so does anyone know what the chances are of mini usa doing a good will repair? I have an 08 with 35k and my warranty ran out feb 29. well i have always randomly had the chain rattle in the mornin but it was never just always there, and well now it is even though the temp is getting warmer.
At first I wasnt worried about it, new about it but didnt know it was so detrimental to the health of the motor. so i called my local dealer and they told me good luck getting mini usa to repair it under warranty.

The dealer told me its 1600 out of pocket, and well i dont quite have that. when i said i didnt have that kind of cash he told me to drive my mini as little as possible so i called mini usa and was only instructed to take it in to the dealer for diagnosis so i have it scheduled for 4/17


thanks
chris

 

Seriously, replace the tensioner yourself and see if that gets you some time to get the whole job done at a later date, there is a slightly longer tensioner that's very easy to change out and costs about $45 shipped. I have changed my wife's with a stocker and the hydraulic pressure that flows through it does something cause a stock length tensioner made hers quiet again where before it was very noticeable when cold, took 20 minutes.

Ultimately it's your choice.

 

Im not against doing something myself. my only fear is that something has moved I have some pre ignition these days or atelast something that sounds like it. and according to the local mini dealer he said that it sounds like my timing chain has maybe been stretched and throwing it slightly out of time when i give it gas. I only use 91 non ethonal

thanks
chris

 

well i posted part of this in another section but i wanted to update . I turned the mini in on the 16. got a call on the 18th told that my chain guide was actually broke. i called mini on the 18th told them what was found. I have had one successful call of getting in touch again with the mini relations manager on friday 4/20 nothing since. Ive called my local dealership a couple of times with no information. I did how ever get a call today asking me to provide proof of my oil changes. provided that and nothing else currently

 

if they call asking about oil changes it is a good sign. it means they are looking into good will but trying to find a reason not to. i had this same issue with getting good will on my car. luckily i changed the oil every 7k so they couldn't blame it on that.

 

I just had the timing chain, guides, tensioner, replaced on my 07 CooperS. Had 88,000 mi. I had been trying to find the cause of a fault code, P1497, (air leak downstream of throttle), since last November. Replaced the cylinder head cover, still fault came back within 60 mi. of driving. The car ran good, only had an occasional rattle on cold engine start. I kept hearing what to me sounded like an exhaust leak when under acceration. Never could find it. Then about a month ago. I accelerated pretty quickly, (never tached more than 5K), and when I slowed back to idle, I heard this slapping noise. Was not far from home, limped the car home. Took the cylinder head cover off and found quite a bit of slack in the timing chain between the top gears. Looked like it had slipped a tooth or two. Saw no other damage. Believe the noise I was hearing was the timing chain hitting the top chain guide when the slack took up. Towed my car to a local shop that works on Mini's. He kept it a week, did some research, He did tell me that the timing had slipped. Told me the best thing to do would be to replace, chain, guides, tensioner,(which is what I figured) and he did the bottom gear also. He replaced all of these items. I got the car back 2 weeks ago. Amazing how quite the car is now. Runs really good. What before I had heard as a possible exhaust leak when under acceleration is no longer there anymore. I been about 500 mi. since I've got the car back and no check engine light. Also my mech. did say that the timing chain off of my car was stretched some. So far, so good. This repair cost me $1300. The shop was still pretty pricey on labor, but so far I am pretty pleased with the work they did.

 

MINI USA offered to pay half (of $2091) of timing chain replacement If I could prove oil changes had been made. I thought that since I purchased my filters from the nearest dealer in my name (every 5k miles), that it would be easy to prove. "Sir, we see that you purchased the filters, but you didn't buy the oil here, so we won't make the allowance..." We were hoping to keep this car for 200K (especially since I take such good care of it). But if we have to put 2 grand into it every so often (plus whatever else pops up), why should we? My wife's old Kia went 148k before it needed anything major (and she did NOT take very goog care of it!).
And if we were to buy another MINI, why buy a new one if we have to rebuild it before it is paid off?

 

Yeah i think i read your post about that somewhere. I however buy my filters from orielly through my jobs account. and the dates on the tickets line up with the dates i wrote in my serivce book wich they already had so i couldnt have "just wrote those in". but unfortunatly I purchase my oil from walmart cause its $27 for the 5qt of castrol edge. and of course i dont have those receipts. the only thing on my side is I bought the car 1/1/11 preowned, and it was changed at the dealership i got it from, since i have put on 12k in mileage so im techincally under their 15k just over the 12 months. I do change my oil every 6 months though regardless of mileage.

ultimately it just pisses me off that as of monday i will have been waiting for 2 weeks for an answer. the local dealer ship has no cars to loan so i have been bummin rides since

 

^^^Going 15K on a MCS is part of the cause of problems I think Mini owners are having. Half of that at most would be OK. I change mine every 6K.
My dealership did change out my entire chain, guide, etc. and did submit $1200 to Mini as 'good will' but I ended up paying $500. I was ok with that and they didn't ask about the oil changes.
It all depends on how customer oriented the dealership is. Luckily for me, Mini of Pensacola is a great dealership both in sales and service.
Good luck with your delima.

 

I would be ok with that. i just dont understand the delay and lack of communication

 

Can I ask what dealer you are using or at least what region you are in?

