Hello everyone, I am looking into getting my first Mini Cooper S. I am looking at a 2013 cooper s with 71,000 miles give or take a little. The dealer was telling me that the chain is a life time chain I was wondering how true that statement is. The car has had regular oil changes and all recommend services done at the correct time according to the car fax. Also are there any other things/common issues I should keep an eye out for when buying a used mini?

Thanks for any help.

 

The N18 engines are a bit more robust over the N14 that had huge problems with the chain cassettes.

But you'll have a few of the same problems as the predecessor;
-Thermostat housings
-Water pump (if not already replaced with the aluminum unit)
-Oil leaks at the turbo oil feed line, filter housing gasket, front crank seal, eventual valve cover gasket.
-Notorious oil pressure control solenoid leak (causes pressurized oil to wick through the wiring harness to the DME and cause $4500 in damage), but can be fix for around $350-400 to negate that from happening.
- You may need to replace the rear end links eventually due to them clunking.
- Clutch is going to run you about $3k (if manual).
- Just connecting a scan tool to the FRM can actually fry them now, so just by having someone read the stored codes you can actually destroy the FRM. (Has a dealer extended warranty out now)