So I recently purchased my 09 Clubman S with 29k on it and took it in today to have the oil changed and got handed a $4k bill. The timing chain and tensioner needs replaced, the valve cover gasket is shot, the water pump is shot and the oil filter housing gasket is shot.

I've owned two BMW's that both went into the 170k range, an automatic VW Corrado SLC with a 110 shot of nitrous I took to 180k on the stock motor and trans and never once had a problem with. Now I buy this piece of isht and it's failing with literally no miles on it?

I saw the thread here where people are talking about their dealership replacing the timing stuff for free but the dealer here in Vegas told me that I am SOL.

I am so furious right now I can't hardly handle it and regretting even buying this thing in the first place.

 

There is a service advisory going on right now about the timing change and tensioner. Your dealer should be doing them for free.

Do a search here at NAM and you'll find a ton of information about the timing chain service advisory.

Dave

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ng-chains.html

 

Thank you for posting the link. The SA I talked to when I told him about the experiences people are having here seemed to have never heard of this before, not the chains failing but Mini replacing them.

I was furious when I spoke with my SA and he gave me a number for mini and when I called it, the number was their Road Side Assistance. The lady there gave me 800-831-1117 which she said was Mini's main number. I gave them the last 7 of the VIN and told her what was happening and how upset I was that this is happening with such low miles on it. She said he could not promise me anything but she was going to see if there was any assistance she could provide and it would take 3-5 business day's before she could get back to me.

I honestly have to say I was expecting SO much more from a company such as this.

 

Oh jeeze, good luck.. that sucks of they won't bail you out. That should totally be covered under the service campaign!

Was this a CPO Mini purchase or from a private seller?

 

I actually bought the car off of a Mazda lot, it was traded in on a new Mazda 6.

 

Isn't the water pump covered by warranty/recall/service campaign too?

 

I would def look into MINI covering this.. most of the items should be on a good will recall type thing.. there are some mini dealerships out there that don't know things like this.. good luck!

 

I'm looking but can't find anything, is there a place I can show the SA at the dealership to show them this information? When I talked to him earlier he has no idea that any of this is covered.

Freaking 29,000 miles this is such bullisht. Damn I am so pissed at myself for not doing more research before I bought this car, had I seen this I would have never bought this vehicle in the first place. I'm so mad at myself.

I mean it's not like it is something I can just ignore and deal with until I can save up to have it replaced. I put $3k down on the car and then paid $2k to have my hand controls put in because I'm paralyzed from the waist down and can't use my feet, so my savings is tapped out and it's not like I can just borrow a car to get to work.

Man I'm pissed... I expect so much more from BMW.

 

Type and sign a certified letter, signature required, to MINI management in New Jersey. It may help. Explain the situation briefly and simply, as a lawyer would, without anger or bias. Then ask what they will do to resolve the situation.

When I had serious problems with my 2007 MCSm, and notified them in this manner, they were extremely helpful, buying back my MINI. Your situation is far different from mine, as I had bought my car new, and it was still under warranty. But I think it is your best approach. Good luck.

 

I don't blame you for being mad.. I would be too.. I would almost bet you would qualify for the timing chain repair..along with some of the others as well.. If your dealership isn't helping much you can also contact miniusa..they should give you direction a bit...even though ive never had much luck with them.. But what I did was I showed my SA this site and pointed to the recall camp...after a bit of him confirming things they said they would take care of it!!

 

The timing chain should be taken care of under the recall. The rest of that stuff is fairly common. Once you fix it all start saving up because it's all going to happen again in 35k miles. Sorry you're having to deal with the repairs though

 

I must be missing something. My MINI has a five year 50,000 mile warranty. Shouldn't this one still be under warranty?

 

The MINI factory warranty is 4 years, 50K miles, so depending on when it went into service, it may be expired based on time. Having said that, I agree MINI should step up to he plate on the repair cost. Any SA that says he has never seen/heard about these problems is not truthful and should find another line of work.

 

I talked to the SA again today who says he knows nothing about any sort of recall for the timing chain and is sticking to his guns about it and saying unless I can show him something in particular from Mini saying they will cover it there is nothing he can do.

This will not happen to me again because I am trading this piece of garbage the second I get my hands on it. The worst part about this for Mini is that it was a fantastic car for me being disabled and for such a small car it worked awesome for my needs and being able to handle my wheelchair. I go all over the nation speaking to recently paralyzed people who constantly ask me what I do for a car and what works best and I will tell every single person I see about this horror story and to stay as far away as they can even though this car is exactly what people in my condition need.

 

Here are a few posts that might help. I would suggest calling around to other dealers (even if they're clear across the country) and confirm your car is eligible for the tensioner replacement. Then ask your local dealer why you're getting conflicting information. Or you could call mini directly and they should be able to tell you.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...4-post236.html

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...5-post173.html

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...5-post259.html

You could always pick up a non-turbo mini. They seem to have significantly better reliability and would get better gas mileage as well.

