Hey everyone,

This past weekend at an autocross event my R53 (less than 50k miles on her) developed a really bad engine knock (beginning at around 1500 rpm). I checked the oil and the dipstick was bone dry, put about 4 quartz of oil in and the sound still didn't go away. She was towed to the dealership and after diagnostics, they told me that I had worn away a rod bearing. The options they gave me were to have the engine rebuilt (~$5200 give or take a couple hundred dollars) or have the engine replaced (~$7000). They suggested that if I plan to have my car for a long time (which I obviously do) then I should go for the engine swap. I just wanted to check with everyone on here as to whether the engine replacement is necessary or if there are any other options for me to look into. I've had friends say that the dealership is trying to rip me off and others say that an engine swap is understandable given the conditions, but I wanted to hear what the MINI community had to say about it.

Thanks so much!

 

First, get away from the dealer on an out of warranty item. Find a reputable local mechanic to work on it. Secondly, the engine swap is probably the way to go here as a rebuild is just as much. I think you can knock the price down a little by getting away from the dealer.

 

If you let the engine get four quarts low on oil you have more than worn rod bearings.

 

^^ true, you probably have worn oil pump internals due to cavitation (possibility), as well as you probably have quite the nasty film of broken down oil on lots of your parts, which would mean you would need to clean EVERYTHING in there so that oil can once again coat it. Biggest problem with old cars that have not been run in a long time is that the oil breaks down and forms a film on the surface of the parts, and without a rebuild, or cleaning, you will start to ruin bearings and other things as the oil cannot get to them as well as it should. Now i know you car is not old, but with that little oil, it was EXTREEMLY hot, and probably broke down.

 

The oil pan capacity is about 4.5 quarts. What caused the oil loss-- a cracked oil pan? I would replace the damaged engine with a good used engine as the rebuilding of an engine that ran so low on oil may surprise you with how many parts are damaged. If the rebuilder misses something you will then have more angst trying to correct the next set of problems. I had to replace an Audi Allroad 2.7l bitubo engine that had just been rebuilt and the installer or rebuilder left an old oil cooler in place full of metal debris which then in turn contaminated the new engine turbochargers. Oh yes, the ruined rebuild cost $10,000.00.

 

Holy crap! $10,000?! The plan is definitely to avoid any further expense from any missed damage.

No one I've talked to has been able to tell me how I ran out of oil. There were no leaks and the engine is hardly old enough to burn through that much oil. Plus no warning lights went off and I was about 1000 miles out from getting a regular maintenance done. At the moment we're working on getting MINI to cover some of the costs, unlikely, but fingers crossed nonetheless on that one. At this point I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and pay for a new engine. Too much can go wrong with a rebuild, I think.

 

We've got several lower mileage used S engines if you need.

 

 

Just curious dont you check your oil levels and other fluids when filling gas?

 

That was my wonder as well. I don't check anything when I fuel up. But I do check tire pressure and all fluids every Sunday evening. We only fill our cars every 1.5 weeks or so so in reality it's more often than every fill. I keep the TP right on the money and always keep the oil topped.

It's just makes sense.

You know after the late model GTO came out Pontiac came out with a special bulletin that instructed all owners to check there oil. In the case of the Pontiac GTO you had people buying these cars that did not understand that just because you use synthetic oil you still had to check it and cars still used it. Especially a high HP engine. Pontiac was having a rash of engine failures due to extremely low engine oil levels. And a goat will use oil if you hammer that engine.

Anyway I digress. It's important to check all vital fluids at minimum weekly. More often if you track your car.

 

Learned that lesson the hard way. I had never been taught to check my oil when filling up until after this incident

 

i.mini

I have learned many lessons the hard way as well. You are not alone my friend. I still learn them the hard way now and again. (As much as I hate to admit it!)

I hope you get it fixed soon at the most reasonable cost. Once the good habits are developed you'll be just fine.

Good Luck!!

 

Ouch, that is an expensive and hard lesson.

 

Way is probably your best bet. A low-mileage used block can certainly go a long way for you. I had 115K miles on my original block in my old '02 MCS until I wrecked it (sorry, motor was sold some time ago). Ran like a champ. Had the oil pan gasket changed at 105K miles, and my friend said the inside of the engine looked brand new.

 

Did you check your oil before you did the autocross event???

 

Read the thread. It's already been discussed.

 

Ooops...I scanned through it, must have missed that part! Hard lesson to learn.....

 

Mini's have a history of leaking through the sump pan gasket,a very inexpensive part to buy and a very expensive part to install.I have owned an R50 from new Jan 03 and thanks to this forum i have learnt they have many quirks all of which i have read about on here over the years,my car has suffer'd with about 85% of them the worst being a ,midlands tranny and a steering pump luckily under warranty.Knowing these quirks helps you avoid many of them knowing what to look for and providing a little preventative maintanence.There a list of things i check at service that gasket being one of them.

 

I wonder if at the last service the full amount of new oil was put in.

 

Is there any way to find that out?

 

I don't know. It would take ruling out other possibilities, and proving a negative is hard. With a leak even if most of the oil leaked while driving it seems there should have been a few drops while parked.

Instead of quart bottles service centers often put oil in with a hose, set the valve to how much oil to put in, and it is automatic. If there was a goof there, and then the level wasn't checked with the dip stick...

 

First thing I do after I get my car home from service is to let it sit for an hour and then check all the fluids. I have had several instances where the car was actually overfilled and this is not specific to Mini dealers. This happened at a Cadillac dealer that was doing service work on my GTO.

It's critical. We all have a lot of money invested in our cars and to just blindly accept that the dealer is doing everything correctly is folly. We all make mistakes and the work is after done by humans.

 

$5200 isn't too bad if that number includes labor. Figure 4-6hrs to drop the old engine, and maybe a couple days to rebuild.

I remember the 5spd replacement with a recon unit was ~$4600 total.