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Stock Problems/IssuesDiscussions related to warranty related issues and repairs, or other problems with the OEM parts and software for MINI Cooper (R50), Cabrio (R52), and Cooper S (R53) MINIs.
The car is a 2005 S manual which we just got and have only had it for about a week until the right side cv axle pulled out, I'll explain more on that in a second. The person we purchased the car from was the second owner and the car has been taken care of. It was garage kept and it has about 111,000 miles on it. I will post a screen shot of everything that the previous owner did to it but it is stock other than an exhaust and some replacement parts. In additon to the screen shot I'll list the components that he replaced that could be related to our issue if you'd rather not read through everything.
parts previous owner replaced
Brake rotors, pads, sensors
Upper and Lower engine mounts
ball joints and lower control arm bushings (lower control arm bushings look like power flex)
shocks and struts with B4s
oil pan gasket (i noticed in his garage while we were looking at the car that there was another oil pan for the car, assuming it was the old one.)
The event
I was driving the car and had gotten off the freeway, nothing unusual had happened no pot holes or anything, the only thing that it needed was a alignment because it pulled to the right. (previous owner said he hadn't gotten an alignment since he replaced everything listed.) After I was off the freeway, came to a complete stop and turned right. I was in first, then shifted into second gear. Clutch was completely engaged, I was driving straight and was at about 2000rpm when I decided to given it some more throttle and enjoy the whine. I gave er about half throttle and the car (bluey is it's name) was pulling fine to about 4000 rpm until something broke where the rpm spiked and I lost all drive. I put the car in neutral and coasted to safe spot
After we trailered it home got up on jack stands I found that the right side axle had pulled out of the trans. I don't know if it was pushed or pulled out but the axle was pushed out of the carrier bearing about an inch from it's original position. The splines on the axle got munched towards the end of it by the mating splines. While the car was on jack stands with the axle still part way in the car we put in gear and let it idle in first which would make the engine lift up on the right side but it would lift and drop like something was off centered. Both axles were spinning while the car was on jack stands and in first. We got a new GKN axle and with it fully seated and installed the engine rocks more violently than it did before. I believe that there is something wrong geometry wise like a bent component or something but I'm looking for more insights. I am pretty sure that the first cv was oem so i don't believe that it is the fault of the new axle but something else. I can post pictures and a video later today.
Thats initially what we thought and we replaced that with the axle. We now think its the wheel bearing because when I left the lower control arm disconnected from the knuckle it doesn't shake and there are some popping sounds from the bearing. Last night I went to take the rotor off and discovered that the set bolt was literally less than finger tight. The bolt is distorted so now we're thinking that may have contributed to the issue