MINI USA site

 

I had the dealer which I bought my Mini new measure the timing chain today. The paperwork they emailed me said "TIMING CHAIN MEASURES 70MM, ANYTHING OVER 68 REQUIRES REPLACEMENT".

The dealer quoted me $1,440 to replace the timing chain cassette. I declined.

I inquired whether there was any recall or warranty for the timing chain replacement and was told no. I have over 90k miles on the car. I'm not certain whether I'm angry or disappointed. Mechanical parts wear and eventually fail and I have gotten good use of the car. On the other hand, I feel it really should have lasted longer. Plus their not bashful in telling me their labor rate is $135 / hr.

Now it's time to investigate doing the repair myself and shop a few local shops to do the repair for me.

I like my MINI, but would I buy another one....?? Maybe if they would consider some help, pay half, parts, something. But over fourteen hundred dollars for a known problem, not so much.

 

I understand what you mean.. It would be nice if the timing chain assembly lasted a bit longer. Did you ask them if they would pay half? Did you happen to talk too MINI USA?

 

If you still have the original tensioner they should replace the cassette. My dealer replaced mine in January when I had 114K miles. Didn't cost me a penny and I had a loaner for three days. I would talk to the manager and if he doesn't want to help, contact Mini USA. Maybe they can do something. Admittedly, I haven't checked this thread lately,but unless something has changed, there is a service bulletin covering this problem.

 

was your car part of the campaign though?

 

According to my dealer the campaign covered '07-'10 MCS with the N14 motor. If your tensioner had been replaced you didn't qualify. When I called my dealer to set up the appointment he didn't mention any requirement other than falling into the model year window and having the original tensioner. I took it in and they looked at the motor. He said it obviously had the original tensioner and that the deflection measured 70mm so they would replace the cassette. They had used all their parts at that time so I had to wait a week until they got a shipment of new cassettes in. I got the impression that my car was just one of many that they had done this job on.
I never got a letter from Mini USA concerning this problem as some did. I read about it in this thread and took care of it myself.

The build date on mine was 08/21/2007

 

Got to say that's the lowest price I have seen for a Mini dealer, my Mini dealer charged my extended warranty $1600, there was my $200 deductible so my extended warranty paid out $1400. If I had not discovered it on this forum I never would have received my refunded $200 deductible, my dealer wasn't going to pick up the phone and call me in regards to the refund.

Are you ready for this, my Irvine Mini Dealer charges $165 per hour for labor! You thought you had it bad...

 

Wouldn't that dealer be bumming when they went to MINI to get reimbursed for the repair? Sounds like one of us that have been told by MINI USA that our cars aren't included needs to call them and see if we can get it done free...and then start a shipping business to VA.

What's the dealer? I'll call...

 

Well, I guess that's the problem.The dealer replaced original tensioner @ 10,600 miles due to chain noise. Yes it was the old design but I guess that doesn't matter. I had chain noise around 55k miles and since out of warranty at that point, I replaced the tensioner myself with a redesigned tensioner.

Honestly, I'm not having chain noise now and the MINI is running great. But I don't want the chain coming apart. I will be replacing the timing chain, the decision is doing it myself or finding a shop to do it.

Thanks for everyone's replies.

 

Replacing the "tensioner" is a cheap, easy and I believe temporary fix. Replacing the full timing chain assembly is anything but cheap or easy. The tensioner will normally fail enough to cause the "rattling" noise before the chain develops enough slack to mandate it's replacement under the conditions of the campaign.
Mini Cooper has conveniently stacked the cards in their favor by exempting the replacement of the timing chain assembly from the campaign if the tensioner had previously been replaced.
So under the conditions of the "campaign", if you have the tensioner replaced before the timing chain has a chance to reach the 68 mm replacement threshold you are pretty much screwed should the timing chain latter need replacement (which it most likely will and Mini Cooper most certainly understands).

 

So Mini USA replaces the tensioner with another defective one and calls it a day, ridiculous! It's not even an updated part and even some of the updated parts were still having issues. Mini updated the tensioner three times, I got the latest one and it is from a different manufacturer with tighter tolerances.

