Brahman Mini has denied a warranty claim on my 2009 MINI Clubman S. The engine died with @ 45,000 miles on it. It was towed to Brahman for service. Brahman removed the valve cover, saw some sludge in the engine and has now refused to warranty the engine. The engine was serviced more often than needed. It had four oil changes, two done at the dealer and two by a third party repair shop. Is the warranty void if maintenence is not done at the dealer and what can be done to get MINI to honor their warranty. MINI USA is backing the dealer and also denying the repair.

Update: Car was repaired at Lauderdale Imports!

 

The factory maintenance states oil/filter changes at every 15K intervals.

If a MINI arrives for service between oil service intervals levels are checked and if needed, is topped off. So if you had changes in between scheduled maintenance, that's a plus for your side and a very good idea for the S models of 2nd Gen. Did you keep receipts to show what was put in ?

And how did you receive the news that "MINI USA is backing the dealer." That sort of a decision usually takes some time, and not just a phone call either....there is a process to follow and that can take weeks.

Are they saying the wrong type of oil was used ? This make no sense.....

 

I second the question on the type of oil...sludge after only 45k and 4 oil changes...2 having been non-mini makes it sound like they suspect the oil was out of spec, IE, non-mini/BMW approved oil. Sludge with syenthic oil seems to be pretty rare....especialy with high quality syenthic oils...are you sure the 3rd party shop used an approprite oil!? There is a fairly limited number of oils around that meet the BMW/mini spec...and most of those do not come in the bulk drums that many of the non-speciality places tend to use...
I would get any receipts that you have proving the oil changes were done, then get a statement from the 3rd party with the type, brand and spec's of the oil used, and make copies, and show them to the dealer, and have them forward them to mini USA. If you are in the right, fight, but it looks kinda like the dealer thinks they have a leg to stand on. I think not covering an item like this is not something a dealer does lightly or without much thought....

 

Seems to me like there has to be more to this story.

 

I bet.
Often the sludge is a sign that it was run very low on oil from what I have heard...turbo Motors use a bit of oil, and many folks forget this, and don't check it regularly....
The other possibility is the 3rd party simply used inferior oil...heck I know "3rd" party shops (and a dealer!!) who use quart bottles of oil in Mini's cause bulk approved oils meeting mini specs is kinda rare...it is avalable, but seriously doubt that a non speciality shop will have a drum of the right stuff around...
Sad thing is it is possible the sludge had nothing to do with the failure....
But as was said, there must be more to the story!!

 

There is nothing in any of the service, warranty or anything else that says MINI requires an oil change at a specific mileage - like 15K. It does say MINI requires an oil change once a year. Considering he's had 4 in one year - I think he's more than met the burden of the warranty coverage. Four oil changes in 45K even with non-synthetic should not produce enough sludge to cause a problem.

I also think there's more to this than we've been told.....

 

Double post

 

Either there's more to this story, or the OP could probably create a huge PR problem for MINI with website, news stories, bad PR campaign.

 

state attorney general's office is a good place to start - divsion of consumer affairs

 

Name and shame on top of that! If he was looking for sympathy from the dealer, that is likely gone now.....

 

I have heard nothing but bad stuff about Bramans Service department.

 

I did provide the 3rd party service records upon request. After I provided the records to MINI USA, they then moved in a different direction, suggesting the shop did not do the service correctly. The decision seems to rest soley on the opinion of the tech. When I wanted to meet with the tech and maybe someone from MINI USA, The service manager said the decision was made and that their is nothing else to discuss. The tech has never even seen the paperwork from the shop and only seems to consider what appears on the service records retrieved from the key.

 

The car is really two years old. I could not see doing the first oil change, in this cars case, according to the computer @ 18,000 Miles, which is why it was done sooner.

 

Who cares... It's not as if they are bending over backwards to be of assistance... More like bend over and you won't even get a kiss...

I agree with the State Attorney General's office contact... Followed closely with a law suit naming MINI USA as a defendant... Even if it's just a ruse, being served papers usually changes the mindset to be more open to negotiations...

After all, we do live in the most litigious society in the history of mankind...

 

This has been going back and forth for about a month now, so yes,this is not something that was the result of a phone call.

 

What was the actual failure?

