Received a letter from mini on 11/16/13 notifying me of possibility of faulty chain tensioner, which needed to be "checked for wear and replaced if necessary," and that I should contact an authorized mini dealer to arrange an appointment. No indication that the vehicle should not be driven. Two days later (11/18/13), just as I was about to schedule an appointment, the vehicle began to shake, then the red engine light came on, so I shut down the vehicle and had it towed first to the import shop that normally services the mini then, after consultation with that mechanic about mini's recall letter, had it towed to a mini dealership, where it now sits waiting for diagnosis and news about what any damage might cost to repair, whether I will be responsible for it, and whether I will be reimbursed for two tow charges and a car rental.
2007 MINI Cooper S engine complaints
Page 3 of 7: complaints 41 to 70 of 173, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 mini cooper s. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled and over-heated, causing smoke to emit from under the engine compartment. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the technician was unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 11,562 and the current mileage was 53,000.
I was driving on the interstate, when without any warning or indicators, the engine shut off. I was stuck in a dangerous place, with high-speed traffic for sometime. The dealer who as my car says: "the primary cause of the engine failure was the locking up of the vacuum pump. Consequently this caused the bolt on the exhaust cam shaft sprocket to sheer off causing the vehicle to run out of time. The pistons therefore made contact with both intake and exhaust valves, verified with boroscope inspection, thus bending the valves and causing catastrophic failure to the engine. $6850.00 minus discount to replace engine. This is obviously not an isolated incident. I have had a lot issues with various mini engine parts deteriorating, despite following the recommended regular maintenance schedules ' clutch, fly-wheel, thermostat, intake silencer, spark plugs, timing chain twice, waterpump, radio head unit, drive belt, hi-lo horn, boot latch, boot cable, to name a few. Hopefully mini will do something about these issues.
Ran a diagnostic test and these warnings came up - 2d52 super knocking 2dcd fuel shut off due to super knocking cylinder 3 2968 inlet camshaft sensor 2b64 intake manifold, unmetered air based on all of these sound like my mini cooper has bad fuel and/or serious carbon build, I've just purchased this car from a dealership and I am experiencing delays in acceleration, loss of forward propulsion.
Upon acceleration when the turbo charger engages there is a high pitched squeal which changes tone depending upon the acceleration. Afterwards smokes starts leaking from the hood scoop and sides of the hood itself. It smells of burned oil. I noticed oil pooling at a connection point near the turbo charger unit. In mid-august the car failed it's emissions test due to a cracked valve cover. I had the mini dealership replace the valve cover which was enough to pass inspection. However, the technician informed me that I had an oil leak in a line to the turbo charger that could start a fire and to watch my oil level closely. The cost to repair this (after nearly $900 on the valve cover) is simply beyond my means presently. Since learning about the possible dangers the car is no longer parked in the garage.
This vehicle has twice had a failure of the timing chain as a result of a faulty tensioner, resulting in catastrophic engine failure. The first incident occurred from a dead stop in a parking lot so there was no immediate safety issue. The second incident, occurring 12/03/2012, manifested as the vehicle was de-accelerating coming off a highway exit with a total loss of power at the bottom of the exit, in a remote area. Mini cooper sent their technicians in 2007 a "service bulletin," short of a recall, when the trend was discovered among its "r56' model engines in 2008. I had warned mini of sounds which later were determined by independent experts to be the timing chain's "death rattle" prior to the first failure, which they attributed to the car's "go-kart like start up." after 6 months of struggling, mini agreed to 80% of the repair costs, with a new timing chain under a one year warranty. Other failures sidelined the vehicle for months in the intervening time, and due to the incredible cost of repair the vehicle had to be garaged until repaired. So although over a year passed between timing chain failures, about only about 39k miles were driven in that time. As of now, mini is only offering 50% culpability, this after starting a vocal twitter campaign. I still owe $10k on a vehicle that requires up to $5k in repairs- a repair which will only replace a defective part with the same defective part.
Timing chain failure caused immediate engine failure at highway speed. Damaged timing chain housing cracked causing oil to spray the hot engine. Subsequent oil started a small fire that was extinguished by driver.
Engine bay started smoking. Pulled the car over and notice the turbo oil line was leaking hot oil everywhere. Could of resulted in a engine bay fire.
I took my car into my local shop and had oil change,new battery,tires rotated and alignment .they could a noise from the engine and they checked it out. Call me to inform me that I had to take to the mini cooper dealership because the timing chain needed to be replace. I called mini cooper and spoke to [xxx] at the houston dealership momentum mini. She informed me that the cost would be anywhere from 4000 to 10,000 dollars. I explained to her I had the car for 1 year and have any driven 6000 miles in a year. After doing research I noticed that other people where having the same issues with there mini. I purchased this car with 39,126 miles on it and my daily drive to work is a quarter mile if that. Please help !!! Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
While in idle and any RPM, a rattle/growling sound could be heard coming from under the timing chain housing of the engine. When shifting it was harder to place into gear without grinding and very easy to miss a gear when shifting. Master mechanic diagnosed this has a failing/failed timing chain. A new timing chain was installed, costing me $1,400. One week after being fixed the same sound is arising from the time chain housing and need to be taken back in for a new chain yet again. This is not the first time the timing chain has been replaced on this mini cooper, it is just the 1st while I have been the owner of the car and seems to be an ongoing issue with it.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 mini cooper s. The contact stated that coolant was leaking from the vehicle. The contact also stated that the transmission mount was fractured. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was found that the coolant housing and the transmission mount needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was 70,000.
