Ok heres my dilemma that I'm faced with. I bought a 2008 Mini Cooper S with 42,000 miles for $9000 about a year ago. A month ago its died on my way to work so i had it towed to my local mechanic. He diagnosed that my car was missing 4 quarts of oil, and my timing chain was skipping due to the timing chain tensioner. After that I got my car towed to a Mini dealer near me. They called me about a week later saying that my timing chain tensioner was broken and there were metal pieces in my oil pan. The dealer didn't take the heads off yet so we are not sure what internally is broken/needs to be replaced. Mini quoted me about $9000 for a brand new engine installed. Im really stuck in this situation and not sure what to do. Im not in a rush because I have another car that i can drive for now.
The options I came up with were
-Brand new engine
-Buy a used engine
-Open up the motor and replace what is needed
-Cut my losses and sell as is

 

Really 4 quarts low, that's mean you had less than a quart of oil in the engine! I would choose to cut my losses if I were you, the new engine is still an engineering disaster for BMW/Mini and will continue on that tradition.

 

I personally wouldn't do anything until I knew more about what was wrong with it. Are you able to do some diagnosing yourself? I could be worth another tow to confirm how terribly bad everything is, and it could be very bad. You could be looking at a bunch of bent valves, broken pistons, nasty stuff, or if you are real lucky, maybe it is just off time enough to not run but it has still avoided interference. I'm not gonna lie, it doesn't sound good but before I spend $9K I would want to confirm that it is necessary. I'm pretty certain that whatever is wrong with it, you COULD fix it for less than $9K.

 

Cut your losses, if you love Mini's, finance or lease a new one. Don't spend the same amount of money you paid for the car for a new engine. New Mini, better motor, best decision.

 

Yeah, royally bites. Unless you can find a mech to replace the engine for more like half of that, I'd say cut your losses and - assuming you're not carrying a note now - buy a newer MINI (2013) as a $9K down payment will go further with a newer MINI then resurrecting your current one. I'm not a fan of leasing unless you don't drive much, and if you don't drive much why would you buy a car meant to be driven?

 

Second hand engine that has had its cam chain replaced within recent history. Check your oil every couple of days till you learn how much this replacement engine uses.

Rebuilding one is a lot of work and not cost effective. In the uk the engines second hand seem rather expensive but after having rebuilt mine from the ground up it is MUCH cheaper to buy a second hand one from a source you can send trust.

New engine is way too expensive.
Regards

Steven RW