I have a 2009 Mini S Clubman, and I am rapidly becoming disillusioned with this company and the automobile. With just 36,000 miles, I have had to take the car to a dealership twice for engine warning light problems involving injectors. Service people at two DIFFERENT dealerships have told me about significant problems with the high pressure fuel pump designs causing repeated injector problems. They said that BMW/MINI engineers are familiar with the problem, but are doing nothing about it.

I have already bought a 100,000 mile maintenance agreement, but am now having to decide whether I keep the car since the warranty will expire at 50,000 miles, just 14,000 miles from now.

Looks like my options are to get rid of the car or to keep the car and spend $2400 for the 100,000 mile extended warranty. To add to the conflict, the dealership says that the $2400 after market warranty is a better 100,000 mile warranty than the one offered by MINI, although the MINI extended warranty costs $2800.

Really have to make a decision soon, and would like your opinion.

 

I'm guessing all those 36,000 were added on so quickly due to many highway miles - yes? If so (keeping it simple), your major ticket items - like the tranny - should last a long time. Save your money in a CD.

 

That's a lot of miles for an 09...you'd be in the same boat with pretty much any car you bought....except for a honda or toyota of course (but those are boring!) Like Tallman said...all of the major components of your car should last a long long time. However, the fuel pump is actually a very costly item to replace.

BMW has had a ton of problems with the high pressure fuel pump, not only on the MINI but on all their direct injection vehicles. However, I have heard differently than you, that they are aware of the problem and have tried a couple new pump designs. The pump designs out now are supposed to be better than the previous ones.

Do you love the MINI? If you do, then consider buying a new one. I'm not sure of your financial position, but see what they'd give you for the car and what they could do about putting you in a new one. Obviously, you'd take a slight hit, but never hurts to see. I know plenty of people that get rid of their cars (usually a bmw, audi, porsche, or benz) as the 50k mile warranty runs out, just for the same reason you are talking about. You really don't want to own a new German car that is out of its warranty...the thought of the repair costs can be scary. Or you can always just buy the warranty...either way, you're going to be spending money, due to the fact that you put a lot of miles on your car.

 

Thumper is right, this is a HUGE problem for BMW, dating back to the introduction of the N54 motor (3.0 liter twin turbo) used in a number of their cars, including the 335i, 535i, etc. HPFP problems cropped up right away, and as of the last time I trolled their forums (used to have an E90 330i myself), they were STILL common, 3+ years and at least one HPFP vendor change/redesign later. Meanwhile, VW has been shipping tons of direct-injected motors in the last few years, and you'll find NO evidence of HPFP failure in any appreciable numbers. I find that very curious. If they can get reliable pumps from some OEM, why can't BMW/MINI??

My car was just delivered in the last 2 weeks. I'm hopeful that I have a newer, "better" HPFP, as well as the problematic timing chain/tensioner. The third major issue our cars have is carbon buildup on the intake valves. Again, not something that VW seems to suffer from with their DI cars, nor BMW's N54 that I can recall hearing/reading. This is the 4th model year for our motors.. hopefully there has been some refinement taking place behind the scenes along the way.

 

VW has had carbon issues as well. I know of numerous incidents with DI Audis having HEAVY carbon deposit issues.

Porsche has problems with it too. There are pictures in my gallery of carbon buildup on the intake valves of a Cayenne. It's simply a design flaw of a DI motor that allow for carbon buildup.

Oh and hi to a fellow Phoenix member

 

Well, what do Porsche, Audi/VW, and BMW direct injection gasoline engines have in common?

Fuel

Typically when I'm testing fuel Ethanol content for driveability concerns I find it at 13-15%, not "up to 10%" as stated on pumps.

US fuel is crap. Ethanol is bullsh*t, its not needed with modern closed loop fuel systems. I heard an Audi engineer state that US fuel quality is just as bad as China's and their emissions standards are virtually non existent.

US fuel standards need to go up but since this would also drive fuel prices up I don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

How easy is ethanol content to test? I gotta believe that dealers are blowing smoke up the collective ***** of owners when they keep crying "bad fuel!" so often. Are dealers really doing any valid testing to determine this? Does anyone have any idea?

Since you're testing - are you finding that any particular brands are particularly prone to being offenders, and likewise any that are particularly reliably within the 10% figure?

 

If this video is correct, it is fairly easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsSQSuCiUjE