Our local dealer also charges stealership rates, but no leather couch nor coffee. LOL - I need to report the el-cheapo to Mini USA.

 

fort myers florida... ill find out more tomorrow and will update but he said it was released (he told me this tuesday ) my car has an aftermarket warranty and was a used car from their auto group and he said its fully covered ...

i am really impressed with my dealer they have gone above and beyond even tho my car was a used car trade in at a sister honda dealer

 

No, CEOENGR. I think you misunderstand. No leather couches. That would mean you have to share! Rather, this dealership waiting room has more than a dozen individually placed and grouped leather easy chairs, scattered newspapers and magazines, several large screen televisions, an a breakfast bar with an assortment of hot and cold drinks, muffins, bagels (yes, it's in NY) and baskets of fruit. I kid you not.

 

Sounds like my dealer as well. Add t that a kitchen finer than any I could afford. Granite, stainless, even a fancy glass tile backsplash. Seriously, I wouldn't even be able to remodel my own kitchen as nice as the dealership's lol.

 

New timing chain setup in, updated the computer, started it up and blammo, some sort of crankshaft to trans pin slipped out of place and I probably have a bent valve. Oh well, they have to pull the head tomorrow and fix the damage they caused

 

Oh no! Well atleast you aren't paying anything for it, and hey, new parts, even if just OEM, are always nice when they're free.

 

Went in today..

Quick run down my car doesnt show in the recall but is in the build range ..sa said a few cars have had this happen and they just need to call and get confirmation with mini..

So all the stuff will be replaced for free as well as an oil line shield recall..

They gave me a horrible automatic justa to drive .... but happy they did

 

bimmershark, how many miles on yours?

 

haha sounds like my loaner experience. Turned in a hardtop 6 speed turbo. for a base model countryman automatic. It was a miserable 24 hours lol.

 

is that all the longer it takes for them to fix it, one day?

 

Is there a measurement for the tensioner before things go too awry? Like a way to measure and change it out before the chain goes out of spec?

 

It's not a very long job and if they can get your car in that day, yes. The only reason it should take longer is if they have so many cars ahead of you in line that it can't get in right away.

 

I've asked this question before without a response... so - - here goes:

Does anyone know if this recall (or whatever it is) applies to Canadian- purchased MINI's?

They're all built in the same factory by the same people, so I would hope it applies to us "Canucks" as well. But, I know that's not how things work... MINI USA and MINI Canada are two separate entities, what one does has little to do with anything the other does. Plus the fact that we here in Canada often get hosed when it comes to customer service issues. Many companies here in the Great White North just don't seem interested in backing up their products when there is a problem. Not just car manufacturers, customer service for everything is very different here, in my experience at least.

I'm going in to my dealer to get a new radio antenna next week, so I will ask them about this then. I'm expecting their typical "we don't know anything about that" response... I'd just like to know if anyone from Canada has approached their MINI dealer about this and what the response was (just in case I feel like arguing with them...)

___________________________________

 

My car has 47k on it the spec is 68 mm max mine measured 69

 

I have been having the same issues on my timing chain for the past year--so much so that the MA at South Bay Mini had made a notation on my service record to check out the next time I was in for routine maintenance.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it that far.

On Thursday my car made a loud clicking sound that I hadn't EVER heard. I shut it off immediately. Waited a moment, restarted, and got the same noise. Shut it down again and then restarted and tried to drive it, but the noise got worse 50 feet from my house. Shut it down again and called for a tow. After finding out that the tow would cost nearly 250.00 past what AAA was going to give me gratis, I decided to give it one more shot to see if I might be able to drive it to my independent garage (MINIWORX in South Bay).

Luckily, the noise went away temporarily and I drove it to the garage. They called me several hours later to tell me that my timing chain, tensioners, rails, etc all needed to be replaced as they were the source of the noise. In addition, the water pump was also leaking.

$2800 later my car is back on the road and (obviously) running better than it has in the past year.

I called MINI Customer Relations and was told of the Service Bulletin regarding timing chain issues but they didn't say that a "recall" had begun.

My question is, IF they do issue a recall, will I be able to get some type of financial relief for this? I'm going to call Mini back again and escalate this regardless because my particular vehicle was eligible for a Lemon Law claim which MINI agreed to settle, but I didn't go through with it (for a variety of reasons that were NOT mechanical). They obviously know there are issues with my car, AND the timing chains in general.

I didn't take it to the dealer because I didn't want to pay their labor prices. But my garage tells me that if MINI does issue a recall notice they will accept their paperwork as proof of the issue and the money spent to resolve it.

Anyone have any thoughts, comments on this?

 

Not a long job? It's 9 hours I think which means they don't have to fix it in one day.
Mine was done by a euro shop and it took 3 business days because of 3rd party warranty and waiting on parts.

 

You need to word things carefully.

Mini won't call this a "recall".

The key word is "service campaign".

Yes, there is a difference. Recalls kill people, or pollute the environment. Service campaigns are a way of extending parts or service/replacement on a given component.

The person on the other end of the phone can't say anything about a "recall", they are instructed NOT TO.

In every case I've seen, manufacturers will reimburse you for past repairs done at *any* facility as long as they used OE parts.

Yes, you have to submit receipts etc... Jump through hoops.. But they will pay you back.

 

your right and i def should of posted it as a service campaign ..

that said they are doing this to cars that are in the production range..they replaced the chain guides and tensioner at no cost to me car runs better and is quieter..

my car was still in the intial stages i had only a 1mm of slack beyond acceptable as i was picking up my car the service guy said they had two cars in the back getting new motors due to this issue..

 

Mine was one month out of the production range and they did mine for free as "good will". The top timing chain guide was busted. Sounds much better now. 33K miles on '09 Clubman S

 

If it took 9 hours for a trained professional to swap on the timing cartridge the right way, I'd go to a new shop from now on as they're tugging your pud for labor costs.

 

I had a seat cover, oil change, timing assembly changed, and a car wash in an afternoon at the dealer. Not a long job at all as they have done a ton of them :-)

 

You could say the more timing cartridges they have done the quicker the repair time, that's true with anything! When I first started build water cooled computer my assembly time decreased dramatically!

 

mig1, those are the 2 shops I will deal with what I've been having - the engine light comes on and off time to time for about 6 months now and the OBD2 says P0015 CEL ["B" Camshaft Position -Timing Over-Retarded (Bank 1)]. My guess is it is related to the timing chains/tensioner and I'm heading to Southbay MINI tomorrow morning to see what they would say. I will mention the "service campaign" to the SA and see if and hopefully they would fix it with "good will" service.

2010 PW Justa Auto 71K

 

I have heard that the newly-released service campaign document is referred to as SI M11 04 13.

Can anyone confirm (or refute) this information?

SI M11 04 13.

 

word on the street is that this isnt even an official buliton yet. talked to mini and they said they JUST sent out letters to registered mini owners telling them to go check their tensioners at the dealer. next step would be reinbursment