Please help me everyone.... no I don't want money LOL (at least not yet). Ok my car went in this morning for what I knew was going to be a HUGE pain in the A$$!!! the time chain tensioner. At first it was all ok and only looked like the chain tensioner was going to be the fix I was so happy..... then 35 min later the service guy comes up to me and say I have bad news the timing on the car JUMPED after the install of the new tensioner and now we need to change the WHOLE THING!!!!! the biggest problem I have with all of this is I am OUT of warranty by both miles and years I am a lill over 58000 miles and I don't have around $3000 to fix it all. ok so now with what I need please if you have had a problem with any of the timing chain stuff please let me know what they did for you and any info that may help me get my car fixed do to the fact that this is a known problem thank you to all I am going to cry now!!!! I feel like they just took my baby and I have no way of getting it back I am flat broke and no one can help me so please all I need is info thank you again to everyone and anyone that can help me out.

anyone have the latest bulletin about the timing chain I have the one for Oct 2010 if there is one newer please let me know or if that is the latest one let me know too please

 

Wow, so sorry to hear what happened! Sounds to me like if they did the work on the timing chain tensioner and then the timing jumped while in their shop, I would think it would be on their dime to fix it.

 

I believe it is the dealers problem to fix it, they broke it, you didn't.
Forget the "we" stuff. You were going to do the tensioner repair, not the "WHOLE THING" repair. Start raising hell! Good luck.

 

I see you're in Miami. Can you mention which dealer it is?

 

If the damage was done in the shop, its the dealers responsibility to get you taken care of. PERIOD!

 

Exactly, they fixed it and put it back together. That fix then broke something else, their problem.

 

Yes, please make sure that they are paying for this....theres not even any grey area here.

 

I would rather hold on to saying names of where just yet I m going in there tomorrow and depending on what they say I may go as far as media coverage I LOVE MY MINI and I will fight them tooth and nail over this, but this is more then just my car this is a ton of cars and BMW has to do something this is not right for this big of a problem to just be "ok to fix if car brakes down, if not keep hush hush." I have a feeling this is going to get bad.

 

If your not leaving any deatails out...



And they broke something while working on it


its their responsibility

 

Yeah unless they installed something wrong or the parts were defective, it's highly unlikely nearing impossible for that engine to jump timing with working new parts.

Whether it was install error or parts failure though the shop performing the job is responsible for fixing the problem.

Whats the $3000.00 for exactly? That' s way too cheap for a new engine and install from the dealer.

 

I have been in the car business 25 years. Dont sign any more work orders. You agreed to pay to have your timing chain and tensioner fixed, while they where testing their repairs they broke your car.

They are responsible for the cost of the new engine.

They may try to bully you, or say go ahead and take me to court, dont take it from them. If you broke it they would make you pay.

 

the 3000 is a ruff number the guy gave me for the timing chain fix I guess. I m leaving nothing out thats why I m freaking out so bad. they said that the parts where broken from before thats why the timing jumped. i looked up the procedure to fix it and they openly tell me that they do not do it that way. that they fix a few a day and that it dose not need to be done to the letter. i wish i had money to show up with a lawyer after that one...

I m not taking this well i feel like a family member in the hospital dying lol ok maybe not that bad but close to it

 

Tell them you'll come back with your lawyer ...

 

im sure you can also contact mini-usa

 

Could insurance do anything about this?

Also, please remember that after all it IS just a car (trust me, I love mine as well) but it is fully replaceable...whereas a family member is not.

Best of luck with everything and it seems that all of us truly do believe it's at the dealers cost. Hope things work out

 

I'm calling everyone I know, I want to show up with a lawyer.
but i m broke and lawyers want money up front (at least the good ones)

 

dose anyone have the latest bulletin about the timing i have the one for Oct 2010 if there is one newer please let me know. I just talked to Mini USA and let them have its over all of this to see if I can get them to push things my way from above there heads. they messed up bad, when they told me they do not follow the steps all the way to fix the car so openly

 

You never over revved it (going into the wrong gear)? That, tensioner fail and a small hand full of other things would cause timing to jump. these are interference engines so the pistons will knock the valves etc...


Make sure you have everything straight and documented etc.

 

the car was fine when I drove to the dealer except the rattle from cold start that went way after a lill bit. the timing jumped there at some point during the work testing I guess thats what I was told. I know its there fault but I want to come in ready for war that y I m looking for all the info on the timing chain and all thats problems before I go in

 

Thank you to all for the support I feel better knowing so many people are in the same mind set as me over this it helps.

 

Thats all that is needed to know, if the timing jumped teeth after install



they over revved it


installed it wrong

set it wrong


No other way.


Either way you should be ok Someone will fess up.

 

Yep if the timing jumped after they did the install and they stated they dont complete the repair as specified by Mini USA then its there fault it jumped.

Someone malfed it up and does not want to admit to it.

 

ok got the story from the tech him self. who turns out to be a friend of mine small world i wish i would have known that when all this started timing did not jump, it was not a part failure, the service guy was an idiot with what he told me, or i should say the way he told me car is getting fix all is well they are doing a good faith since my car is out of warranty so i only have to cover half about $600-$700 but i m now fighting mini usa

FYI its Vista MINI they are great people and truly did work to help me as much as they could so i cant say anything bad about them exempt how they need to work on how they say things!

 

What was the actual issue?

 

it was the timing chain and all that stuff the car fell out of timing my friend was doing it on the grown not on a lift and the timing moved and he herd the click when it moved so he got it on a lift (he knew it was my car and that i was waiting so he tried doing it on the grown, it need to be done on the lift) when he opened it up to reset the timing he saw that the guide rail up top was broken and looked down low and that one was broken as well. all of this would have been taken care of yesterday had the people up front said the right words like... the car FELL out of timing NOT the car JUMPED timing. and then freak people out like this.

i would like to maybe start a thread just to see how many people have had issues with the timing chain to see if this crazy lawyer friend of mine can do something for all mini owners instead of this crap from mini that they do not want to issue a full recall on this problem. they are keeping it way to hush hush fix only when it brake in hopes of people braking out of warranty and thats not right!!!