a defect by most automotive manufacturers because it depends on the fuel used and other factors that they don't control". Really?
I know this...I'm very close to writing this thing off as a loss, paying off the loan, and getting pissed on a nice bottle of WhistlePig Rye Wihiskey. But then I have the car to do something with. Modern sculpture for the front lawn. Bonfire. Something.

 

Hi,
I have a 2010 Mini Copper S with just 25K miles on it... I was driving it last weekend and it suddenly had the cheeck engine light flashing. So, I pulled over and towed to the nearest BMWE mechanic. Upon inspection he says I have zero compression on Cylinder 3 and I need an engine tear down. Has anyone had this problems before?

I would really like to reach out to MINI about this. Its just 25K miles on the car and this is too serious a problem to have :( :(

 

Hi,
Was your car still under warranty when BMW decided to take care of this for you?

Thanks