 

Clearly you have never heard of the old saying "you attract more flies with honey". If there was even an hint of a possibility that they would help naming them on the internet was not the way to go.

My original post was also based on the original post which made it sound like this has happened over a few days which it is now evident that it hasn't.

Like the post above me, I would like to know what failed. I'm also curious about the sludge... Something doesn't sound right to me.

I forgot to also mention that if the OP plans to sue, I would refrain from posting information here. Most lawyers would most likely recommen

 

Problem with a lawsuit is that unless he goes to small claims, the cost to bring the suit is about the cost of a rebuilt motor..... is iffy...threading to sue can/ does make a good "card to play" to try to get them to negogate...they might offer to drop a motor in for cost, or pay a stright % of the cost, wave the labor costs or something.....
Mini-mania had gen2 motors, rebuilt, so it is possible to find them at places other than a dealer...sure they can be found for less if one looks...
Since he said this happened a few months ago...did the Car ever get fixed? Or is it accumulating storage fees, and the op is running up a rental car bill...
When those two factors are added into disputes such as these, everyday can add $75 or more to the bill, so most smart folks will move the car to a different location pretty fast, or fix it, then try to get it warrentied after the fact.

 

I know this doesnt lessen the disappointment, but there is a lesson to be learned here: NEVER let a 3rd party shop do even the most basic work on yr. car while it is under warranty and scheduled mtce. If there's a failure, and clearly there was, then that just gives MINI-USA more fuel to throw on the fire as they deny a warranty claim. Being on these forums for close to 7 years, Ive seen this happen time and again.

And OP y've still not told us: what was the actual failure? Was it timing system related?

 

I also wonder why the OP has responded three times and still not told us what's actually wrong with the motor, or what failed....

C'mon GTII, if you want people to help you here you have to help us too.....hard to get support from the masses based on a two line paragraph. I'm sure there are a lot of sympathetic ears here if you can give us something to go on.

Or did you just post to stir something up?

Oh, and to answer the question in your first post. No, the warranty is not void if you have work done somewhere other than a MINI dealership. However, if it can be proven that what they did caused the failure, then MINI would certainly be off the hook, as it should be.

If all your other place did was change the oil, I don't see how they can be at fault here unless they didn't use oil/filter that MINI deems correct for the car, or they did something that somehow caused a lack of pressure or total loss of oil (like leave the drain plug out or something).

This is why we're asking for more details. If giving them to us might in some way prejudice your case, then just say so and we'll stay out of it.

 

Well, after the dealership stated they would not cover the claim and that they have support from MINIUSA, just what would you hope to accomplish by smearing honey all over your body and strolling into the service manager's office?

 

Depends, some may actually be into that kind of thing!

 

Opps...that smiley could be taken the wrong way by somebody with a sick sense of humor like me!!
So I better say


On a serious note, I'm guessing the deler/mini is not saying the oil 3rd party oil change had anything to do with the failure....

My bet is the engine was run very low on oil, ran hot, made some sludge, cooking the oil...heck turbo's are getting cooked from very low oil levels, cause the same 1 to 2 quarts that are left is run very hard, and is oxidized, and cooked...then the motor failed from some variation of oil starvation.
Hope I am wrong, but since mini is not honoring the warrenty, and the oil was changed, I can't think of much else that mini could point to in conjunction with sludge....
Just a guess, but unless the op returns to the thread, that my thought....

 

Kinda heading down this path as well. There seems to be more information on this that we don't have.

 

It's not terribly difficult to imagine how this type of thing could happen. I've got a 2010 JCW with over 10,000 miles. The computer says that it will be another 9,000 miles before an oil change is required. Manufacturers used to tell you to have an oil change done every 3,000 miles until they started to offer free maintenance. It's free maintenance because, IMHO, it consists of the bare minimum to get your car out of warranty without a catastrophic failure. In the above case it looks like they just miscalculated by a few thousand miles. I recently talked to one of the service techs at my local dealership and he told me, "If you're going to keep the car awhile just do oil changes in between covered services". It sounds like even if you do this you still have some exposure. Seems like the only solution is to pay the dealer to do additional oil changes that aren't covered but "may" be necessary to prolong the engine life.

To the OP: Good luck with your case.