I am pretty much screwed.

Just got the call of a blown engine. The timing guide failed and actually broke off. I was told the oil and the coolant is mixing together and the engine is pretty much shot.

Mini wants in excess of $7k to replace the engine. I don't have that. What are my options? What else can I do? Where is a place I can price engines? How hard is the install?

Any advice?

 

Go to an independent mini shop. They are more willing to work with you on price and should generally take better care of you than the dealer. You're doing the right thing coming onto here for advice.

Can you give us more background info? What was your oil change interval? What were you doing when it blew? What's your mileage? Do you drive hard or easy? Ever had timing chain problems before?

 

I bought the car used with 94k miles on it. That was my first mistake. I was in a hurry to get out of a higher car payment and hastily traded in my other vehicle but thats another story.

The previous owner had purchased the 100k MINI maintenance package so all work was done and recorded by a MINI dealership as far as I know. I'm sure the recommended oil change interval was followed but nothing in excess of that. The car now has 104k on it. I got it's last oil change at 98kish.

It started showing chain rattle symptoms about 2 weeks ago. I thought I could ride it out until I got the money in January to get the chain replaced. Only driving it on days my girlfriend couldn't loan me her car and never pressing it hard. I don't beleive I went over 50% throttle since the noise started. I had actually scheduled an appointment for today to have it looked at but on Thursday morning I went to start it and it wouldn't turn over. The night before when I parked it it never gave any notice that it had given up. I didn't get a "catastrophic" failure where the engine was running out of timing or anything. It just wouldn't crank over the next morning. I also don't see any visible signs of leaking oil.

I live in the Chicago area and am contacting local shops. If anyone has any recommendations of good ones I would appreciate it.

 

If the engine wasn't running when it broke and wouldn't or didn't turn over with the starter you might have some luck... Could literally be just broken chains and no valve damage, which would be much cheaper....

Even if the previous owner did follow recommended oil change intervals, keep in mind that the 15k miles standard on your Mini, which is FAR too long. These cars need about 7-8k oil changes or bad things happen.

Of course I'm hoping your problem is something simple like a bad starter...etc. Good luck and keep us posted. Remember we're a strong community here even if we join around a not so strong product... Others will chime in and help you out to the best of there ability.

 

Where do you live?

Buying a remanufactured engine is the best value in this case.

 

I live in downtown Chicago. I called around to the places that were open today and I found a shop where the guy I talked to already knew about the problems with these cars so I'm leaning towards them. M&R Import Services I believe it was called. I'm going to research any reviews that are listed for them but I have to decide on Monday what to do with the car. The Mini dealer said they would hold it until then.

The guy I talked to said he is going to price some options for engines but wants to look at it first to see if it can't be repaired. He and I both think the dealer may be overestimating the need for a new engine. I still can't get over the fact that I didn't hear anything catastrophic so I'm going to hold onto the fact that the engine may be salvageable.

Thanks for all your help guys. I'll keep you informed on what we find out and what route I decide to take and the final cost of everything.

If anyone has anything to add before then feel free to pop in your two cents. I'm new to Mini ownership so I'm still learning the quirks. Unfortunately I got the worst one as my first experience.

 

That's a ruff start to new ownership hope fully things turn out in your favor.

What year is your car? Is it an early model?

 

It's a 2007 S Model with the N14. Not sure of the manufacture date.

 

Chad at Detroit Tuned has done a N14 engine replacement. He'll be wayyyy cheaper than the dealer. It will be worth it if you can get the car hauled to Detroit.

 

I was thinking 07, that sucks you put maybe 10k on it and now this. Hopefully you get it going and soon at a good price.

 

Good luck, Mike. I had a very near experience with my 2008 Mini S, called my favorite Mini dealer across town--in Houston area--to report a rattle. They got very excited, told me not to drive it at all anymore, and have it towed to them, 60 miles or so from where I was at the time I called. HOW I WISH I HAD LISTENED! It's been in the dealer service center for a month now. News gets worse every day. I drove it to the nearest dealer, who i didn't care for much, a couple of days later, instead of getting it to the one across town that I have confidence in. By then the check engine light came on, they fixed the light and some valve in the oil system, and as I drove off, I heard the rattle. I was upset, stopped, asked why is still rattled, they told me to come on back in, but I was upset and just wanted to leave. So I did. Next day I drove around to car places, looking for a new car, upset with MINI (still am), and I turned the key off to look at another car, and guess what? Same story as yours. Turned the key off and it wouldn't restart, and I had it towed back to the "other" dealer who was nearest my home. So far, my bill is over $5k as it is at 58k miles and I do not have extended warranty. They haven't finished fixing it yet, it went in on Nov 14, and they seem to have to wait on a lot of parts. Tears and anger from me haven't fixed anything, so I'm just waiting it out. My love affair with Mini Cooper is over though I will probably drive it for a little while, if I ever get it back. Good luck with yours; sounds like you are doing a good job finding an alternative to a dealer service center that can't even get the job done, much less at a cheaper cost. I never heard anything about getting oil changed so frequently, mine was very infrequent, and was always determined by my dealer, and the frequency was set into the key fob.

