Great! If I were you I would write a letter to the owner and service manager at Universal Mini about your experience and how disappointed you are in how they treated you. It probably won't get you anywhere, but it may make them think for a second.

 

I second that motion. I'd include something like "and if there's anything I can do to keep people away from your joint I'll do it". I know I'll never go near the place after what I heard here.

 

Actually one of my best friends used to be the GM of a BMW dealership and knows how the whole BMW corporate thing works - he said the best way to get to them is to make my opinions known on the service CSI (customer satisfaction inquiry I think?) - it's the phone or online survey conducted by BMWNA that rates the dealer's performance.

Their scores dictate whether or not they'll get their monthly bonus. So if anyone's been mistreated by a dealer - MAKE SURE you do the survey that's conducted by MINI/BMW. Conversely, if you've had a great dealer experience, do the survey. It really does matter as it speaks the only language that most dealers/dealer employee's understand ($$).

 

Congrats!
We all knew that warranty should cover it. Well, almost all of us...

 

Sweet!!! Very happy (and relieved ) to hear everything worked out.

 

i began to modify my MINI with in 6 months of owning it. started with springs, brake lines, rear camber, front camber, track pads, pully, CAI, Big brakes, harnesses, ect. I blew my engine at the track with less than 100 miles on the warranty. MINI sent a tow truck to pick it up and took it to the local shop. at that time i had R-cmpd tires on the car, numbers on the side and harnesses in the car. the replaced the motor and i had it back in less than 10 days. my car was very modified and it was obvious. The fact is i knew the Service advisor and a few of the mechanics. They knew i tracked my car. A few of the salesmen from that dealership were regulars at the track and they knew me. After they picked up the car they told me that my warranty would be out the window if i over rev'd the motor and that they would check the ECU to see if i had. wasn't an issue and they replaced it. My point here is that a lot of the dealerships ability to cover your cars issues under warranty depends on you, your attitude and what they think of you. This dealership was almost 100 miles from my house and they all knew me by name. make an effort to know the people that maintain your MINI. don't make every visit a legal issue. If you owned the company would you want to deal with those customers? The dealerships do have a say-so in who gets the replace for free stuff and who doesn't, trust me.

p.s. i'm now on my third motor. it was not covered under warranty. I know what i do to that car and so do they. i accept that.

good luck, treat your peeps well.

 

How hard to you drive your car? (I know its tracked I'm just wondering if you drive it hard in the streets too, or is most of it's life on the track).

Also do you know what they consider "over rev'ed?

 

i used to be a pretty aggressive street driver. i've learned now to seperate the track and street driving it's just not safe. I woldn't consider aggressive street driving and track driving the same anyway. I'd say street driving is harder on the suspension since roads here just aren't smooth. Think of track driving wear on your engine as driving around in 2nd gear all day and banging off the rev limiter.


Last year i did 40 track days. each day is about 2 hours of pounding on your car. consider it does't get out of the top 2500 rpms at all for that time This year i'll only get about 25 days. That whole job thing keeps getting in the way of my fun.

i'm not sure what they consider over-reved. i've gotten to 7500 a couple times with a missed shift.

 

Happy for the good news.

One early symptom of a failing head gasket would be a 'spike' on Temperature Gauge (fairly rapid rise near max, followed by a return to normal) if you are lucky enough to have a gauge, but an overheat warning from a cold engine (within first mile of driving) and then normal could provide the same notice.

What is happening with a cold engine is that the coolant flow is restricted by closed thermostat (further ristricted by MINI's new 'clutched' water pump) and the combustion pressure leaking into cylinder head coolant passages forces the coolant out faster than the flow can replace, until thermostat opens, restoring coolant to the area.

Usually not too long (days or weeks) after this warning, it will go off like a big steam engine and you will need the tow truck as the combustion gas pressure into coolant passages will no longer allow any coolant to enter.

 

Yup, last month dealer service mng asked me about mods? I replied that I only had an ITG air filter, and HP Plus Brake pads (I failed to tell him about the RMW tune and H-Sport competition sway bar) He told me the filter is OK, but if the if the rotors went out they would not replace them because of harder aftermarket pads. So, sunday took I switched to oem pads, and they put new oem rotors and pads. I asked If I could keep old ones (for next time) and they did. You can MOD just take them parts off before taking it to dealer.

 

The problem wasn't the fact that it had mods directly related to the failure. The problem was that they saw a red tube, and "assumed" that that was the direct cause of the problem. Once it was pointed out that the mod in question had nothing to do with the symptoms and could have in no way contributed to the problem, they assumed that since the mod was there that I must abuse my car (as modders must abuse their cars ) and refused to even diagnose the car (under warranty) without me giving them several thousand dollars out of pocket.

Thankfully, Nick Alexander stepped up, fixed the problem and I've been happily motoring ever since. And Nick Alexander picked up a lifelong customer.

So I said it several times and I'll say it again: Universal City MINI = WORST SERVICE DEPARTMENT EVER

 

Yea...that doesn't do a whole lot honestly. They might do something...but more than likely they will look at it and say "ok?". By you telling your friends and other people that you didn't like their dealership and experience isn't going to do a darn thing to their business.

^^^Correct!

There's no better way to get their attention than to give them all 1's on the CSI survey. You will certainly get a call back asking what was wrong from them and how can they fix it.

Making threats and complaining doesn't get you a whole lot more than the attitude of just getting you to shut up and leave. They hear it day in and day out, 90% from people that really have no reason to be complaining about whatever they are complaining about...so sadly, a lot of the time when you do have a valid reason for complaint, you just seem like all the rest.

 

Old thread but if anyone cares two other symptoms of a blown HG are an oily foam-like substance underneath the oil filler cap, and a very VERY almost sulfuric smelling stinky white exhaust upon start up.