I'm new to the forum, though I've been lurking since I bought my Mini in September of last year. There is definitely less info out there on the web about Mini's compared to the other enthusiast cars I've owned, so I thought I'd put my query to the resident experts at NAM. My car is a 2011 Mini Cooper R56 non S with the NA N16B16 engine, it has just short of 90,000 miles on it. When I bought it at 81,000 it came with paperwork indicating that it had been receiving regular service from a Mini dealer, and I was told that the timing chain had been replaced. It seems to have the latest revision of the tensioner, so I'm inclined to believe that. I changed the oil immediately after purchasing, and have kept changes to a 5,000 or less mile interval. Since I've had it, I've also replaced the thermostat octopus, replaced the manual transmission fluid, replaced the shocks and struts with Bilstein B6, and put a 20mm rear sway bar on. At this point, I really like how it drives, it's fun to rip around the back roads, and comfortable enough for road trips. I should add that while my car burns around a quart between oil changes (I top it off every time I get gas), it otherwise runs very well.

I took my valve cover off this morning to replace a leaking valve cover gasket, and as I inspected the valvetrain, I couldn't help but notice that while the lobes of my exhaust cam look alright, the lobes of my intake camshaft are looking pretty bad. Cylinders 2, 3, and 4's cam lobes are grooved and/pitted enough to easily catch a fingernail on. I understand that this is the VANOS cam, so maybe more wear is to be expected, but I can't help but be concerned, particularly about cylinder 4's lobe. Am I all worried over nothing, or should I begin preparing my Mini for palliative care?

If anyone's able to share any info or relevant experiences about this issue, it would be much appreciated!

Edit: While I do like my cams well enough, I can't say that I love them, a fact which makes it doubly embarrassing that I misspelled "lobe" as "love" on my first ever thread on North American Motoring. Darn you auto correct.

 

So if you can feel the damage with your fingernail that's not great, and you're in at least the early stages of cam failure. At some point you're going to have to replace the cams and cam followers.

Were it me and I were planning to keep the car I'd probably do it sooner rather than later, as it's only going to get worse and dump more flakes of metal into your engine.

 

I may be mistaken, but... the 2011 Minis fall into the valve seal issues. You have enough miles now that I wonder if your valves have enough coke deposits to just replace the entire cylinder head. That is just not a big deal to do. You could buy a remanufactured one and trade yours in. Pretty easy job.

 

I too have fallen prey to cam love.

The story began when I bought a 60's Alfa Giulia in boxes - literally.

I looked at the head, and the intricacy and quality of the castings, and it changed my life - my previous rebuild project was a '62 Midget ('nuff said).

Viva Italia I thought! But both cams were rusted garbage, so....

I found "Ravisi Racing Camshafts' in Massachusetts and sent my poor offerings to them, and lo and behold a month later I was the proud owner of a perfect pair of camshafts courtesy of their old-school craftsmanship.

I wish I had a picture still - just unpacking them was near to a sexual experience.

And that was it!!! My young man's budget was cooked and my skills were wholly inadequate to even re-assemble that cathedral of an engine, so I had to sell.

But those camshafts and that motor are still in my heart, so AUTOCORRECT summoned me to this thread with fond regret.

Thanks for the memories, and yes please - get that top end sorted or it will poison the oil system and take the rest of the motor with it.

Want a convincer? Pull the oil filter and if you can, cut it open, and take a look at the filter materials therein - it will be like a prospector panning for gold flakes.

Damned bad luck - that OEM cam should NOT fail in that manner, but c'est la guerre n'est-ce pas?

Cheers,

Charlie

 

It looks like the engine sat for a while?
I have a handful of old BMW M52 engines and the last one I used, I pulled the valve cover off and see basically identical corrosion on the polished surfaces of the cams and lifters. The only difference is that your engine has been run since.

 

This is what happened! At some point in your car's past, it sat for an extended period in a high humidity location and rusted.