 

It really is disheartening. I mean my last Dodge lasted for 200k so I figured buying a used MINI with high mileage wouldn't be a problem. I wish I would have done some research. I mean it's bad enough that a part fails but something that is so vital to the engine and is considered a LIFETIME part fails is absolutely disgusting.

The independent shops I called all were aware of the flaw in these engines and I can't believe MINI is leaving so many customers to fend for themselves from an obvious design flaw.

It's leaving the dealer in a few hours and the shop said they would give me a call tomorrow after they are able top check it out with a second opinion.

 

First off - your engine failing is a true bummer and is proof that watching carefully and taking care of the N14 is critical.

Have you looked into buying a used engine from a "junk yard" or "used auto parts" dealer. These places ofter times have relatively low cost options. The engine may not be perfect but I'm sure between the parts on your engine plus a used engine you might get things going again. Hopefully for minimum dollars.

My logic is an engine swap is likely cheaper than a rebuild. Just a thought.

Whatever happens best of luck.

 

If I go the new engine route as long as the price difference isn't huge I'd rather get a reman engine as opposed to a junkyard used variant. I'm fearful I will be falling into the same problem if I get a used engine. Then again if the warranty is decent and the price makes it worth it then maybe that is the way to go.

 

My thinking with the junk yard variant is you should have a working engine that you can have looked at for the known N14 problems. The engines major deficiencies are well known so assuming the used engine is considerably less expensive you will have the funds to have it checked out properly before using it.

I agree the remanufactured option is better but I was trying to come up with a strategy to minimize cost. I met a guy this summer who had a BMW 5 series he loved which blew an engine at 250K he was then able to find a used replacement with 60K that cost him $700 installed. He told me he was thrilled as it felt like a new car.

Again, just a thought.

 

Thank you for the help. I used to work at Advance Auto Parts so I'm getting some people I still know to explore the second source junk yards they use to see if there is any availability and the price. I wasn't able to find anything local myself.

I've so far authorized a $500 diag fee to pull open the engine and look to see if there is any internal damage. He said he will waive this if we need to purchase a new engine. I should hear back tonight or tomorrow morning I was told.

I'll keep you guys updated.

 

I have also contacted MINI USA and apparently they are looking into it ( Not sure what that means ) to see if they can provide some assistance.

Will they provide assistance if I do not go back to the dealership? I've already invested $500 into this independent shop so would prefer to keep it there.

 

Another update:

Settled on a remanufactured engine from MINI. The independent shop is doing it for me and taking pictures of the process and the failure points so I can show them to MINI USA.

I have not been contacted back by the guy who has my case at MINI. I'm hoping to hear from them soon. I sent a followup email which they were said they were going to forward to the guy running my case but that was the beginning of the week.

Car should be done tomorrow. Waiting on a new turbo line because after they bolted the engine in apparently it was leaking enough to cause a puddle but she is running again.

Total came to $6300 after tax and labor. Engine comes with a 2 year unlimited mile warranty.

Now with it being a reman engine should I still follow a break in procedure or will it be ready to go out of the box?

 

I'm going to agree 100% with this statement. People either agree or disagree about the oil changes.

My service clock says they want mini to do ever 9,000 miles for my new 2013... At about 3-5k I'm going to do an oil change myself because I HATE the oil from the factory... then bring it in at 9k for MINI to do under my maintenance.

I'll probably stick to that routine, and change the oil 1/2 way between my scheduled mini changes... that's what I did with my E90 and when I sold her she had 120k on the clock and running strong.

So basically that will mean every 5k miles I'll be getting an oil change... and since I do them myself it's MUCH cheaper. I get the OEM oil cheaper than you can get Mobile 1 from Autozone for. I know it's probably overkill, but even on my race bikes (motorcycles) I changed the oil about ever 2k miles... bike was run real hard and had about 20k miles on it and was in showroom shape. Different strokes for different folks as they say.

On my E90 it took 7 quarts of oil and all new oil, filter, all new o-rings and crush washers BMW OEM would cost me about $40-$50 to do an oil change.... I did the E90's every 7.5k miles... so about 3 times a year I'd change the oil. The car was reliable minus a water pump and thermo failure which I replaced myself (with an entire weekend lost) haha.