 

I can only say that over the past 10 months or so reading owners issues, it really does appear to be in the hands of the dealership. Mini USA is not offering any help what so ever.
Maybe someone can chime in (once they know your location) and suggest a more helpful dealership.
Sorry 'bout the bull.

 

im in oklahoma and jackie cooper is the only dealership here. I was told by the dealership that they have been waiting on the regional rep to contact them back

 

When a manufacturer sells a new vehicle to the original purchaser, they include a warranty with specific terms, stated time length, and mileage limitations. Failure to fulfill those terms will inevitably result in legal action against the manufacturer as there are multiple state and federal laws governing warranties.

After the expiration of the warranty, on a case by case basis, goodwill adjustments are sometimes made. In my experience of having dealt extensively with this problem, there are certain items any manufacturer will look at. Did the current owner purchase the vehicle new? Was the vehicle purchased used from a franchised like dealership. Did the vehicle receive the recommended maintenance in a timely manner? Was the maintenance on the vehicle done by an authorized provider? How far out of warranty did the failure occur? Could the owner have prevented the failure? Is the failure common to the vehicle and is it considered a normal maintenance related failure?

Sometimes, saving a few dollars by doing the maintenance yourself or having an independent shop do the maintenance to save a few dollars can be very expensive. I certainly hope the OP receives a positive answer for his sake.

 

well to update, i went to the dealership today and had a semi discouraging talk with the SA and was to look at a couple of more days for a decision. So after a long conversation with a couple of important people in my life I decided i was going to just pay them the diagnosis fee and have the car repaired by the other shop that quoted me 1200. 3 weeks to determine if its going to be covered or not is ridiculous. and it lost the dealership money. if they would have told me a couple of days into the situation if they where going to cover it or not, i would have just paid the dealership to fix it. and not went looking else where. At this point I am obviously upset with Mini/Bmw and have no interest in ever owning another

 

Really, I don't think MINI/BMW could have even started the decision-making process until you brought the car in on the 16th, so you really got a decision in less than two weeks. Until they could actually look at the motor, they couldn't know whether they were going to goodwill nothing more than a $65 chain tensioner or a $1700 timing chain replacement or possibly something more. And that is probably a key piece of info for them to have to be able to make a decision.

That said, still seems like a long time. I was fortunate in that my dealer was willing to make a decision on the spot. But that was a couple years ago and I gather from posts on here that MINI USA has become a lot more unwilling to extend goodwill.

 

I honestly dont understand your post. as stated they knew on the 18th what was wrong and what needed to replaced. it has been 2 weeks at this point to even try and find out if they where going to help. and i was told i was looking into another a couple more days to find out. I have nothing to drive they wouldnt give me a loaner and told me i would have to get a rental. I got lucky and my job let me borrow a truck for now but they where tired of me taking it home and I didnt want to abuse this ability.

 

From the 18th to the 28th is only 10 days. So it has not even been 2 weeks, not the three weeks you indicated earlier.

 

the fact of the mater is i took it the 28th on my decision. other wise it would have been two weeks. and if they made it " a couple more days it would have basically been three weeks. when i started this i was told by mini usa we will have an answer with in 3-5 days. I gave them that. called back in with well its going to be a couple more days. 5 days later nothing but an answer of it will be a couple more days. If they would have had something for me to drive they could have kept it till when ever but they didnt. and if by the chance they said no, i couldnt afford to wait any longer so I deicded to take it to another shop and do the repairs by a mini certified mechanic for 600 less.

you apparently are pro mini and thats fine, up untill now ive loved my car its even my second one. but weather it be Mini Usa that took so long or my local dealer I am very unpleased with the situation. I have worked for a dealership before and we didnt treat customers like that

 

Like I said, I don't think you should count the time prior to them completing their diagnostics. Unless you expect them to agree to do goodwill repairs on cars sight unseen and based on nothing more than someone calling them up. And you probably should not hold it against them to take two weeks to reach a decision until it has actually been two weeks.

 

Yes, they will do a one time "good will" repair. I got a complimentary tow and replaced water pump after 50,000 miles.

 

I may not have needed to count the time. the whole thing just frustrates me and is unnecessary. and what probably makes me the hottest is i dont know who to be upset with about it. I am mad at myself for not taking it in while it was under warranty but at this point it is what it is. and ill just have to pay out of pocket but i really needed my car back and in the end Ive spent more money on frivolous items anyways. In the joke of things I wonder what will happen with my gas mileage once its put back in time lol. I was enjoying the 29 city and 42+ highway but hey maybe it will feel alot peppier

 

after going through 3 months waiting to get a new engine good willed i will have to agree 100%.
to OP just wait as long as you can, because if they do good will the whole thing it will be worth it in the end i think.

 

another small update. I got a call from Mini USA yesterday 5/1/2012 saying that they will cover it, I called my other mechanic and he said that they havent started yet and they drove it back to the dealership for me. however since I pick up the car, I have to go trough the approval process again wich I was not told on the phone. I came across another car to drive so im not to worried about time. so I am proobobly looking at another two weeks.

 

Well that is good news. Glad you will have your MINI fixed and back to you soon.