 

When my wife first told me she wanted a Mini Cooper I didn't realize it was actually an BMW product but quickly found it was.
Knowing BMW had a bad reputation with not standing behind some of their cars when they developed problems and in such cases customer service left much to be desired, I told her the only BMW I would recomend in a small sporty model would be the Z4 because its reliability (short of a "notchy" stering problem) seemed to be ok.
But she perffered the Mini Cooper so after researching I told her as long as we stayed away from the turbo models ( which are replete with serious reliability issues) and had a decent factory warranty, I would relent and buy her a Mini Cooper.
We found a nice 2013 "Justa" coupe with only 3K miles on it and I negotiated to have it covered with BMW's CPO Next which added to the original factory warranty so we bought it and she is very happy with it.
I appears the non turbo "Justa" Coopers with the automatic transmissions are pretty trouble free and reliable, but when the warranty starts to go so will the Mini Cooper.
I would never recomend owning a Mini Cooper without a full factory warranty.

 

Johnny,

This is a quote of what the official letters sent out by MINI USA say regarding the timing chain issue:

Dear .............

Re: WMWMF....................... ....

Our records indicate that you are the owner of the above-referenced MINI.

As part of ongoing quality analysis at MINI USA, it was determined that your vehicle may have been fitted with a faulty chain tensioner which may lead to an insufficiently tightened timing chain. To ensure that your vehicle is operating as designed, the chain tensioner and timing chain must be checked for wear and replaced if necessary.

To have this service performed, please contact your authorized MINI dealer at your earliest convince to arrange an appointment. The repair will be done at no cost to you and will take approximately one day to complete; however additional time may be required depending upon the MINI dealer's schedule.

Should you have any questions, the MINI Customer Relations and Service Department is available Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., ET. You can reach us at 1.866.ASK.MINI (275-6464).

We apologize for any inconvenience should your MINI be affected.

Sincerely,


MINI USA
Customer Relations Department


I will see if I can get a picture of the actual letter to show to the SA.

 

And if you get to the next hurdle which is whether you have the updated tensioner installed or not, please know that MINI parts and service carry a 2-year, unlimited mileage warranty on the parts replaced, so if the timing chain tensioner had been replaced previously (hence the updated tensioner installed), then make them look up the service history of the car and fix it under the MINI parts and labor warranty.

 

this number was given to me by BBB when i complained abt my local dealers wont help me, when they damaged my turbo line , it was resolved with in a week, corporate called my local dealer, & they paid for all the parts, but i have to pay a small portion towards the labor... GOOD LUCK

1800 831 1117 BMW-mini
customerrelations@bmwusa.com

 

Looking forward to the day when I am in a wheelchair, I inquired if MINI USA would accommodate special needs customers. The reply was that MINI would pay up to a certain amount to have the hand-control conversion done. For the controls I was looking at, MINI would cover the total cost of materials and labor.

Before badmouthing MINI to disabled people around the USA, write the letter to management in New Jersey. Explain your situation and ask for a remedy. Then ask if it is true that MINI will reimburse clients for hand-control conversion. If you make your decisions based on one lousy dealership, you are cheating yourself and MINI.

Go to the top. The people in New Jersey have the final say. The local guy may tell you a phony story because he doesn't make any money on warranty and recall repairs.

 

O.k I just got back from picking up my car and I am very proud of myself because I'm 110% Scottish with a very bad temper that takes quite a lot of work and very rarely comes out, but when it does it's not very pretty.

The SA I am working with I warned him when I went in there how pissed off I was and apologized if I get upset with him, but I was very frustrated. I told him about this website and how many people that had 08's, 09's 10's etc that were having this done for free and not understanding why mine is not covered. He was extremely apologetic and said when he runs my VIN that tells him if I am eligible, and he has no clue why some are eligible and others not. I told him it makes no sense if we all have the same motor.

I literally went off for about five minutes and he was so cool and calm and apologized again and said he had Regional Representatives there from Mini, he was like I can't guarantee you anything but I am personally going to present this to them and see if I can't get this resolved. My SA was very kind and understanding, he just can't do anything about it because it's Mini's issue and asked me if I had spoke to someone at Mini, which I have.

When I left I was slightly more calmed down than I was when I rolled in there and took the car literally right across the street to the Honda dealership and am trying to work a deal out on an Accord. I'm looking at an 08 with 43k on it, it has a 10 year 100k warranty from Honda still valid and an additional 3 year warranty from the dealership of purchase. We will see if I can swing something because I want out of this Mini even though I'm in love with it and it really suites what and most importantly being disabled what I need in a car. I don't want to sell it, I just don't want to be in the same position again in 20-30k more miles.

How the hell can a company as large and in business as long as BMW not be able to design a motor that can't keep timing chains and water pump good for more than 30k?

 

P.S I can't even thank everyone here enough for all your help and all the phone numbers and links to various threads and such. You have helped me so much!!!!!

 

Unfortunately for us, the engine wasn't designed by BMW. The engine is originally a Peugeot motor that has been used in 206s since about 2005 I believe. In the first gen MINIs, that motor was a Daimler unit. For the new generation cars due in 2015, those will have a true BMW designed engine, no doubt learning their lesson from the first two generations of cars.

 

Actually, Our Prince engines were a joint design by BMW and Peugeot-Citroen.

Here is a good article about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_engine
Dave