While driving west on 580 highway, my car lost power and was unable to accelerate out of the lane. I was able to coast off of the freeway out of the way of moving traffic. Highway patrol was able to assist with warning other drivers of a mechanical failure. Due to a mechanical vacuum pump failure, car lost all power, and the engine was a total loss. Also failed on the engine was a cam shaft failure, timing chain failure. This is considered a total loss. Repairs cost more than the car is worth. Cost of repairs provided by dealer is estimated at 9,700.00 dollars manufacture aware of oil issues with the vacuum pump, which could lead to a catastrophic engine breakdown. Oil feed hole on the pump can become clogged on the pump. Vacuum pump will inadequately supply oil to the vital moving parts on the engine.we had just completed an oil change a week before this failure. Manufacture intervals for oil changes, put failure of pump a reality, not a possibility.
Daughter was driving the vehicle and while stopped at a toll booth on the nj toll road, the car shut down and could not be restarted. After several mechanics, the 3rd mechanic has diagnosed the problem as " locked up vacuum pump on engine that caused camshaft sprocket to snap causing bent valves in engine,motor oil was full ." totally unsat.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 mini cooper s. The contact stated that while driving 10 MPH, the engine stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to a mechanic for inspection and they stated that the timing change needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 41,000. Updated 07/12/13
With only 23,000 miles, engine exhibited a loud rattling noise at idle, and running up to about 2800 RPM, when noise would disappear. Took it immediately to dealer, who diagnosed it as a failure of the timing chain tensioner piston; that failure caused the chain to skip and throw the cam timing out of alignment, according to the dealer... Cost of $188.00 to replace timing chain tensioner, and $471 to diagnose cam timing skip and restore cam timing... Total cost $659. Dealer refused to submit claim to mini north america for goodwill coverage, despite outstanding condition, low mileage, regular dealer maintenance, and proper oil levels and change intervals. This issue with the timing chain tensioner failure and resulting damage is well known and well documented and should be the subject of a recall and repair of entire timing chain system at mini's cost-- severe cases can result in catastrophic engine failure at highway speed and potential crashes/fatalities. The federal safety agency, please make mini do the right thing!!!!
I was the one that reported the "death rattle" on my wife's mini cooper a few weeks ago. I'm happy to report that the engine was not damaged and mini fixed it for $1800, which was right in line with their estimate. They replaced the timing chain (it was stretched 70mm... 70!!), the tension pulley, the guide, changed the oil, replaced the aux water pump (was a recall so it cost $0), retimed the engine, washed the car, and cleaned the engine bay. The good news is that the car runs like new. The great news is that the service manager told me he called mini on my behalf and they gave us a $500 discount on the repair since the car was "only a couple of years out of warranty". Perhaps that means mini is finally waking up to this problem? I'll never understand how between the timing chain stretched 70mm, and the broken piece of guide rattling around for who knows how long, didn't destroy the engine... But I'm not complaining. Anyway, just wanted to let other mini owners know that there's hope after all. And $1300 is better than $1800 any day of the week. Car runs great and neither my wife and I realized how much power the car had lost. We're still getting rid of it though... Enough is enough... Every time something goes wrong with this car, it's drama. And this was the last straw. Good luck everyone.
Car has timing chain noise on cold start-up and if left unrepaired, it will result in timing chain failure and engine destruction. This is a widespread problem on 2007 and later mini cooper s. Dealer refuses to repair out of warranty and, even if repaired, the problem will return. There are cases of multiple engine failures to same car. Car also uses 1 quart of oil every 2,000 miles.
I have been experiencing a major flaw with oil supply/return lines to the turbo. A condition exists where if left unattended and uncared for creates the high risk of fire and subsequent loss of engine/vehicle. This event can happen at any time the car is being driven and/or later parked. The risk is created when oil accumulates, either through time or over a leisure drive, and collects near/on the exhaust manifold & turbo components, both of which operate at extremely high temperatures. It is becoming a daily task to look under the car hood and investigate for accumulation of oil near these parts due to the fact that the car smells of burning petroleum. Need I be more apparent of burning oil that will burn and destroy a car due to a faulty product? This has been occurring for the majority life of the car but he issue has never been professionally addressed due to disregard of the mini/bmw dealerships to accept this design flaw. If researched further, there are many standard examples of this design flaw and numerous descriptions, images, examples, forums, and complaints of this flaw occurring in many cars of various styles, mileage, and trims occurring within the same year model of 2007. I have also experience many of the major flaws already listed and complained about on the federal safety agency such as the ??death rattle?? Belt tensioner failing (luckily no catastrophic engine failure and which has been listed numerous times on the federal safety agency, numerous), valve cover replacement (also listed), etc. The federal safety agency, address this problem as it is an avid and dangerous safety issue. The common person does not check under the hood daily and its only time before someone parks their mini in a garage and the home goes down in flames. I personally don??t park the mini in the garage for fear of fire. Do not repair the mini with the same faulty oil line design. Recall design.
