They can't just cancel your warranty....
This is all a little ridiculous
http://www.magnusonproducts.com/magnusonmoss.htm

The manufacturer can deny your warranty all they want, get a lawyer, they're not going to do a thing until you do. No way a pulley can cause a car to overheat. I was running 240 HP to the wheels (270ish HP to the crank) on my car, tracked it, ran it at redline on a constant basis, with a 19% pulley, no problems whatsoever. I've never even taken my car in for service (Totalled at 7200 miles due to no fault of my own). No way running 3-4 PSI more boost is going to cause your car to overheat. There is a known problem with 02-03 Cooper's overheating due to the Powersteering fan being on the same relay as the radiator fan. Get a lawyer and I guarantee you Mini will stop messing around trying to deny valid warranty claims. Sadly this is a tactic most manufacturers try, because they have nothing to lose, and most people would just pay the 5k.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005-...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Seriously... check the fan circuit. If it's blown, there is no way they can blame this on your mods. It will take 5 minutes and could save you $5k.

 

Now that link really spells it out. Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for.

Now I feel I have a chance, with that ammunition there is hope for Orlando and me to go into battle with.

It really makes me mad when companies think they can just do want they want and not be accountable for there actions. Working as a source inspector I see allot of this kind of stuff going on all the time.

What makes it worse is that they want you to get an attorney because they know that most people won’t, the consumer would prefer to not be bothered with the hassle and inconvenience it will cause them.

I am a firm believer in knowing what our rights are and making the warrantor accountable for there actions and statements.

“Do what you say and say what you mean”

Rustyboy155 you are the man.

Again thank you and thank you NAM for a great forum.

 

I hate when people (or companies) don't take responsibility for their mistakes and actions. I'm locked in a battle with my insurance now regarding my totaled mini cause some dimwit made an illegal left turn in front of me WHILE I WAS IN THE INTERSECTION (like bumper touching the x-walk... thats how close I was... he couldn't have made it in a Ferrari). I hate when big companies (and small ones/people) try to nickle and dime people to death. What is it for BMW to ship out a head gasket, how much could it cost them? 40 bucks? and maybe 2 hours labor to install? 5k bucks? For what? They spent more time figuring out the fact that you had mods than it would have taken to just slip a new head gasket on there and be done with it. It was already open! Grrr!

 

Here are somepicture of my engine I took today. Just follow the link then click on the thumbnail. You can enlarge the photo's by waiting for the expand button which should show up in the bottom right corner of the photo.

http://jkmobilenotary.com/van.htm

If this was not a factory mistake I don't know what is, the poistons look like they have at least 80 or 90 thousand miles on then. I can't see how or what would have caused this unless it was not torqued correctly at the factory.

the service department would not say anyhting to help they were quite closed liped in fact.

 

Wow....you pictures tell alot....you can see where the head lifted and the water jacket was broken...also that the head lifted enough for the compression to start jumping chambers...

the head can lift from over heating....ofcourse poor torquing of the head can cause the same issue....

whatever the case...good for you for getting in there ant tearing it down...now when you put it back to gether you can be sure it was done well and torqued right...etc...make sure you clean off the faces of the head and deck before putting them back together....

good luck keep us posted

 

Before I went with a JCW head I would talk to Randy Webb at Webb Motor sports. His head, from what I have read, is better than a JCW. check his price and warranty

Earl

 

Like others have said, getting the JCW package is a doable alternative, however, with 32000 miles on the car and it approaching the end of warranty, there's many aftermarket alternatives out there which will be less expensive than the JCW option...(unless the JCW upgrade starts the mileage "clock" over).

Did you get to check the main fan circuit fuse as XAlfa queried? How about the Power Steering fan circuit? There was an issue with older MINIs that had both the power steering fan ciruit on the same fuse as Rich.Wolfsen stated. This was a recall item where they separated out the two circuits so a failure of the power steering fan (lodged rock in blades) won't cause the engine to overheat.

Be forewarned, there may be other things that this might have damaged beyond just what's in block. For example, if you've run Antifreeze thru your combustion chamber as it appears you have, there's a good chance your O2 sensors are also kaputt since they don't tend to withstand the chemicals that makes up antifreeze.

 

Yes...I have....

He's on here as Miniman_a....

in fact....he has a JCW MCS....his gasket went as a result of a build problem back at the factory (I think...). It was all replaced under warranty, but MINI Garage Sydney screwed him around big time!

You could send him a PM to get a more accurate account of what happened...He dosen't come on NAM too frequently, so you might not get an answer for a few days..

 

I'm sorry I am unable to give much tech advice on this, but I really feel for you. I had to deal with two accidents and a local MINI dealer. They SUCKED. You really, really had to cajole and threaten them. Being nice did not work. We had to pester them constantly and go down in person and yell and scream in their BMW showroom.

I later had this dealer tell me that it was OK that they couldn't fix my backup light--you don't really need it! Well yeah, you don't really need shoes either.

Definitely rant, scream, and get as many parties involved as possible (MINI USA, lawyer, post this on as many MINI boards as possible, especially MINIusa.com).

Good luck!!!

