You are involved in a problem that occurs with great frequency in dealerships. " It wasn't broken when I came in...therefore you must have broken it." I have been involved in this scenario hundreds of times and it is always difficult to sort out.

Damage does happen to unrelated parts during repairs. In most all shops, the technician is trained to bring the damage to the attention of management and repairs are made, usually without the knowledge of the customer.

If the technician damaged the radiator to the extent of causing a continuous leak, he knew about it. Radiators are not that delicate and operate in an exposed environment for years without leaking. If you ask the technician and he states "Absolutely not!", where do you go from there? The tech is generally not paying and has little reason to lie.

Customers do stretch the truth in these circumstances and are not always right. I have seen them want a power window fixed after the oil was changed and I have seen engines blow in the drive when started and the customer claim it was the shops fault. I have also seen damage claimed only to find a prior estimate for repair for the same problem in the glove box.

Good luck with your problem. All is not always as it seems. Most shops want to correct their mistakes but will fight to the end if they think they are unfairly accused.

 

I called them RIGHT when I got home. About 5:50pm I sent them the video of it leaking and I am sure my pic's and video have time stamps on them. If they offered to tow my car to look at it then this story would have been different I am sure. I was told to wait until after rush hour and drive it back in. If I did this I maybe having worse issue then a radiator running the car with no coolant at all... They can also go to my mothers house and see the stain on the driveway where this happened. The radiator is at her house for them to look at if they want. The other mechanic thought they worked on the main water pump on the side of the engine, so didn't even know how this could happen. It wasn't until I was told there was a different pump, the AUX pump that is right BEHIND the radiator that was the recall. I have already admitted I am not a mechanic. Anyways, what makes me really mad is this isn't even a huge repair cost to them. To me yes... The place that put in the radiator had to buy the part FROM THEM! So $300 of the $700 repair went to the mini dealer anyways. What a freaking joke.

I am already staying in MN a day longer because of this and I NEEDED to get back the day before!

 

A couple things here. A tech can say nothing happened even if it did. You saying they have "little reason to lie" is not true. What if they had issues in the past and their job maybe on the line? Why would they admit to doing it when they could just say I didn't. Maybe they just don't want to get yelled at... Not everyone has honor and is honest in this world. I wish everyone did, but most don't. Maybe they don't know they did it because a bolt or clip fell into the area and the fan bounced it around. (That is what the damage looks like, something got into the area and caused it.) How something naturally get's into the back radiator an area with a large plastic peace covering it on a very slow uneventful 16.5 mile drive back to my mothers house. Like you said you should know if you did something that would cause this... I would like to know how many mini radiators get holes in the back of them due to natural causes? Then I would like to know how many get holes "naturally" in them in the back after driving less then 20 miles after a repair is done next to them?

 

Not related to your radiator problem, but...what about the initial issue you had with cold starts? Has that been resolved? From personal experience the starting issues you are experiencing are fuel pump symptoms. What the dealer needs to do is keep your car overnight and observe it on a cold start (first thing in the morning). A diagnostic done after the engine is warmed up might not reveal any problems with it, so they will assume something different, and try other fixes. I'd be pretty unhappy if the technicians tried different fixes for a simple fuel pump issue (coils, spark plugs, now claiming carbon build up or timing chain issues) with no resolution of the car still sputtering on start up. Honestly, it sounds like they're guessing at this point, which is pretty sad if true.

Good luck otherwise. I do think that dealership should do the right thing and fix that radiator leak for you, especially if all their suggested fixes haven't solved your fuel pump issues. Have you tried talking to the Service Manager or General Manager of the dealership about your experience?

