Alright so my 06 cooper motor blew at 91k miles. It appears that it was a rod bearing failure, the entire piston and rod were obliterated. I have some damage to the cylinder wall and head so, I decided its probably easiest to swap out my long block for a used one with core exchange. I found a place not far from me that will take my core despite its working condition. I would like to take the motor out with out having to drop the front subframe, how difficult is it going to be if i don't? The shop manual says to drop the subframe but i am pretty far into the engine compartment that i feel it may be easier to pull out just the engine and tranny. Any suggestions?
some pics:
The pieces that were at the bottom of my oil pan :(

This is where i currently stand with my progress. Dropping the subframe just seems like a lot more work than pulling the motor with a hoist.

 

How did you get along with this? I suspect that the subframe does not necessarily need to be removed to do this, but it might be obstructing some bolts that need removing.

 

I was able to get the motor in and out on my own. It was difficult but very do-able. I bent back the radiator and didn't have to disconnect the ac either. As for obstructing bolts, it doesn't really get on te way of anything.

 

Good to hear. By the way, I had a good laugh at your expense looking at the shrapnel that you pulled out of your oil sump. :-)

 

i know this doesnt help now, but I was able to pull the motor and trans straight out after removing the modular front end.



also did you just end up putting a stock block back in?

 

Ya, thats basically what i did. Except i kept all the ac lines intact so i wouldn't have to evacuate the system and refill it.
Yes, i was able to find a motor with lower miles than my original. I would have loved to put a cooper s motor in but this is my daily driver and I didn't have time to mess around and try to figure out how to make it work.

 

We just got done doing the same thing to our '02 MCS. Classic rod bearing failure at 65K. My wifes '05 MCS put a rod through the block at 77K and we fought with the dealer as it had just went out of the extended warranty 1 month before.
With all the failures I have seen this engine is a POS, period! All by years running BMW's, on the street and racing, we have never had a lower end failure of any kind.
Blowing rod bearings at 65K is un heard of in the auto industry today. And then to have Mini sell them as 'HALVES' is ridiculous. Who in their right mind would replace half a bearing?
For what Mini want for rod bearings I can by a complete set of rods and mains for a BMW 6.
All in all, the swap went fine and I would never by another Mini again. Three Mini's, three major engine issues, strike out!

Glad to see it went OK,

Tom in PA

 

How frequently did you change your oil and what kind of oil did you use? Do you do a lot of very short distance driving? We're putting 240HP or more through these engines in the modding community with stock pistons, rods and rod bearings, and we hear of very few lower end engine failures (or engine failures at all, for that matter).

 

What he said^^^

 

I've had two major engine failures in three years. The '03 MCS threw a rod bearing in only 65K miles with dealer service and frequent oil changes. Seems that rod bearing failures are a frequent failure according to my dealer technician.
My '05 MCS threw a rod right threw the block only two weeks after a dealer service with only 77K. This failure was also most likely caused by rod bearing failure according to the final analysis. We argued with BMWNA and the dealer after the '05 blew up and eventually they conceded to install a new short block, NC.
As I said in the previous post, in 35 yrs of running BMW's hard we have never had lower end problems or unexplained oil consumption that seems to plague the Mini.
Yes I am sure that some out there have a good one but out of my three in five years I have had engine and oil consumption issues on all three with two out of three choking in the end. Not very good statistics at all.
I am still running the third '03 MCS, the oil consumption issue car, and maybe I get some good mileage out of this one. It only has 65K and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Tom in PA

 

I too have had multiple minis both with problems. The first one the dealer took back because it had over heating problems that the dealer couldn't fix, so they basically let us trade it for a new one. This one, the one that just had the engine replaced was plagued from the beginning. It grinded going into first and reverse about a week after we got it and tried telling the dealer it had a bad tranny. Finally they tried replacing the cluth at 30k, didn't work, so they replaced the tranny. After that it was in and out for other random things, all under warranty. I think the passenger airbag on/off sensor has gone out 5 times lol.
After the warranty was up the car over heated from a broken radiator fan and thermostat. Then about 30k latter at 90k the rod bearing failed and here I am 1 swap later. I think the new motor runs better than the original ever did.
Btw after the warranty I did the oil changes every 6k-7k with Castrol full synthetic. The original motor burned through about a quart every change. I brought this to the dealers attention while under warranty and they said it was normal, but my "new" used motor doesn't....