So Im in a dilema!! I need to replace my timing chain guide but I need to know if I have to take the engine out or not. Is it possible to take that cover and replace that guide without dropping the engine?

 

Moving you to the Stock Problems/Issues area.

Do not need to remove the engine to replace the guide. Try some searches here and on Google (they usually send you back here). Guide or tensioner?

 

it is the plastic guide. I've already replaced the tensioner but when I took my oil pan off this morning and had pretty much all of the plastic just sitting there😭

 

How many miles on the crank pulley? With having to remove the chain cover, it is the time to replace the pulley and oil seal.

Way has a 2% overdrive pulley kit if you have an S.

 

well if the crank pulley is stock from when it was made..... then it would have 167k on it. And yeah I was thinking about the 2% overdrive but I already have the 15% supercharger pulley and I just bought the proper belt for it. Would the stock length fit? I wouldn't use mine though because it's had it's use. What all tools would I need to remove the pullies that are in the way?

 

Aw dang. Yeah, you prolly heard a rattle in the engine bay for a while, huh? It's likely the timing chain tensioner that did you in. :/ It's ~$50 at a dealer for the part, and 10 minutes to swap it, too. Sorry for your tribulations man, happens to the best of us.

These cars are a sub-compact, British-design, which means that they have lots of complex parts that fail quite often. The good thing about this (to put the rose-colored glasses on for a second) is that they always give plenty of indication before they fail, but you have to know what to look for. In a sense, the more time you take to scour the forums and keep your eyes open for common problems and solutions, the better you'll get at "understanding" what your car is transmitting through the NVH (noise, vibration, harshness). But that's a side topic.

As far as the chain, I'm not sure if you'll need to you can access the chain by removing the valve cover, and it appears you already pulled the pan, so you're half the way there. Pull the timing chain tensioner out of the block (above the pan by the oil filter housing) and throw it really hard at someone you don't like, because you'll be needing to buy a new one of those. Then after pulling the VC you'll have to hold the crank sprocket in place either with the help of a lovely friend putting the car in gear and holding the brake pedal, or by way of some fancy tool that ain't nobody have time for [BMW #11 8 300 and #11 2 000](part #s from this thread). After marking the crank sprocket (and chain), remove the sprocket bolt, pull the sprocket out, and bungee the timing chain to the hood of the car (ModMINI shows this process in his cylinder head replacement video). At this point, you should be able to unscrew the caps in the cylinder head (carefully with an 8mm hex bit, they tend to strip and they're easy to overtighten). Then you can access the bolts holding the timing guides. Be super super super sure that you got all of the pieces out (blow out with pressurized air, leaf blower, etc just to be safe).

One last disclosure: I don't know much about timing, as I only know things by solving the millions of issues on my 53 with the help of the guys on here, so I don't know how to check if your timing chain skipped a tooth. I guess you'd bend a valve, worst case, so you'd know something was wrong by loss of power after it's all back together. Hopefully someone else can chime in.

By the way: whenever looking for solutions for an issue with your MINI, type in "R53 [insert name of part] replacement" into Google. You'll be surprised what you find. ModMINI especially is an excellent resource, however it appear he doesn't have a video on the guide replacement.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

Wait a second...that doesn't look like part of the guide...does anyone know what this is?

 

I'm fairly certain that’s part of the oil pump, specifically the semicircular piece (highlighted in yellow) where the very bottom of the timing chain wraps around the crank sprocket. It’s part of the lower interior of the timing cover. The chain may have skipped a tooth or two on the crank sprocket (possibly due to being stretched) and broke the pieces off the oil pump; something that has been reported before on these forums. Those broken pieces rattling around may have been what destroyed the plastic chain guide. You’ll know as soon as you pull the cover off.

If that's the case, not particularly good - but doable...
You’ll need a new (or used) timing cover.

When the engine was running did you hear something inside rattling around?

 

Oh jeez, well, my condolences for OP's MINI-related-pains. Good thing it's accessible without dropping the motor. In other news, a search of "R53 timing cover replacement" led me to this thread...doesn't seem too terrible of a job actually! Just remember to get that timing cover seal, the crank seal, and replace all the other while-you're-in-there's that you can!

 

You will absolutely need the cam locking tool set otherwise you will never get your timing set up correctly, ebay sell tons of them. The top plastic guide is held on with a metal bracket so hopefully the parts in the sump belong to that. You should clean out/inspect the oil pump anyway in case some plastic is lodged in there and blocking it.
Was the engine running before you took the sump off? if it was you might not have valve damage, if it was dead or lumpy you will probably need the C head off and valves replaced. Engine stays in the vehicle is the only good news here.

 

Replace all of your seals while youre in there.. the common fail ones like crank position etc. modmini on youtube has videos you should watch first although they are not complete (ie the cam lock part). The rest of it is pretty much covered. Get a bentley manual too so youre not searching for torque values all over the place. Good luck! My brothers car just had its timing chain done, and its quite a job, but doable.

 

Thank you all for all of your help!!! Yes that metal is the very bottom of the highlighted yellow section on the oil pump. And yes the car did run and it ran well. I did hear the timing chain clang around a little bit but if I shut my car off and turned it back on it would go away which led me to believe the tensioner was bad. So I just put it in the other day and then the day after that I took the oil pan off and saw that so now I know that it was much more than just the tensioner. Back to buying more car parts!

 

In addition to needing new chain guides, you'll most likely be in need of the timing chain itself as well, if it did indeed skip and create all this mayhem within the timing cover...

That said, as pertains to the Timing Cover diagram below, here are some of the parts you'll need.

#1) p/n 11147573765 Timing Cover
(I suggest finding a good used one, avg. price $85.00)

Definitely replace everything below...

#2) p/n 11141485162 Cover Profile Gasket
#3) p/n 11411485173 Timing Case Cover Seal - Upper
#4) p/n 11411485172 Timing Case Cover Seal - Lower
#5) p/n 11111485171 Crankshaft Front Seal
#9) p/n 07131485184 Hex Bolt w/Gasket Ring

It goes without saying that since you need to remove the crankshaft pulley to get the cover off, it's also a great time to replace the pulley itself, serpentine belt, belt tensioner (easily drops out the bottom when pulley is removed) and the idler pulley. Also, since you'll need to have the valve cover off and the passenger-side of the head exposed to do the timing guides, you should also do the valve cover gasket and camshaft position sensor o-ring (p/n 12147514984), both of which are potential and eventual oil seepage points on the MINI W11 engine.

This all looks to be a daunting task, but it's fairly straight-forward once you dig into it.
Here's some good info about the Timing cover removal/installation.

 

We've seen this exact failure about 5 times this year alone. The plastic is from the guide on the tensioner side as it just falls off the guide. This is usually from the chain stretching and starting to slap. But the aluminum is like they said from the oil pump/front timing cover so it should be replaced too. It comes with the seals you need though.
Since it is stretched do the entire kit with sprockets
https://www.waymotorworks.com/timing...0-r52-r53.html

pump/timing cover assembly
https://www.waymotorworks.com/oil-pump-r50-r52-r53.html

and if you have a 167k on that crank pulley don't put it back on, it will become your next issue. Go with the ATI and you won't have to worry again.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/super-...ulley-r53.html

The entire job can be done with the engine in the car. Just pull the rt front fender liner and do it through there. Will have to pull the valve cover too and engine mount bracket. Not hard just will take some time.