Have an 07 Sa, about 4 months ago had my timing chain replaced to the tune of over $1400. Fast forward to last week when, on my way home, engine light flashed and stayed on and car lost power. Could tell car was down at least a cylinder, motor was jumping all over and could barely get up to 55. Called dealer, where I had timing chain fixed and also where I bought the car new. After getting the car and checking it out, dealer tells me car has bad gas valve and says I have two options, rebuild original motor for over $8600 or replace it with a new motor for over $7500. After somehow not blowing a valve myself, I tell him I'm not picking either option. He calls corporate over the weekend and tells me today that Mini will pay for the parts for the rebuild and I would pay labor for a total of almost $3300.

My problem is that I will now have zero faith in this car with a rebuilt motor not to mention that I will have spent way more money than I would have liked on a car with just over 55000 miles on it and is 5 years old. I had **** boxes in the 80s that were more reliable than this. I'm just wondering if there's some other option, like maybe unloading the car somehow without taking even more of a bath than I already have. I would miss the Mini world, but I would certainly not miss the headaches.

 

What is a gas valve?

 

I just figured he meant intake valve. Cylinder 4 was gone.

 

assess how much the car means to you then go from there...

 

You can ask the dealer if they would buy the car from you as is and how much they will pay You for it.

Not sure how many choices you have. Of the two engine choices, I would pay for the "new"one (which could be rebuilt from someone else's engine and might not be factory new).

 

Tough deal, I feel for you (I've got an 07 with 55k miles myself that I bought new). The dealer was willing to throw you a bone on the engine. True it's a rebuild, but it's way better than what you had. Look at it this way: he's selling you a new engine for 62% of the sticker price and giving you your money back on the timing chain to boot. See what he'll give you on a trade-in. His labor is cheap, and somehow he's getting the part cheap too.

 

OK, lets get this straight. Is this the price for a brand new engine or a remanufactured engine? If it's reman that's astronomically high even with installation.

 

I've decided to go with the rebuild. They weren't offering the same kind of deal on a new engine. Everything in regards to the cylinder head will be covered for 2 years. I suppose it is cheap considering the work, it's just that my frustration comes from the fact that never in my life have I had to have these kinds of repairs done to a motor with 56000 miles on it. In the span of 5 months, I will have spent close to $5000 on repairs. And that doesn't even factor in the tow bills. In hindsight, I should have gotten their extended warranty, but hindsight is, of course, always 20/20.

Just out of curiosity, I asked them to tell me what they would give me for the car on a trade in....and that was $12,000, after the repairs. So, I have to decide how much longer I want to keep the car. I really don't have the funds for financing a newer car at this point though. I suppose I can look at this way, the timing chain is covered for 2 years, the cylinder head for 2 years, the aux water pump that was done under recall is covered and BMW/Mini extended the warranty on the fuel pump. I'm taking the long way around to get things covered. It's just that I know every time I'm driving I'll be looking for that next CEL.

 

Did they tell you what caused the intake valve issue?

No to throw fuel on the fire but I haven't seen many damaged valves without something else causing the problem - mainly the vacuum pump seizing or the timing chain breaking/slipping. But you just replaced the chain so that's why it is a bit confusing.


Also, why would they recommend a whole new engine if it was a valve issue? Unless the valve hit the top of the piston or it was bent incredibly bad that it damaged the cylinder head, i dont see how they would recommend a complete engine.

Do you have more info regardig their diagnosis?

 

Your first question also was mine....and I didn't get an answer. As I versed it to them, I simply don't understand how this happened. Anyway, I just got home from picking the car up today, it's a two hour drive out for me (I'm in PA, dealer's in NJ) so I couldn't get a ride out till a week later.

I got like 4 pages for my invoice, so let me try and summarize what they said was wrong and what they did:

"Found fault for cylinder 4 misfire. Engine oil smelled like fuel. Spark plugs were fouled and plug 4 was wet. Cylinder 4 was leaking past exhaust valves. Found burnt exhaust valve on 4. Removed and disassembled cylinder head, valve seats were not damaged. Replaced all valves and seals, lapped new valves to cylinder head. Swapped over all springs and cams. Reinstalled cylinder head with new gaskets and turbo oil feed line. Replaced spark plugs and changed oil and filter. Refilled and bled cooling system. Cleared fault memory and reset the DME. Road tested and rechecked for leaks."

And the list of parts is pretty substantial. Now, I know just about nothing about engines. So how or why this happened, I haven't a clue. The timing chain was done over 4 months ago at the same dealer so that's what makes me curious about the whole thing.

I do have a brother who has worked on cars for 30 years and he was never happy with the idea of long service intervals for oil changes...especially on turbo cars. So I never went 15,000 miles or anywhere close before a change. I actually paid out of pocket to have my very first one done at 7,000 at the dealer. And I check it about once a month and before I take it on real long trips and therefore I always keep a quart of oil in the boot just in case.

