So I saved up for a very long time and bought an 07 MCS with cash, ten days ago from a private seller. Seller was a mechanical engineer and had taken excellent care of it. Has premium, cold weather and sport packs.

Pre-purchase inspection showed rear brakes needed doing ($500) and timing chain needed replacing (done 60% under previous warranty as work was not done properly last time). The car ended up being at the dealer for a week, as in the middle of the work they discovered - believe it or not - that the flywheel wasn't machined properly and did not have the necessary hole with which to complete the timing chain replacement (new flywheel covered by MINI).

Eventually, I got the car, for a reasonable deal after the work had been done.

A few days later I notice the windscreen washer pump seemed to have seized because although it would work at the back, I couldn't get anything out the front.

A few days after that, my yellow engine light came on and I stopped what I was doing and took it to the garage. The air intake tube to the turbo had come loose and the engine couldn't moderate the amount of air going in/fuel to use. Garage just tied it back on for me and fixed the minor washer issue, both for free.

The very next day (yesterday) I hear a whirring sound and know it's the turbo. Took it back to the garage AGAIN and sure enough, it needs a new turbo. $3000 unless we can find a secondhand one.

I am so devastated... I do not have $3k lying around after having scrimped and saved to buy it in cash. Oh, and did I mention we're moving house this week?! so very disappointed and not sure whether I am going to keep the car once it is fixed, after pining for it for so long.

 

Get a second opinion on the turbo.

 

Sorry to hear of your problems. I bought a 2008 with less than 8,000 miles last February and have hd no issues with it but its only at 12,000 now. How many miles did your 2007 have when you got it?

I'd get a second opinion on the turbo as well.

I personally wouldn't write off MINI based on this. You have no idea how that car was truly treated.

 

Sorry to hear so many problems. You should consider going somewhere familiar with Turbos and see if it can be rebuilt. Far cheaper and they will give u a breakdown of it with what components need to be replaced. $3k is a lot of money to invest so quickly. At the very least buy yourself an Alta Billet Turbo if u are gonna shell all that money out for a new one. Better and still cheaper. Best of luck from here on out.

 

x3 on getting a second opinion with the turbo

 

Exactly(regarding the rebuild). Isn't the gpop-hybrid only $550? It'll work better and give more power. Double-plus good. I think all the parts to put together the innards of any K03 is less than 3K, unless the housings are trash, which almost can't possibly be the case, you don't need to buy new. Even a stock rebuild, much, much less than $3'000! It sounds like you might be taking it to the dealer, and if so well, that's not what they do. Dealerships are shotgunners these days. Anything with a problem gets replaced.

 

Oh yeah I forgot to mention G-Pop. Their upgrade (includes rebuild & assuming nothing is broken) costs $695 which is a GREAT deal and you are flowing much better than stock. If you could pull out the turbo yourself you could send it to them and they could check the damage and give you a quote. Did the shop tell you specifically what was wrong with the turbo or just that its malfunctioning?

 

Why does it need a replacement turbocharger?
Because of oil starvation, or bent / cracked intake compressor fin?

If it was in "excellent" condition and now everything is grenade'ing, I'd hand the car back and find a different vehicle.
If you're needing some local Colorado help, look up the MINI5280.org owners...
Seems like you need some technical help and a good non-dealer overview.

- Erik

 

Thanks very much for the replies on this.

MINI said it was the bearing that was seizing up. They looked at it by going in with a camera, not by taking anything apart. The guy I am dealing with at MINI (who I like very much, actually) said at this point they can only guess that the first owner didn't maintain regular oil change intervals and so perhaps the oil feed is clogged.

I have a friend who has offered to change the bearing in it. I think I am going to take him up on that offer as I figure I have nothing to lose.

I will definitely look into the turbo options you provided, too!

I asked for as much detail as possible from the garage but they could only give me what's written above. I got a price breakdown and the turbo parts total $2300 with labor at $870 for seven hours' work.

This is just an all-round bad time to happen. I think I'm going to be unable to drive at all now as I have my driver's test in three days' time (I am a British expat) and can no longer use my UK license.

