Our 2008 Mini Cooper S, 80,000 miles, has been diagnosed with "catastrophic engine failure" - they say that the vacuum pump failed, leading to bent valves. Mini of Loveland has frankly been horrible, both in this situation and previous service calls. For this the car sat for a month without them contacting us. They gave us contradictory information at different times, apparently covering up for the fact that they had not even looked at the car. In any case, the car is now dead. They gave us a quote of $8,000 for a new engine, $6,000 for a used engine with 80,000 miles. They declined to offer anything for the vehicle as-is, saying we should tow it for scrap.

So the question is, what should we do? The Mini has had a history of trouble (timing chain tensioner, timing chain, oil pump), so we do not want to keep it. (I'm keeping my 2005 JCW, love it!) We could possibly replace the engine and then sell it. We would prefer to sell as-is because that just feels more honest. Is there any market for such a vehicle? How would we find an interested buyer. It would be a shame to sell it for scrap.

 

List it here in the marketplace. But first you might want to tow it to a reputable indy mechanic for an evaluation. Don't replace the engine to resell, makes no sense.

 

Sent you a pm

 

Thanks for the advice. We towed the car from the Mini dealer to a local mechanic. We'll see what they say.

 

Please keep us posted. Will be interesting to hear what he says. If he can do a great deal on an engine replacement/rebuild, that's great. Otherwise, parting out the car might be worthwhile.

As an alternative, a factory short block is $2995 and comes with a two-year warranty. Let us know if we can help!

http://new.minimania.com/part/G2NME8001/

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

Our independent shop found that all the valve springs on the firewall side of the cylinder head appeared good, but two of the valve springs on the radiator side of the cylinder head were stuck in a compressed state. They are not interested in attempting a repair. They quoted $9,600 for installing a Mini remanufactured engine and $7,800 for installing a used engine with 80,000 miles. So we are down to finding someone interested in purchasing it as-is, or donating it to a charity.

 

Where are you located. It is possible to fix just the heads with some luck but you need to find the right shop,,, and did they scope the bores? If the scope is ok for pistons then break it down, how much to pull the head then it goes to head rebuilder or a used one gets at least cleaned and planed then reinstall should be just under 3000 but yes its a bit of wrangling.

 

We are in northern Colorado. I requested a borescope inspection, but the Mini dealer had removed the valve cover and didn't reinstall it. When the independent shop was able to view the valve springs, they stopped there. We did not want to spend a lot of money on analysis. This will make a nice car for someone who wants to do a little work. I'll put up a for-sale listing once I have a chance to get some photos.

 

Wrapping up. We sold the 2008 MCS to the local shop owner for $1,000. He opened up the engine and found that the cause of the problem was a failed timing chain. This vehicle had previously suffered from a failed timing chain tensioner. We had it repaired at Mini of Loveland prior to BMW settling the class action law suit. The dealer refused to provide any assistance in attempting to be reimbursed for this repair. And then after the dealer repair, the timing chain system failed again, resulting in "catastrophic engine failure". We are never going to that dealer again.

Anyway, the local mechanic tore the engine apart, bought the necessary replacement parts, and whenever there was any down time at the shop worked on it himself or assigned one of his employees. He reports that he has invested about $7,000 into the repair. I do not know if this includes labor costs, but I guess it does. We inquired about buying it back and mentioned some of the other problems with the car - sunroof won't operate in hot weather, oil leak, rear hatch remote unlock doesn't work, etc. Looking for the oil leak, he found a broken plastic part in the air intake for another $650. He said we should not buy the car as it will probably never be reliable.

Because Mini of Loveland denies the engine failure was related to the timing chain, there appears to be no way to be compensated for this loss.

This was my girlfriend's car. She loved it, but hated all the problems. Still looking for a replacement. She is actually considering a 2013 MCS that is nearly a twin. It is at Schomp Mini, 75 miles south of us. Consumer Reports indicates that 2008 was the most unreliable model year for MCS, while 2013 seems to be much better. But the bad experience weighs heavily on the consideration.

 

The N14 engine in the R56S 2007 - 2010 was notorious for timing chain and vacuum pump problems - just read the forum.

The N18 2011-2013 has a much better reliability record.