Well, my otherwise mint condition R56S gave up the ghost this weekend, massive misfires without warning while cruising on the freeway. drove it a couple miles home since it was still running, just not well.
Scangauge ID'd cylinder 3 as the culprit, so figured it was a dead coil, swapped plug and coil for freshies on cylinder #3. The plug has a fine film of oil on it, and the coil had no effect.
Took it to the dealer, verdict is in. No compression on #3. 73k miles was apparently too much.

I JUST PAID F*CKING $700 to get the valves walnut blasted clean a couple months ago, and they look mint. The tires have 200mi on them, and I even got the oil consumption in check; the car has been running the best it ever has the last couple months.

At least Mini bucked up and is offering a free engine if I cover labor, considering I'm the 3rd owner and only have records back to '12/49k when I bought it, I'd say thats pretty fair, can't fault the dealer for that! My vin is mid 06 for a build date, so it's very early production. I'm guessing that since it took Mini USA less than 12 hours to approve a free engine....they knew there was a problem?

At what point do you give up on a car? I bought a $300 70's Ford pickup that hadn't been on the road for 5 years...and even that thing has been more reliable than this car! Its not even tracked, I've only auto-x'd it once. Are these cars really just the giant piles of ***** that everyone seems to say they are? Its too bad it drives so good when it works.

 

What price are they quoting for labor?

 

~$3400

 

I may be wrong but I think an engine replacement is about 20 hours. Figure $120/hr that would be $2400. The quote seems a little steep.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, $3400 engine replacement is a pretty good deal especially on a 2007 model year car that has been years out of warranty and you're not even the original owner. But if their "only pay labor" gesture is truly honest then you simply multiple the standard book hours by the hourly rate. They might be trying to pad the labor charge by adding hours above what the book says. You might be able to negotiate a lower price if what I'm saying is true. If not it still a good deal.

 

roughly half of the whole bill and you can get 2 yrs unlimited mileage warranty on the reman engine

 

yea, definitely not upset at their gesture. I am stopping in tomorrow to check the labor estimate and get the cost break down on it, I know how they play the game

Just sad that i've spent $2000+ in the last 8 months on things like the updated valve cover (old one leaked), fixing the oil cooler leak and a bunch of other PM since I had it apart, getting a carbon blast done....then having the car run better than it ever has only to have it **** the bed driving a small hill its done hundreds of times in the past at not even the speed limit (bike on the rack in back, not up to operating temp, just doing my sunday morning ritual lol).

ironically enough, I was going to drive the Mini to the machine shop on Monday to drop off the some cylinder heads to be rebuilt for the big block in my truck...looks like the Mini wanted more attention!

 

Did they say what actually is wrong with the engine? Why does it not have compression on #3 cylinder?

 

They haven't opened it up, but there are really only a few things I can think of that cause sudden loss of compression...

-ate a piston ring (plug #3 had evidence of blow by when pulled, but none when they were changed a month ago)
-lost a piece off a valve (intakes looked good from the intake ports, and i didn't hear anything obvious blow out through the turbo, but might not have since i was on the freeway)
-burned a hole in the piston (couldn't see one when i camera scoped the bore before i took it in, but field of vision obviously wasn't complete)
-blew a head gasket (no evidence of this though really, oil and coolant look fine and no boom boom sound coming out the head)

no valve tick to indicate a stuck valve/broken spring, and no abnormal behavior like temp spikes or fluctuations. it still revs up too, i tried that to see if it just needed to be cleared out ie fouled plug, ignition miss, or low pressure on HPFP/stuck injector. I only run shell or chevron premium and only run mobil 1 in it. It just seems weird that a ring would let go without warning, but weirder things have happened I suppose.

Oh well, like the tech said... now I'll have a long block with only my miles put on it...not 49k of who knows what from someone else...no amount of care after wards can make up for abuse beforehand. the CV's, BJ's, control arms, tires, battery etc are all less than a year old. There really isn't anything left to wear out on it aside from the clutch and brake pads, the brakes have a ton of pad material left.

 

Dang, sorry to hear about all this. I'd try to get their labor price reduced, fix it, and then get rid of it. If you can break even or even take a little loss, so be it.

 

keep the motor and build it? for when the next one detonates you have a super motor?

 

jeez.. seems very unusual

 

I don't know about San Diego, but dealer rates are $180/hr in the SF Bay Area the last time I checked.

 

No space, I just picked up a big block Ford to rebuild for my truck, which is currently occupying most of the free space in the garage lol. I wouldn't bother building one of these engines, they have a hard enough time being reliable in stock form it would seem. They have to keep the old engine for a warranty core anyway.

 

actually, it doesn't lol.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ent-fubar.html
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...own-motor.html
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ure-twice.html

the fact that Mini Corporate approved a new engine in less than 12 hours doesn't inspire any confidence whatsoever either.

 

I think if it was me, I would accept the offer. Maybe put a clutch in it since you are there?

The way that I look at it is: What is it worth now? It is probably a $1500 car with a broken engine. If you put $4k into it, then you are back to an $9k car (maybe?).

What else would you be driving for $4k? At least you understand the MINI, and know the issues.

Sorry that this happened to you, good luck with your decision.

Mike

 

clutch is being replaced, had an un-registerable amount of material on it.
flywheel was hosed too, numerous cracks and hot spots, jesus they are expensive too.

Mini has at least been fantastic to deal with, the tech is taking his time and found a couple suspect looking hoses and let me poke around my pile of car while its apart. no additional labor for the parts I am paying for, and the engine was free.

hell of a way to end up with a brand new car used car, i guess i at least didn't take the huge depreciation hit buying new?

 

Glad the dealer is doing you right in a bad situation. Which dealer is doing the work?

 

Sounds like you lucked out and found a good dealer. They're not all like that. It's awesome that mini is covering the engine for you. I'm guessing it isn't a case of mini "knowing there is a problem" but more of a case of a good dealer. They do have the ability to "good will" repairs up to a certain $$ amount but I believe it's a one time only thing.

 

I have been dealing with Mini of Escondido/Brecht. I usually take the car to SD Mini Independent garage for the stuff I don't want to tackle myself, Mack is a great guy once you break the ice with him, he is just a NO BS shop owner who doesn't care about hurting your feelings; when I told him about the misfire he said to definitely hit up the dealership first. Both are great places, not cheap, but good to work with. Considering the only other time I've been to the dealer was for the aux water pump recall, I was very surprised they hooked me up as well as they did.

The also let me drive an F56 S all week. Can't wait to get my R56 back.. the F just feels bloated and conformist. Nice torque delivery though!

 

MINI of Escondido has always treated me right! Brandon is an awesome service writer, and Tech Mark knows his stuff! I will be bringing my MINI back there for any major concerns, as thay have stated that they will honor my Hendricks extended warranty. They always gave me a free loaner car when my MINI was in for warranty work. I even got to have an F56 non-s with the turbo 3-cylinder for a week or so. That little 1.5 3 cyl was quite impressive with power, but the auto trans killed it. And I am not a fan of the new looks of the F56. I was rather impressed with the first loaner I got, a 2014 R56S with an auto. The biggest difference for me was that the turbo did not lose boost between gears, as my manual does, unless I speed-shift. That is NOT gonna happen unless it has to, LOL. My MINI needs to last me to at least 120k, and that ain't gonna happen by slamming gears!