a few weeks ago i purchased a used 2002 mini cooper s with jcw package for a discounted price. there was a reason for the discount though. the motor seemed to be suffering from a blown head gasket. which is what i initially thought was wrong. upon removing the head and seeing that the gasket was infact blown in 3 different spots. there was also something else. piston 1 was not visible from the top of the block. after the oil pan was removed i saw that the final resting place for the pieces of piston and rod was the oil pan. so the engine threw a bearing, and pieces of the bearing are indeed imbedded in the journal of the crankshaft. ive been trying to decide whether it would be a good idea to rebuild the engine or just buy one. so far ive found a junk yard one with around 80k for 1700. with a 3 month warranty. i took the engine block to apex auto machine shop to get the block and crankshaft looked at and cleaned to see if it was salvageable. after a couple weeks later i got word that the crankshaft was still ok to use after the magnaflux, but needed some new bearing to fit. 10 under from what im told. after pricing all the bearings from the local dealership (which by the way is the only place ive found that carries the parts) the quote came out to 745$, just for the bearings necessary to complete the block. which considering about 120-150$ for the piston and rod that was blown up to pieces. and not sure about the shop work. maybe aftermarket pistons and rods are a consideration also. would all this be worth the effort? is there another source for bearing shells for this engine? because i sure as hell cant find any. pelican parts seems to have them also, but genuine mini and costs just about the same, maybe more. any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

How many miles are on your MINI? That may answer your question. If there are a ton of miles I would go for a lower mileage engine. There was probably a lot of stress on other parts if it caused the other damage.

 

motor has about 80k on it. dont think it was driven to full potential.

 

YES, we have the rod bearings
http://www.waymotorworks.com/connect...s-r52-r53.html

Now we also have pistons
http://www.waymotorworks.com/mahle-p...t-r52-r53.html

the sad thing is you're finding out the complete engine is a more cost effective solution.

 

it seems that the only option for undersized bearing is -25 thousandths.
i believe i only need -10 thousandths

 

I'm amazed that if the conrod and piston are in the oil pan that the crank is within spec. Mine burned through a bearing, everything was still intact but the crank was out of spec.

If you want to keep the car, my advice is to dump a new engine in it.

Rebuilding the engine is certainly possible, but as other active threads are showing - don't cheap out on the build. Doing it right is expensive, but you will have a better result with less worry (and hopefully a longer warranty). Make sure you have an engine rebuilder (not mechanic) that knows the W11. There are some nuances that are not publicly available.

If the crank, rings, 4 rods and bearings are replaced with new, parts and skilled labour will likely equal or exceed buying a new engine. WAY has different incarnations of them for sale (and I have one too if you're in Canada)

 

i agree on doing it right. but spending a 5000$ on an engine is way out of budget for me. i dont think i will be racing with this car, so i doubt such performance parts are necessary. but i will consider opening my pocket a bit for more durable parts.

 

Had similar problem (big end bearing) and rebuilt my engine this last summer. Big surprise was that the cranks are no longer available from Mini. Tried to backorder it, but gave up after a couple of months. You are lucky on your crank. It may be cheaper to track down a used crank and use standard size bearings - I think Meyle HD makes good bearings in standard size for that engine that are less than Mini parts.

You will certainly want to replace the oil pump while at it. If you add up the costs crank bearings, connecting rod bearings, at least one piston+con rod, oil pump, timing components, head gasket set, oil pan gasket set, front cover set, a rebuilt engine starts looking better.

I found Mass Mini to have some of the best prices for original parts. Always check around. Someone suggeted I check out UK Ebay as they seem to sell engine parts cheaper over there, and I found that to be true. You will also find more of the engine internal parts for sale over there.

Make sure you carefully inspect the tiny oil spray nozzle that sprays oil onto the bottom of the piston - it probably got messed up if the piston was damaged. The new ones are different than the original ones (I discovered) so I ended up buying 4 of the new ones so the oil flow would be balanced.

Mission creep is always bad on something like this - no matter where you get the engine - are you going to put back the original supercharger? alternator? starter? what about all the coolant hoses, heater hoses, power steering hoses, etc., Then you have to do something about the head. It will likely need at least a quick lapping before re-installing it, and it would be a good time for a valve job and check out to make sure there wasn't much wear on the cam.

Failures like that usually start with oil starvation - meaning you might find excessive wear on other engine parts (cams, connecting rods, etc) as you get it apart.

Good luck whichever way you go.

People are interested in parts cars or shells for race cars, so don't ignore the choice of selling it as is and finding one that is less fubar

 

thanks for the information david. it seems to be quite the pain in the *** and a pain in the pocket also from what im looking at. the oil squirter did definitely get damaged. so i need to look for another one. didnt know i needed to change the oil pump also. not sure how long they actually last. im about to gather up all the parts and prepare myself for a major wallet destroying quote.

 

My comment about the oil pump is that they can get damaged from the debris (they suck up oil from the pan by design) and if it fails or is jammed with bits of failed piston and bearings, all those expensive new parts will be toast.

I have not tried to take a MINI oil pump apart. On some cars they are cleanable and rebuildable.

When I did my car, I removed the piston oil sprayers to be able to check the oil galleys and sprayer to verify they didn't get any debris in them (and mine were clean)

 

As a bystander...
I would yank the motor...drop in a used one with a warrenty...to have only one bearing fail in a motor makes EVERYTHING SUSPECT, as anything else might be at similar wear levels...
If the bearing failed...likely from lack of oil flow, or over reving or lugging...what is the liklyhood that the others are OK?
Guess you might have bad one from the factory....crap happens...But I fear when you start to tear down the motor, the $$ will add up...and the "while you are at it" and the labor will add up...
Most modern motor are nearly disposable...and IMO the mini motor is no different... Individual items make a rebuild so $$, just does not make sense. If it was a small block Chevy with "commodity" parts made by 10 competing companies, different story...but the mini, being a small volume production car, there are so few choices...and sizes as you found are very limited...

 

I was basically in the same place you are. Lost all compression on #1.

Just about $7k later, I have a properly built motor that's stronger than ever. (and it begs to be flogged.) That cost is including labor and misc parts.

The mini is not a cheap car to work on.

If you check my signature you'll see whom I would suggest a call to. Stock or ***** to the wall, they do it.

 

i know it wont be cheap but 7k seems to be quite a bit of money. so far my misc parts with the machine shop cost and cp pistons is only at about 1100. i might have to go with using stock rods though. carillo rods are just too much.

 

I should clarify some. $7k was on the road. The motor was a little over $4k built and in my hands, reusing my stock head but giving it a valve job. The rest went to repairing things that were easier to do without a motor in the way. And labor, Greeneperformance did a great job.

Again not a cheap car to work on.