I do remember that I complained twice in the past about the car having a surge when coming to stops (you could see the tach raise up and down slightly)...neither time did the dealer find issue with the car. And, over time, the problem did seem to go away. Whether it's related or not, I have no clue.
Within the first year, the thermostat did stick open at one point. From what I could tell, they fixed that through software only. Last year, a different dealer in PA told me my oil feed line for the turbo was leaking slightly and that it would need to be changed at some point. The dealer in NJ that did the timing chain told me that wasn't true....but as my invoice of today reads, they did replace feed line on this repair.

What does this all mean? I dunno, but I'm out another $3200. Like I said, I love the car but it's really just a huge pain in the *** at the moment and I'm seriously considering unloading it for something more reliable. But I know I'm probably going to hate whatever else I test drive that's in the $20,000 range. But I think I hate the repair bills more and the idea of being stranded on the highway.

 

Okay so they didn't do a full engine swap and instead did the cylinder head repair, that's more understandable. At the same time they didn't tell you anything regarding what caused it, other than what was found. I'm not saying that doesn't happen, but given the fact that you have kept up with the car, it seems like a weird outcome.

The one thing I don't understand is, how could the repair cost that much? If you were only paying for the labor, how in the world could it be that much? What was the labor rate and how many hours were you charged?

 

Their rate I believe is $120 per hour, this is Prestige Mini. I don't see a listing of hours on my invoice...but I do know they started working on it on Friday and called me and said it was finished on Tuesday afternoon. How long a job like that really takes, I wouldn't know. The total before tax was $3075. After, $3290. My brother said if I had had a local guy that could be trusted, the job could probably be done for around $2000. Trouble is, we don't know of any.

 

If you do the math and divide $3075 by 120 you get 25hrs of labor - that seems about ok considering the lapping of the valves, but a bit on the high side imo. Man I'm sorry about your troubles. It sucks that MINI didn't step up and take cae of it.

 

The reality of the situation is that you bought a "Clown Car". Don't feel bad, I made the same mistake. Unfortunately you sunk more money into the bottomless money pit that is MINI.

 

Your just on a roll aren't you. It would sure be nice if you would just go away. Now your turning into a troll doll. And once again your acting like an ***.

 

I feel your pain. I bought my 02' MCS last year, and had all kinds of major repairs within 6 months. Although your situation is a MINI you bought new and have kept up with maintanence. Mine was the fact it was almost 10 yrs old, an S, and it was used as a AutoX car. I did however do my own soul searching to decide whether I needed to get out before I got too deep. I am officially too deep to get out. I've paid the same to replace/repair parts, as I did for the MINI in the first place. I love my MINI, and I can't imagine having anything else, but if anything else major goes wrong, there may be a hard choice to make. I can report that It's been around 7 months now with no problems, and she is running like a champ. There are some maintanence issues I need to resolve, but they are "Normal" issues. Just wish that everything wasn't so expensive, or I knew how to do it myself!
I wish you luck, and hope you can keep your MINI! I know it's a tough decision, but also know what it's like to sit in the drivers seat before you put the key in. Saying a silent prayer, and hoping nothing goes wrong....

 

Thanks....wow, major problems just 6 months in? I would have bailed then. You have some perseverance. Good to hear you've had 7 months with no problems, hope it stays that way for you.

I bought mine with every intention of keeping it a relatively long time and then eventually getting a newer one. If I was financially able to, I'd keep it as a weekend warrior. But, sadly, I just can't do that at this time. So, it's looking like this will be my last week with the Mini. Going to do some hard car shopping this weekend. Make no mistake, I will miss the car. But I will not miss the tow bills, the repair bills and the anxiety of wondering if this is the day I don't make it all the way home or to wherever I'm going. But who knows, down the road, when the money is right again and if BMW have come up with a reliable engine to put in an S, I may own one again.

 

I just expressed the fact that I had a similar experience to this OP which apparently many other people on this forum have had. I'm puzzled to understand how this concerns you. Have you had a similar experience? If you haven't, why are you posting on this thread?

 

Ivan, I was following your post about getting out of your MINI, to see what you ended up with. Now I can't find the thread at all??? What did you end up buying?

 

Sooo, Ivan posted about getting rid of his 'clown car', with a list of troubles that were all taken care of under warranty, basically bashing MINI, then he 'disappears' the thread as far as I can tell, after studiously not answering the people who asked politely about what car he ended up buying or is planning to buy (and if you look at his previous posts, he did not mention any particular unhappiness with his car before his 'goodbye and good riddance' post) and now he is trolling and ignoring other inquiries as to what amazingly well built, reliable, but fun car replaced his MINI. Hmmmm... LOL. All cars can have problems, just take a peek at other car forums. The reliable ones aren't as exciting, and the exciting ones do have problems. But most of his complaints were either centered around it being a cabrio, or being a turbo, and WERE covered under warranty... he ditched it because he didn't want to have to worry about being out of warranty. Fair enough, Ivan, but why are you hanging around, instead of looking at the forum for your new car?