 

They did nothing with the fuel pump. They said there wasn't any fault codes in there system that point to the fuel pump. Even though it is a known issue with the car and the symptoms my car has everyone tells me "Fuel Pump." No codes = they get no warranty money from mini so that wasn't done. This also meant I also pay for the diagnostics. They just did what you said jumped to other things because no code was in the system. So no my cold start issues are still there unless I was ready to pay $2000 to fix them making my bill $2770 and then I would have drove 17 more miles and added another $700 to fix the radiator... The sad thing is that I was just going to bring my car to a mechanic where I live for the fuel pump, but decided I was in the area of a Mini dealer and needed the recall done. (Random fires while parked needed to be fixed.) I take a day off to get the service done and end up not getting what I needed fixed and having to spending an extra day out of town.

I did get a call last night from the service manager around 5. I called him and left a voice message around 11:30 and was told I would be called back ASAP but ended up being 5 hours later. So I happened to be driving while I was called so it wasn't the easiest to drive while expressing how pissed I was without crashing. He did say it was very coincidental that this happened and just like the other mechanic said "I don't see how this could happen because of the plastic and fan covering it..." He was at least willing to try to make it right by offered future repairs there of the cost I paid to be covered. I told him that doesn't help me because I am not going to keep the car and they are 5 1/2 hours away from me. I told him if they wanted to buy the car from me I would be more then happy to sell it to them. He laughed and said sorry but it is not "Mini Season" otherwise we would love to have your car. Yeah right they don't want this car... Anyways, I was told I would get a call back after he "Thinks about it more" to see what happens. If there is a somewhat happy ending to this I will let you guys know how it is resolved.

 

Technicians are hard to hire and expensive to train. Their job is unlikely to be so tenuous as to making this type mistake job threatening. What does put their job at risk is a string of repairs that are unsatisfactory to the consumer. It is always advantageous for them to make the repair properly the first time, especially when they would make a known mistake of punching a hole in the radiator and putting the car back on the street risking an entire engine loss that is sure to bring major heat.

The fan is mounted in front of the radiator. You don't work on engine parts behind the radiator with the engine running which precludes "dropping" a nut or bolt into the works and causing the damage. Since both are mounted perpendicular to the ground, a dropped bolt would simply fall on the ground in an overwhelming percentage of the time. If it was dropped into the fan, the damage would be in the radiator front, not back.

What you should be looking for is whether or not the radiator was removed from the car to make the repair. If it was, there are several scenarios where it could have been damaged and even if it was damaged previous to the repair, the tech would have been remiss to have not seen it when removed.

You are assuming the dealer owes for the repair. You want them to pay and they don't agree. Regardless of scale, the repair money cost is worth the same to them as to you. To collect, you need a reason they can buy into that they are to blame and should pay. If the second garage who made the repairs cannot supply you with that proof of liability, you have an up-hill battle.

 

Well you are either a mechanic or own a shop of some sort. So yeah you see their side. I am not saying you don't have a point because you do. It is easier for someone to say NO they didn't then to admit a mistake. This is true for about everything. Not everybody in the world is as honest as you make them sound. If they were then people wouldn't look at car dealerships and mechanics as people that are trying to take advantage of them. There is a reason people feel this way...

I just know I took my car in and that had a cold start issue SOMETIMES and a recall done and ended up having a car I couldn't drive after. I am out of state and in a bind and need to get home. I should have been driving home the night of the original repairs. I do what I can because I have to work and get back home. I had the 2nd shop just check it and they said there is a hole or crack in the radiator somewhere. I was hoping it was just a simple hose fix and I would be on my way... They can not tell where or what until they take it off other then it was coming from the radiator. They did no repairs at the time. I called mini and told them this and they tell me it is "unrelated" but are willing to come down in price to $525 from there $900 but I still need to get my car towed there another $100. It's after noon at this time and I have no idea who to call for a tow and how long that will take to get the car there. I am told a repair will take 2-3 hours. How do I know I get the car there in time for them to repair it that day. If I don't get home I am really screwed. What if I was on my 5 1/2 hour drive home when this happened???? I tow it all the way back to the twin cites from X point just for the hope they say "Oh yeah we did it we will cover it."

