I am a new poster, so pls excuse if this appears on wrong board. Quick background: 2010 mcs with 9,000 miles just over 1 year old. Car was running great and no issues at all. Brought to dealer, Rasmussen in Portland, OR, for first oil change this week. Next day I notice the heater only blows cold air. I call Rasmussen and they say bring it in, not sure why that's happening. Driving to dealer (40 highway miles) the yellow engine light comes on and steam flows from bonnet. I pulled over right away and called for mini tow. Popped the bonnet and saw that the overflow coolant cap was not on. Now I learn from dealer that car won't hold compression. Cylinder head or cylinder head gasket problem. Their next step will be to remove the cylinder head for inspection and testing. I have a loaner for the forseeable future and am pretty upset about this. Dealer is very apologetic and seems committed to doing the right thing.
My question: is it likely this can be repaired completely or should I push for a favorable dealer buy back and simply buy a new 2011? Amazing that I had not a single problem with the car until the day after I took it for its first servicing (to the dealer per warranty requirement). Love the Mini S and intent on keeping it for 10 years plus. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

I would suspect you will get very little traction with the dealer or MINI on a buy-back that involves them participating financially. It is a warranty issue and will be repaired. It appears you are being supplied with alternate transportation. It would be very chaotic in the market place if every car needing warranty repair were bought back and then an effort made to resell the unit.

I would suspect you could have some influence as to how it is repaired. If the repair requires a new engine assembly, I would argue long and loud for a new engine rather than a re-manufactured one that is often used for warranty repairs. Due to the circumstances and low mileage I would think you would prevail.

I have seen many vehicles where the engine was replaced at less than 10,000 miles and in fact owned one or two. They went on to have a normal life and were no more or less problematic than any other car.

 

Only instance that I can remember this happen was a very good customer of ours bought a brand new 2002 Ram 1500, all decked out. He brings it in for its very first oil change. The slacker tech forgets to put any oil back in. Customer drives next door to pay for his daughters Corolla bill and the oil light comes on. Pops the hood and pulls the dipstick...not a drop of oil on it.

Suffice it to say he got a brand new truck from us on that one...

Push them and you might be surprised.

 

Thanks for the comments. Today dealer advised that they will, in fact, replace entire engine with a new (not remanufactured) engine. They admitted that a distracted tech failed to replace the coolant cap, thus causing overheating and melt down. So, I will see how new engine works out and still hold out some prospects for favorable trade in terms on on 2011 if it's not running perfectly.

 

It's obvious what has happened. Without the cap on you lost your coolant. No coolant equals no hot water going through the heater core equals no hot air blowing from heater. No coolant also equals the engine overheating causing the head gasket problem.

I bet some distracted tech is getting reamed today.

 

Wow. One little mistake causing so much damage and heartache. I'm going to pop the hood at the dealer to be sure nothing looks wrong before leaving.

 

+1 ^ This is a very good idea whenever you have any car in the shop. If the oil was changed pull the dipstick to confirm there is oil in the engine. 2 minutes of time can save a whole lot of grief.

 

Toward that end, I've gotten into the habit of immediately checking the oil pressure gauge in my vehicles when I start it, especially after someone has just serviced the oil.

Too bad MINI's don't come standard with an oil pressure gauge... But that's another topic...

I imagine a full gauge package (coolant temperature, oil pressure, etc.) could have been helpful in this instance as well; MINI, are you listening...?

 

Guess who's getting fired? What a story!

 

Sounds like your dealer is doing the right thing. However, before you leave the dealership with your new engine, ensure that everything is full and tight!

 

I had this happen to me 20 years ago when they forgot to replug the coolant electric fan. They fixed it and I got some extra warranty and never bought another vw again.