Hey folks,
I've got a 09 Cooper S, 90,000k on the clock.
Pulled off the valve cover today, and found the timing chain guide at the top of the engine broken -- the metal bracket that holds the plastic piece in place had snapped in two, the timing chain guide was just hanging there apparently kept in place by friction or whatever.

The thing is, the guide itself looks like it's in good shape, and it's the bracket that's broken. The chain looks and feel's tight, and visual inspection suggests the lower guides are intact. So my question is -- is there any reason I can't just JB weld the bracket and call it good?

I really don't want to replace the timing chain right now, I haven't heard the 'death rattle', etc. It seems like just a metal bracket that broke who knows how many miles ago. It seems like I could just fix the bracket and be good to go. But this is a mini cooper, and things are never that simple or inexpensive on these cars

What's missing from this picture?

Thanks in advance!

 

No way would I be caught putting JB Weld inside my engine. You’ll just cause other catastrophic issues with that plan.

If you are confident you don’t need to replace the whole timing kit, I would get a new guide rail and new tensioner:
https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2012-...h/11317546697/
https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2012-...h/11317607551/

 

Yeah, you're right. But it seemed like a good idea when I cracked open my second beer after spending all day wrestling with my mini

The chain seems tight and there's no sign of problems with the other guides -- but I did have a rough start/idle issue recently that I fixed, but maybe not before it caused damage to that guide?

Hopefully I dodged a bullet - new timing rail is on order.

 

Also - as long as you can be sure no pieces of the old plastic guide or the metal support dropped into the crankcase, then you could be good to go with just a new top guide. Otherwise those pieces usually end up in the oil pickup and COULD block it, causing loss of oil pressure - REALLY bad for these engines. If it were my car, I'd drop the oil and oil pan and clean out the pan and oil pick up, just to put myself at ease.

 

You know it. New oil pan gasket is ordered along with the top guide.

Funny thing -- I was just trying to clean the valves. Went to pull the plug to make sure I'd got the valves closed -- because they were that dirty -- and used the wrong socket.

An hour of cussing later, I pulled the valve cover to get the socket loose, or else I"d have never seen the timing rail/guide was broken, and it probably would have really screwed me in the end.

I mean, I'd rather be a great mechanic with an unerring knack for diagnosis. But I'll take blind luck if that's all I get

So, as long as I've got both all the charge hoses, air box, valve cover and (soon) oil pan off, is there anything else I should do to my Mini? I got a new thermostat and water pipe just a couple thousand miles ago, and new plugs and MAF sensor more recently. Anything else? I'm not going any where until next week, so might as well get it done now...