To start, it's 4 am, and I'm typing this on my iPhone so I appologize for the horrible grammar and spelling in advance.

I have a 2004 mini cooper (not an S) with 184k miles. It's throwing up a check engine light for misfire, it also has the traction, abs, and brake lights coming on.

Engine misfire: took it to a mechanic, he compression tested it, it was low, he filled it with oil and it temporarily helped but did not temporarily completely solve the problem. As of now I'm driving it and it has issues at stop lights (check engine blinks and car struggles to idle) obviously that cyclinder misfiring.

Other lights: no idea. I replaced the brake pads and the sensor and it didn't solve the problem. I figured maybe I jacked up the sensor (I grew up on mustangs and Datsuns so I'm less then delicate with stuff).

So I've been driving it and just dealing with it, other then the crappy idle/corrosponding loss of power it drives fine.

So now my bonus from work came in and its coming down to fixing it vs replacing it with a new car.

I wanted to get an estimate on ball park figure for repairs.

Should I take it to the dealer, pay their 120 dollar diagnostic fee and then use their estimate to talk to my normal mechanic about a number? Is mini just going to say "it's misfiring and having brake issues" or will they diagnose it and give me specific issues??

Let me know what you guys think.

 

Take it to Mini, they can tell you far more than what you've described, frankly I'm confused by what your saying, low on oil will yes cause your car to not want to idle proberly simply because the ecu is trying to save the engine by telling you there is not enough oil pressure to sustain proper lubrication, and with rpm comes oil pressure.
And yes low compression on a cylinder will give you a misfire code, but except for extreme situations low oil & a low compression missfire will not go hand in hand and just adding oil will not change this, you neeed a better diagnosis, you may have 2 seperate but simaltanious issues going on.

 

Oil isn't a problem, when I say "he filled it with oil" I mean he pulled the spark plug, filled the cylinder with oil and let it soak in overnight to see if that would help the valve seals and increase the compression. It worked but only for a short amount of time.

 

When the OP is talking about oil, it is in reference to wet vs. dry compression testing, not adding oil to what is already in the oil pan.

 

(in my best Emily LeTella imitation)
Nevermind....

No wonder I was confused...even after you pre-appologised....thats what I get for reading posts at 5am.....

Honestly, with that amount of miles on an r50 it just may be rebuild time, if adding oil to the cylinder helped "for a while" I would think the cylinder possibly isn't oiling properly, maybe a slightly plugged up oil squirter or something, I could see the oil helping to condition a valve seal, but if it were that bad you would think you would get a little oil burn & a noticabley bad plug.

The only other thing that might tell you for sure would be a pressure or leaakdown test with the valve cover off, to see if you could actually hear something.

And at the same time you could also do a visual insp. of the cam lobes, even though that wouldn't explain how oiling the cylinder helped.

 

It is most likely rebuild time. The compression problem could many things, including bad rings or bad valve stem seals.

If a rebuild is needed I would start thinking about whether the car is worth it to me to do that or not. A motor swap is also a possibility.

 

Yea, I pretty much assumed it was rebuild time; but i was hoping for a less expensive option.

Do you have any idea (ball park) on an engine rebuild?? I know I can buy used engines; but then I'm potentially buying someone else's problems.

If the rebuild is too much I think the money may just go toward a downpayment on the new Mini Coupe.

 

Call D/T, Way or Helix, they should be able to give you a ballpark on both rebuild and they may possibly have dependable used ones.

 

I would highly suggest a leak down test, that will isolate the problem to what is the culprit (rings, valves, cylinder head gasket or crack, etc.). I would do all the cylinders to get a good health check.

 

Also, I forgot to mention my mini has 183,000 miles. In calling different companies that seems to be making a difference.

 

I doubt that filling the cylinder with oil overnight was a wet compression test. That would take 1 to 2 tablespoons only, and of course all compression tests should be conducted hot, so leaving overnight would be counter productive. I think that oil was an attempt to free suspected stuck rings. I wouldn't be surprised if the oil in question was Marvel, Kerosene, or something similar.

