Took my 09 R56 into the dealer for a routine oil change along with other repairs (thermostat, new serpentine belt and new breaks). Took them a week to complete said repairs. When I picked it up I drove across town when my car started rolling smoke out the back end... I called them up (it’d NEVER smoked prior to this) and they directed me to go to the closest dealership ASAP (which was a different Mini dealership close to where I was staying). After a few days this dealership told me the other mini dealership incorrectly did something with the oil change “wrong oil was put in” causing my engine catrastophic damage. And they replaced it at no charge to me. Brand new engine. Took them about a month.

Since then (June 2017) I’ve had random warning light come on but no driving issues. About a month ago a gear shaped light with “!” came on. Code for low voltage showed. Replaced the battery and a week later the warning light was back and now going into limp mode. Took it in and the dealership is telling me there is oil in my transmission and will need to be replaced. $8300. My gut is telling me this issue stems from the whatever happened at the oil change in June. Any feedback is appreciated.

My local mechanic thinks the technician at the first Mini dealership (where the oil was “changed” possibly drained the oil but unknowingly put oil into the transmission area instead of where oil is suppose to go.

 

Seems odd that the second dealership just replaced an engine without any fuss after a screw up by the first dealership. Are they owned by the same company? If not I don't actually believe it.

Pretty much you should assume that the first issue is involved with the second set of problems. Proving it is an entirely different story. You probably need to contact MINI corporate and be prepared for some legal action or get yourself a new car as from quickly looking at your other posts this doesn't seem to be a trouble free car.

 

I’ll need to look back at my previous posts. I know it hasn’t been trouble free but it also hasn’t been real troublesome. I’ll also have to look into if they are jointly owned. It’s Northwest Mini in Fife Washington and Seattle Mini. NW is where I took it for the oil change and where I’ve taken it for all my work. When I called about the smoke they said since I was back in Seattle I should take it to Seattle Mini instead of driving back to them (rush hour). Thinking back I believe they made reference about it being their sister store. And yes they didn’t hesitate at all to replace the engine... they knew right away they messed up. Of course he made it sound as if he was doing me a HUGE favor in getting me a brand new engine at no cost. And he was ver illusive on what exactly went wrong. Only thing I got was it looked like the wrong oil was put in. I was a mess at the time... I was over in Seattle with my daughter who was admitted to Childrens Hospital. I only took it to them at that particular time because I was in the area saying at the hospital with her (we live 2.5hrscaway) So my focus wasn’t on the details of what went wrong with the car I was just thankful they were taking care of it.

 

did you mean to say the transmission had no oil or it was engine oil coming from the transmission?

it is perhaps possible that the kid who "cared" for your car, drained the transmission ATF and added oil to the engine. your engine having possibly 9 qrts of oil might have caused some sort of damage.

it is also possible when they replaced the engine, they didnt connect wires properly or fluid came out and didnt care to check the level.

you can pay a lawyer and go through the hassle and maybe/maybe not get a car, or buy a used trany for 600/800 and installed it 400/800.

check car-part.com and ebay for used trans just to put it in prospective.

 

I’d imaging they’d call it tranny fluid and not oil if it was just transmission fluid... wouldn’t you think. He said “there’s oil in your transmission”. Think I’m going to start by having the meat no advisor email me what he’s telling me is wrong with it. Then ask for a detailed explanation of what exactly happened to my engine...

 

at this point when they blow your engine for a simple oil change, i would be cautious giving them too much credit, unfortunately @_@

 

That sounds weird, never heard of a MINI dealer doing this, most of the time its quick changes and other independent used car places that mess up routine things. Nice they replaced it. But I would get all the info on what was replaced and done, it should be on the receipt that gave you for the repair. Its possible something else was messed up from that first repair.

 

Thank you. And I agree... I wouldn’t of thought an actual Mini dealership would have messed up a simple oil change to the point of catastrophic engine failure. But it happened.