 

I asked them about that yesterday and they said that it was not a problem with my Mini, so they did not feel it was a concern and would not check it. I need to do more research to find out what lot numbers that had affected. I will then take it from there.

By the way I want to thank everyone on this forum for their support and help.

Thank You!

 

Test the fan circuit. Check the fuse. It will take 5 minutes.

 

Hmm... Don't know about you, but my warranty is 4 Years/50k miles.

 

This is Bob Smith Mini is doing all this!?!? I can't believe it. The service adviser there went above and beyond for me after my mini was totaled, she printed up invoices galor as comps for my insurance. Speak to Jaime, the Mini service adviser there. She's been nothing but help for me .

 

It is not Bob Smith doing this it is the BMW North American rep. Bob Smith Mini says that their hands are tied. They went up to bat for me and are doing what they can to help. But it is BMW's call and they are the ones calling the shot's.

Jaime has been quite helpful.

Orlando should be ready to pick up tomorrow I hope and I hope to know more today as to whether or not they will honor my warranty or not. If not I will take them to court if need be.

I just hope they do the right thing.

 

Fingers are crossed for you...

I understand if a mod caused the failure, but to sit back and make a blanket statement to get out of locating the root cause is not right. Too bad it is on a dealership to dealership basis and not national/global? Some dealerships sound better at digging a bit more than others... I would be on the same boat if the item that works fine on the car was altered by me and then breaks or causes an additional failure... I would accept responsibility...

People are watching... I know a lot of people refuse to purchase WRXs and Evos due to the warranty issue... I hear Subaru/Mitsu are VERY strict on the alterations to those cars and thus people pass them up b/c they like to personalize/alter their vehicles... yes, regardless of how fast they are out of the box... There should be some play with a car, nothing crazy, but then again, it is ultimately a business decision on MINI's part...

Best of luck to you!

 

Lawsuits take forever... honestly if you really need to do all that work, either do it yourself out of pocket, or take it to an indy and pay out of pocket, then sue them after for the time you had to take to do all of this crap, the cost of parts, labor, ect. You don't want to be without a car for 6 months because they want to jerk you around. Bob Smith has always been on my side, helping any way they can. Jaime is very helpful, she told me to give her a call if I needed any more price comps for insurance. With her help I managed to figure out that my car had almost 7k in factory extras installed at the time of delivery (Likely the only thing that will be covered on the car ). That being said, their prices are through the roof ridiculous, and I would recommend getting any work not covered under warranty done elsewhere. They want 56k for a used M3 they have on the lot... I was like "But I can buy a new one for less than that!". To which the salesperson responded, yes, but they're rare! I just looked at him and shook my head. Larry Shapiro in BMW sales has been very helpful as well as Hillary Warner from Mini.

 

Same thing happened to me (different problem). Delaer was performing work on the car, Regional Rep stops them after two days of trying to troubleshoot the issue. Informs dealer that any further work they perform will not be reimbursed by BMW NA.

Many people on this forum will advise you to scream Magnussen-Moss at the first sign of warranty refusal, unfortunately, most of those people have never had to do so. Get it into your heads that the Dealers are often not the culprit - it's BMW that is cracking down on the Service Departments and not reimbursing them for performing warranty work on cars with mods.

The Magnussen-Moss Act is a great conversation piece but will get you next to nothing without retaining a lawyer and going after BMW (not the dealer). In the meantime, while the lawyers are firing off letters to each other, your car will sit.........................

BMW knows this, that's why they have no trouble being complete and utter pr**** when it comes to treating you like this. The act is next to worthless - it needs to be amended so that complaints are handled or investigated by a regional department of consumer affairs.......

 

IMO, this isn't a winnable fight.

It's very easy for a warranty rep (or a judge) to come to the conclusion that increased power = increased pressure and heat = warped head = blown-out head gasket.

My opinion is to suck it up, get the car away from the dealer, have the head machined and reinstall with a new headgasket/bolts.

Maybe I'm alone here, but I think everyone who has installed a pulley should have written off their drivetrain warranty.

 

Any new news?

 

Cool. My warranty was the same length...of course mine ran out much prior to 4 years. 4 years/50k is the standard warranty duration going for MINIs in the USA. I believe you can purchase extenstions to this.

 

Did anyone notice this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=56956

Another blown head gasket! The dealer checked for too much boost but is going to fix it... see his blog for more info.

Now I am getting nervous!

 

Well I don’t believe it they got Orlando put back together and he was still running a little warm. So they contacted the BMW NA rep and asked him to come out and take a look. His recommendation is to replace the block and the supercharger. They will call me in the AM with some numbers for the replacement of the block and supercharger or the block and a JCW Kit. That of course I will have to pay for all of because they won't honor my warranty. Now I am starting to really get mad. I went from a blown head gasket to a warped head to them needing to replace my engine all because of some after market parts. I don't believe Mini's are lemons especially Orlando but I am beginning to think I need a good lemon law attorney. Can anyone recommend one.

 

Holy crap! This seems to be spiralling out of control. The next logical step would be what, to total your car? Does this BMW NA rep get kickbacks or what?