Hi there! I’m having some issues with my mini. It’s a r56 non s. The head gasket blew a while back which was fixed and working fine to our knowledge. Still wouldn’t start. We brought a mobile mechanic out to do a diagnostic and discovered that some of the hydraulic lifters (2 intake, 1 exhaust) were spewing oil, so we changed those and still a no start. My boyfriend has been working on the car for several months now and after every problem it’s a no start but it’s not something I can afford to tow to a mini dealer and get fixed. We think we need a leak down tester but can’t find any nearby as well. This is my Mini dream car and I would hate to sell it and not be able to get another for so long. Any and all help would be appreciated, and I can give more info when needed.

So it blew a head gasket. Did it run after the head gasket was fixed? Or has it not started since? Was it running before that? And finally, are you getting any trouble codes? Or do you have a way to scan it?

it didn’t run after the head gasket was fixed, it developed a fuel leak which was fixed with new seals. The timing was redone to bring it back to normal, just to be safe. It hasn’t ran since it initially broke down and after we swapped out the hydraulic lifters we expected it to work but nothing. We’re thinking the battery is affecting it so we took it to be charged, and it dropped 2 camshaft codes after we realized the battery wasn’t charged up well enough. Which, the battery is at autozone charging right now.

the car is a 2007 Mini Cooper base model, 211k miles. The sensors are all connected and tight. Timing was done by putting a pin into the fly wheel to hold in place, the cams were positioned by hand and then tightened down. The chain was stretched from the crank over the top of the cams and slack was removed with the tensioner bolt.

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