 

The only other thing that might tell you for sure would be a pressure or leaakdown test with the valve cover off, to see if you could actually hear something.

 

If you've got a serious compression problem there is little point in worrying about other things until you get the problem solved. If the motor has 100K on it, I'd suggest pulling the head and seeing if valve work might be all that is necessary, but with 184K miles, I suspect the entire engine is getting tired.

What you want to do now is dependent on the rest of the car. If the rest of the car tattered, it's probably best just to sell it for salvage and move on. But if the rest of the car is nice and rust-free, it probably is worth investing in the engine to get it back on the road in and in good shape.

There aren't very many shops around that can do a decent engine overhaul and not cause more problems than they solve. And you'd want one that knows Minis. In the unlikely event you have this situation, you might ante up to an overhaul, but it is typically more cost effective to simply find a low-mileage used engine.

If you get to the point where you've fixed/swapped the engine, then you can start addressing the other diagnostic lights. Typically, when you're having multiple traction control, ABS, and brake light problems, you usually have a wheel speed sensor issue. This ECU should have logged enough trouble codes to get to the bottom of this without too much trouble.

My guess in reading your post is that it might be time for you to just walk away from this car. It's probably worth a few thousand "as is". Go get another.

- Mark

 

One came in the shop on Saturday with no compression in Cyl. 1. First things first: find out what the problem is. Remove head. examine. If the problem is in the head, and the cylinder walls and pistons are in good nick, that's a relatively easy fix. If you need a new bottom end, then it's time to evaluate the car.

 

I had the same problem (06 MCS /90,000mi.)rough idle , I took it to the Mini dealer they did a leak down check & said I need a valve job $4300.00. Talking to the tech he told me to try a product called Seafoam, that it might unstick the valve. So I tried it and behold it works I could not believe it (but I still have the check engine light on).Any ideas how to get the light to go out.

 

v8eter, how did this play out? I'm having a similar issue (100k, compression loss on multiple cylinders, DSC light intermittent). I pretty much have to fix it, as I can't afford a new vehicle right now. Did you ever get a more accurate diagnosis?

 

Just in case anyone else is having this sort of issue, here's my experience with my wife's '03 MCS: about two years ago, had cylinder one misfire, clearly was down a cylinder. Took it to a shop that works on BMWs and Minis, diagnosis was burnt exhaust valve(s). Rebuilt top end, did some other relatively minor work for around $3K. Last month, cylinder 3 misfire. I did a compression test, all of 13 PSI on cylinder 3. I noticed little globules of hard stuff on plug insulator, I'm guessing that is little bits of once-molten metal from a valve or even piston. Just a guess, but I googled a combination of key terms and came up with an NTSB report on a single-engine piston plane that crashed on takeoff (luckily nobody hurt) that blamed it on loss of power from burnt exhaust valves. Report noted little globules of once-molten metal on spark plug insulator. At this point, I will find someone who wants to take on the car as a project or sell it for whatever value is left. I'm trying seafoam before I try to sell it, in case it works and I can keep the car for around town trips.

 

Ramie- did you seafoam through the PCV vacuum hose?

 

Where are you located?

 

Central Pennsylvania.

 

I had same thing , cylinder 1 . Bad compression . Did everything to try to solve . Finally took of head to check things out . Found that a cam lip had gone bad ( Harding of cam bad) valve was not opening . The ECM stopped sending spark to that cylinder. Replaced cam , now mini is like new. This happened at 114 thousand k's . Just a bad cam. Tryed to get bmw to give me a beak on the price of cam. No go.

 

I can't believe you people think squirting some seafoam in will fix low compression.

And I do not buy that it fixed a stuck valve.

The only way to fix a worn out engine is to tear it down and fix it.

 

Threw a piston rod once.. put a little seafoam in the gas tank.. problem solved.

 

Seems legit.

 

Mini Dave's rite . Tear it down . At lest take the head of and check there frist .
I new I did not have carbon build up in the head , I drive the car to hard for that to happen and change oil to often.