I am not the type of person to complain and don't get mad about much. I deal with customer service and issues every day. It was easy for them to make this right and not escalate it to this point but they didn't. Even waiting for a call back from the manager for 5 hours is not very good customer service... They have officially found my breaking point and thus my posts. If they don't make it right I will do everything in my power to tell everyone I can to avoid them. If they make it right I will post what was done...

 

Yes, I owned dealerships for several decades. Who better to understand the problem?

If "making it right" means the dealer pays whether they caused the problem or not, you might be on the wrong track. Threatening to hold them ransom to your future reviews of their service might be counter productive to your best interests at this point.

There is one sure thing at this time. No reasonable dealer is going to agree to pay for the problem until they actually see the problem. Tow trucks are a dime a dozen in any metro area and all of them will give you an estimated time of arrival.

 

"No reasonable dealer..." Lets just say I am happy I haven't bought or had repairs done by your shop because you would be giving me the run around as well. So I am already getting this from them, its nice to know you would be giving me **** about it as well. Any other dealer owner feel free to chip in and tell me you wouldn't own up to it as well. I would just love to hear it....

I did at least have someone nice enough PM me and talk to me on the phone who works for MINI tell me about what could have caused the issue.

Anyways, they can pickup the part they could have drove 15 miles and looked at my car in the driveway. They have the address. They just left me to figure it out while I was as stressing about getting back home. They knew I needed to be home this was told to them many times. They knew I was from out of state and how far it was for me to go into them.

I know they could say just as easily that it was a natural cause as I can say they did it. Do I have a video I can watch or forensics experts to say it was X item that caused the damage? Nope, they can say they didn't do it and I can say they did. I don't know how getting it to them would have changed this fact. They could have gave me a number to a towing company. They could have offered to tow it. I didn't get mad about the estimate of $2000 for the cold start issues. I didn't even get upset about having to pay for the diagnostics $220 and the $550 break repair costs. I only got upset when I drove a very little distance and my car is un-drivable. You see act of God causing the issue. I see it as they caused it... Work was being done right next to the place that had the problem and this happens in less then 20 miles... We will see what happens.

I know one thing for sure I will not own a vehicle that doesn't have a shop in my local area that can handle recalls.

 

I thought that this shows the front or the radiator and the fan being mounted on the back... They told me the damaged was on the back and that it was odd because it is covered by the plastic and the fan. I was going with what I was told and looking up the image it looks like the back to me...

The arrow on the picture shows the FRONT so the fan is on the back.

In the picture below you will see the AUX pump (Part 1) that was replaced. This is like a few inches from the radiator... Humm

 

Sorry for the problems you have had with your MINI. We have 2, 1 Coupe and 1 Clubman and we LOVE them. It is always MINI season in So. Cal.

I recently had problems starting our 2007 Mini S in the mornings even when it was 70 degrees outside (in southern California). It would eventually start and run fine yet it would sometimes take 10-12 starts to get it to go. I researched this and found that the cold start fuel pump was the most likely culprit. I contacted my local MINI dealer and scheduled it in for service. I was told that there are 2 fuel pumps on the S model, one in the fuel tank for normal operating and one in the engine compartment that provides additional fuel for cold starting. The cold starting fuel pump was indeed the problem. As MINI has identified this as a potential problem, they extended the warranty on this fuel pump to 10 years / 120,000 miles. Whoo Hoo. The dealer took care of the fuel pump replacement at NO COST even though the car is beyond the normal factory warranty.

 

They shouldn't have told you to drive it back knowing you had a coolant leak either. They should have said we'll send a flatbed to pick up the car and figure out who pays once we figure out what happened. Poor customer service all around...

 

My Cooper just had a fuel pump problem. There was no coolant leaking.

 

Update: It took a lot on my part, but as of this weekend I received a check to pay for the cost of the repair. I wish it wouldn't have came to all of this and make me dislike my mini so much, but they did step up and reimburse me. Just wanted to make it known. Thanks everyone who supported and listened to my ranting/venting.

 

thank YOU for closing the loop

too many threads leave us hanging about the final outcome