 

No matter how well someone takes care of a car you can not prevent a turbo failure. It just happens that turbos and s/c fail. Instead of having the $3k ticket on a new turbo take the one off that you have and have it rebuilt from a company like Gpop for $500 and reinstall it and you will have a running MINI again.

 

Hold on... you cannot see a bearing failure without opening up the turbocharger housing.
A external visual inspection or even camera view in the turbine area WILL NOT provide a conclusion of bearing failure.

I whole-heartedly disagree with this statement due to first hand experience with boosted vehicles well over 150K miles.
My currently-owned 2003 VW Jetta and 2005 VW Beetle (both turbocharged) have perfectly working turbochargers on them, and they've worked hard over the years.
When you put in the right maintenance upfront, and you will be rewarded with longevity and reliability.

- Erik

 

Sorry to hear, this does suck indeed. I'm facing the same problem, I've decided on removing the turbo myself and sending it to GPop Shop to get rebuilt. All in all it will be under $1k and I'll know it's done right.

Oh, and if you'd prefer to just buy a brand new turbo, GPop sells their k03/k04 Hybrid turbos for $750.

 

A new aftermarket turbo with everything to bolt on is 1995.00 for a name brand turbo.
Why is it $1000 more for the factory turbo? The Gpop option or aftermarket route sounds like the better choice.
http://www.atpturbo.com/mm5/merchant...ry_Code=COOPER

 

Right and that is why there are so many turbo charged cars out there that crap out at just over 100k. Now is that the case here maybe not but, a MINI is not a VW because my buddy had a 2001 Jetta that he bought at 80k miles and at 120k the turbo took a crap.

I have to edit this post because I forgot that there is another thread in the 2nd gen section about a turbo failure and one person in this thread that is posting about turbo failure.

 

if its only been 10 days and you bought it from the dealer; didn't they give you a 30 day warranty?.. all dealers are mandatory to give u a 30 day money back guarantee if anything goes wrong like that.. well at least in ny thats how it works

 

Read the first sentence of the first post.

 

Really

 

Haven't read the mileage of the car your bought?

 

Would you advise to get this turbo? Sending it off for a rebuild would be a great option but I can't really afford to have the car out of action for long.

I think my best bet would be to buy a new turbo and take my friend up on the (very kind) offer of fitting it for me.

AustinS, I do believe the previous owner took good care of the car. Unfortunately, the owner before them might not have been so careful. Also, as Porthos said, sometimes turbos just go.

I bought the car with 56700 miles on it.

 

Game change: garage called and said they felt pretty bad about the situation and have been trying to find a way to do it cheaper. He offered me the parts at cost and a reduced labor rate, a total of $2089 before tax. I told you I liked this guy!

I'd like some advice as to whether this is a good deal? I noticed the turbo kit on the link fergy016 posted was $1995, though that's probably a high-performance part.

 

Yeah that is a performance turbo and would not work with out a lot of tuning. There are plenty of threads about that turbo size.

 

Sounds like the service dept. took some tips from the used car sales dept: see if he bites on the sticker price and come down from there.

 

Call me cynical, but it does not seem right to me that you are quoted $3K to repair the turbo until you tell them you are going elsewhere, then suddenly they "feel bad" and knock a grand off the price? No reputable mechanic feels bad and reduces the price $1K, unless they were bull crapping you with the first quote and think their mark is getting away and are trying to reel you back in with a reduction in price. Something does not add up.

 

Call Chris at ALTA. Their price is $2200 for the Billet Turbo. Give him a call and see if there is something he can help you out with. The only problem is you will have to still pay for the labor. If you are somewhat handy, swapping the Turbo is not so bad. If you are going to spend that much money you might as well have it upgraded.

The price your place gave you is much better than before but to swap to another OEM turbo I would simply prefer getting yours rebuilt. Bearing failure is a straightforward repair (if that is in fact the problem) and not that expensive. A rebuilt turbo is a great compromise but I can completely understand people who want to keep it OEM with a new part.

http://www.altaperformance.com/hardt...illet-56-turbo

 

I understand what you're saying, but we hadn't said we were going elsewhere. They were actually trying to find a second-hand turbo they thought they had lying around but couldn't find it. Instead, they offered it at cost. I understand some garages and especially dealerships might have spurious ethics, but I do feel like this guy is pretty genuine.