 

So I had my tensioner replaced in 2007 by MINI when this issue first came up. It unfortunately failed big time in April 2013 (car stopped running) and I had to have a complete overhaul with the entire assembly (including picking pieces of metal and plastic out of my motor). It's now starting to act up and I'm getting the really loud rattle and I'm assuming that this is the same issue again. I spoke with the MINI dealership and they will replace it covering both parts and labor under the two year parts warranty if it is in fact. My two questions are:

1) if they do the diagnostic and it turns out that it isn't timing chain tensioner, will I have to pay for the labor time and diagnostic fee?
2) I have the BattleTuning flash and a catless DP. Do you foresee there being any issues with this and them trying to give me a hard time about any malfunction if there is some carbon buildup? And should I reflash back to stock (which will give me a CEL) or should I leave it with the tune that way there is no CEL?

Thanks!

 

What does complete overhaul with the entire assembly mean? Entire engine or just the timing chain components? Nothing is free so yes you will have to pay for the diagnostic regardless of the outcome, time is money. Second once Mini replaces the timing chain components their going to retime the engine which will write over your tune, when their through there they will get a CEL and wonder why.

Your damn if you remove the tune or if you don't, either way they will find out. It's not like you have a warranty with Mini at this point. They might not warrant the new timing chain assembly if they find out about the tune and DP. They might refuse to replace anything once they see what you've done to your Mini, they could assume you're tune and DP are to blame.

Every dealer is different.

 

I had the entire timing chain tensioner assembly replaced. There were multiple broken pieces from the tensioner itself thrown throughout the engine which had to be removed but no replacement of other drivetrain components was required.

I kind of figured some of those things regarding my mods. However, I would imagine that Magnuson-Moss would prevent them from blaming any timing chain issues on my mods since it's clearly an established problem with these vehicles.

My other option would be to just wait it out and see if this ends up turning out to be a problem. However, I have checked all other problems including oil level and can't imagine it's going to be anything else. The car runs fine right now, I'm just trying to think prospectively to prevent any future problems. Especially since I have the two-year part warranty on it since the last replacement.

I'm open to suggestions.

 

You can't continue to drive your Mini, if your chain breaks or falls off one of the cam sprocket you'll need a new engine ($10,000). My advice to you is install your stock Cat and then switch back to stock tune, you shouldn't even be driving it.

 

Hi, I'm Ishihara... you may know me from such recent posts as "What did I do to my mini today? - towed it to the dealer!" and "Yes, I just joined the tensioner problem club"

The only information I have from the dealer so far is that the tensioner did back out. They've got a loaner car waiting for me, so I'm taking that as a not-so-good sign. I'll be heading into the dealership later to pick it up, so I'm very, very interested in hearing/reading about how to talk to the folks to get this issue addressed. I'm in a 2010 MCS with only 47k miles on it, and prior to the explosion she was running great.

 

Explosion what happened exactly?

 

Not an explosion, merely the death rattle et al. I had my timing chain tensioner come all the way out followed by much oil. It's been at the dealer for two days now as they do the autopsy to determine how to proceed. The only update I've gotten so far (when I picked up my new 2014 MCS loaner - WooT!) is that it's the tensioner so far and that their shop foreman is the one on the job.

They are hoping to have a plan to discuss with me by the end of business today.

 

If any one of those metal parts had contact with a rod that wouldn't be good.

 

that I haven't heard much in two days is not filling me with hope...

 

This is not uncommon for it to back all the way out. This has happened to a friend of mine. He was lucky and noticed it right away! If driven to far you will for the most part blow all your oil out the tensioner hole! So its not just the fact you have no tensioner but how long did you drive it with extremely low oil. But the dealership did take care of him. I hope things go well for you. Good luck!

 

As best as I can remember, from onset of of the horrible clanking noise to the low oil pressure alarm popping up was maybe 15-20 seconds. Luckily it was early Sunday morning and I was the only car on the road, so when the oil pressure alarm came on I was able to throw it into neutral and coast off the road. Now I'm just hoping I have enough good driving karma built up to get through this.

 

It sounds like you reacted quick enough. I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

Entering day 4 of being in the shop, and the only info I have received is "we're still evaluating it, and all we can say so far is that the tensioner did come out"

on the plus side, I'm getting a great test drive on a new 2014 MCSa.

 

It might be that the dealer hasn't even looked at your Mini yet, it doesn't take 4 work days (6am-5pm) to find out what happened, all you have to do is drop the oil pan and look for damage. It should only take an afternoon to have a look, it's not rocket science.