After leaving work for the day my R56 began with the cold start up rattle then hits me with the engine malfunction light, the one with the engine half in yellow while going up a bridge. I'm able to make it to the bottom of the bridge where my car dies on me, luckily it starts up one more time just barely enough for me to make it to the side of the road where it dies. I try to start the car again only to get a rattle and a horrible noise. i check the engine and it looks like something might have burst because i see oil splattered on the hood and the forward right wheel looks to be covered in oil. Now my poor mini is shop and the mechanic says he'll have to look at it tomorrow. I'm worried that maybe the engine seized. i've had the rattle before but in the past it turned out to be low on oil but i checked the oil the previous week and the oil was fine. will my engine need to be replaced if and if so how much is a new engine?

 

The tensioner backed out, most likely. It sounds (from reading here) like a relatively common thing. Have the mechanic check the timing chain and guides as well; they can be affected by having the wrong tension on the chain.

 

I doubt the engine seized up as it would not turn over if it did and from you explination it still turns over. But yes it sounds as if some sort of gasket blew out. Hopefully there is not internal damage.

 

thanks guys. yeah hopefully its nothing too serious. i'll update this as soon as i know what happened.

 

according to the mechanic the engine is gone. i talked to the dealer and based on my service history and where all the oil was they suspect like you guys said that it was the cam change tensioner. since that part was replaced by them about a year ago by them, its still under warranty and if its that part I have a case for them to replace the whole deal. i'm keeping my fingers crossed. car is currently being towed to the dealership

 

its been 20 days! what was the outcome?

 

I'm actually suppose to pick up the car today or tomorrow from the dealer. The one part in question was luckly under warranty and since that caused the engine to die they were able to replace the entire engine under warranty. without warranty the dealer told me it would have been around 9k to do all the work.

 

Whoa Mistabz!

A whole new engine? Geeze that's intense. You would think in 2012 in the USA, car engines would last at least 100k trouble free miles.

I'm glad you had that warranty. What was that "one part in question"?

 

According to them the main cause was the cam change tensioner. the reports say when they found metal shavings in the oil and went ahead and replaced the engine. I had about 66k miles before this all happened, i'm just glad it worked out.