I have a 07 cooper s 61k miles

2 days ago the 1/2 power engine light came on and lost power (no turbo). I took it to a shop and the computer said it was misfiring on the 1, 2, & 4 cylinder. They did compressions test and said it was a little low. Put a camera in the cylinders and all the cylinders have hatch marks but some scoring on the walls where carbon has broke off.

I asked about the turbo the checked it and the fan thing does move side to side so something happened there. Now I am in a pickle. Out of warranty, needs a new super charger, but they are saying that it still may run rough.

Is cylinder wall scoring normal? It doesn't travel the entire wall of the cylinder. This mechanic said I may need a new engine, if not now then real soon.

I need opinions

 

Unfortuently a definent answer isn't anything anybody here can help you with, but we may be able to give a bit of direction. Out of the gate if your saying that the turbo's compressor fan has shaft play (lateral movement from side to side) then you are going to need a new turbo. A new one is around 1200 dollars a manufacture is about 500 dollars. installation time is around 4 to 6 hours of labor. This will bring the turbo charger back into the game however you need to address why it is the turbo failed, chances are the oil feed line is clogged. this line needs to be replaced and likely the return line will need to be replaced. After the turbo is taken care of you need to figure out whats going on with the compression. what were the actual numbers? if i'm not mistaken it should be anywhere from 185 to 200psi. depending on how low it is I would recommend a compression leak down, and find out where the leak is coming from, if the head is the culprit your going to need to remove the head and assess the damage, best case scenario carbon has caused the valve to seat poorly and is causing a lack of compression. you can just pull the valve out and reseat it with grinding compound. if the seat is badly damaged it needs to be sent to the machine shop and milled. if the head is badly damaged due to a bent valve it may need to be replaced. your looking at anywhere from around 800 to a grand for the best case scenario to close to 2 grand (depending on where you take it) if the head needs to be replaced along with all new hardware) this is unlikely but it's a possiblity. As for the engine, it's uncommon that the engine has any real damage unless the valve punctured the cylinder wall. if the cylinder walls are damaged it needs a new engine, reman engines are hard to find but shouldn't take to long to track down.

If you can provide some more details about the damage I might be able to help narrow down the actual repair cost, but unless I have the car infront of me its going to be difficult to say for sure. are you in the MD area ? we might be able to help you out.

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes, Russ.

Oxspeed, if this was caused by a clogged oil line, is the only way to be proactive in checking the lines going to be pulling the line off and having a look every once in a while or will there be a telltale sign beforehand, like leakage to look out for? This seems to be somewhat common and I know replacing the lines is no small task.

 

Ohh man I'm sorry to hear about this. I would park it for now. If you have scoring on the cylinders already it's only going to get worse. Oxspeed speaks the truth here.

 

OXspeed...


Good shop, Smart techs... take your stuff there!

 

the compression psi is not that high i don't think. forced induction engine, so a balanced 170 would be OK I think. damned good advice i do reckon.

bloody expensive unless you are lucky, but you might be...

cheers,

Charlie

 

Thanks for all your insight. I got a new turbo for $1,045 from TurboChargerPros.com.

The compression was not terrible, at least I did not think so. It had between -12 - 15 with the best one being about 190. I think that was good.

I got the bill for the labor and misc parts (Gaskets, screws, the metal oil line, and new spark plugs) and the charged me $1,400. OUCH!!!! They said they spent a lot of time diagnosing the issue, and I think they did camera in the cylinders..., but that is NUTS!!!

The good news is that they say the motor runs within MINI tollerences. However, now they are telling me I should seriously consider changing the timing chain $1,200.00. I just spent 2,400 on a car I have had 2 months and not I have to spend another $1,200? I do have that cold rattle.

Seriously, does the bleeding stop? And I read a few posts where they are talking about the vacuum pump going out with no warning and destroying hte motor. Is this car junk or what? I love it, but maybe I should sell it and get a honda.

 

No, its typically lack of frequent oil changes, as the MINI recommended maintenance schedule is TOO long in between intervals.
The vaccum pump seizes and fails due to low oil or long-overdue oil change conditions.
There's been several threads on owners changing engine oil more frequent and getting lots of life out of these Prince engines.
But the number one thing is maintaining good oil level and changing it often with an LL-01 approved synthetic oil.

- Erik

 

Increasing the OCI likely won't address any of the issues mentioned in this thread unless the vehicle is subject to severe use. However, failing to maintain the proper oil level will cause all sorts of problems.

 

Quick update. My car is running well now. I must say that after only having the car for a couple months I am not an overly happy owner. However, I love driving it.

One thing I noticed was all the gummy oil in the Turbo Tube. No wonder it went bad. there is gum everywhere in the motor. I took off the crank case and it was nasty.

Is there anyway to reverse this? I was thinking about using the amsoil engine flush and changing the oil at 3k for the next 10k miles. then move the oil changes to 5k.

Any thoughts?

 

This is a great regiment to gently 'desludge' the internal components of the engine.
Make sure to use a high quality and approved synthetic oil (as those have great hydraulic detergent properties) and do change it out often to as sludge deposits will break off from inside the engine.

- Erik

 

My bleeding stopped when total repairs levelled off around €9000 (clutch, flywheel, turbocharger, intake piping, waterpump).

Mini should use the following tagline to advertise their cars:

"Mini. You'll hate owning it, but at least you'll love driving it."