Just wanted to report another case of the "death rattle". My wife has a 2007 mini cooper s we bought new in sept. 2007. She complained of a loud rattle when she started the car for about 5-10 minutes until warm. Thought it might be a loose exhaust component until it started having idle issues. We took it to a local shop and they "rebooted" the computer and the idle problems went away but the rattle persisted. Our closest mini dealer is an hour away so we don't take it to them unless we have to. Early last week the oil light came on. Checked the oil and oil level was fine... Although the dipstick did not want to go back in the engine. Oil light would come and go over the next few days. She took it to the local shop again to have the rattle checked and the oil changed since it was almost due. They found the guide for the timing chain was broken and laying in the bottom of the cover. They called our closest mini dealer, said it was a "common problem" with turbo minis, and we shouldn't drive it. Had it towed to mini and that's where it sits. They haven't worked on it yet and they will call me when they do, but an early estimate is ~$1800 to repair, as long as the engine isn't damaged (which it isn't as the car starts and runs fine). I asked mini about it being covered under some sort of warranty after reading all the horror stories since it's a known problem but they said since the oil level was low, and low oil levels exacerbate the problem, there's nothing they can do. Had no idea the oil level was low until the light came on. Pretty sad that this "common problem" still hasn't been fixed after all these years. Wife is now a full-time student and her school is over an hour away. She makes that drive twice a day, three times a week. How that broken piece didn't get tangled in the timing chain and destroy the engine I'll never know.
My 2007 mini cooper s thermostat housing has started leaking to the point that it would cause the engine to overheat at prolonged stops in traffic if fluid is not put in the overflow tank. I have been reading various threads regarding this issue and see that there are several reports of this failure, however mini does not seem too worried about this part.
Turbo oil supply line from engine to turbo leaking excessive oil requiring replacement. Poor engineering design of compression fitting LED to premature failure. Continued operation of vehicle with this condition would result in catastrophic engine and or engine turbo failure. Mini of marin was notified of the ongoing issues and were told they hadn't heard of the issue. Car smokes up if driven slow. Must be addressed in recall.
Without warning or cause, the timing chain & tensioner failed, which ruined my engine. Just the timing chain costs $2000-$3000 to fix, but since my engine is gone as well that number is more like $6000-$7000. This is a 2007, and sinking half of the value of the car back into it does not make sense. This is a huge issue that needs to be dealt with. It is obviously a manufacturer issue as others have also reported this issue at various mileage stages. Please do something about this.
I took my mini s in to the shop for brake maintenance, to be told that the tensioner had failed and the timing chain kit had to be replaced. Unnecessary to mention, this is a very expensive repair. After doing much research, I have found that the tensioner in the mini has been an issue for quite some time, some sites have quoted since 2007. Had I not taken my car in for a completely unrelated issue, my timing chain could have broken, resulting in a thrown rod and a blown engine, which can be incredibly dangerous. This tensioner is a defective piece which causes significant damage to the timing chain and area components when it fails. Due to the nature of this issue and the number of complaints seen on the web, a manufacturer's recall should be made.
Took vehicle in to mini of the woodlands to have recall work done to the vehicle and while it was there had them do a diagnostic to ensure car was in good shape. Was told that it needed a new timing chain and that I shouldn't drive it. Was told to tow it home or leave it with them and they would fix it for close to $2500. The car has 37,000 miles. Really? Feel like there's a nice scam going on with a product that has obvious defects with this timing chain issue. There are complaints all over the internet. No vehicle should need a new timing belt with this low of mileage. Mini needs to do the right thing and issue a recall for this problem.
On 2/4/13 had my car taken to global imports bmw/mini dealership on 5925 peachstreet ind.blvd.atlanta,ga. (the cylinder head cover had to be replaced,was leaking, I paid $1291.45 for the service). I picked up my car on 2/5/13, according to them is was good to go. Started heading back home, when the engine light popped up again, the car started smoking,shaking,it would not drive higher than 40miles., got off I-75 in macon ga, called roadside services, had car towed back to the dealership mentioned above for repairs. They kept it for a week. They call on 2/20/13 telling my the car was ready for pick up. I returned to atlanta the following day 2/21/13. They charged me for service $3,991.57 . Headed back to florida on 2/23/13, and not even half way, on I-75, the engine light popped up again, the car would not higher than 40miles, had car towed to the mini of south atlanta dealership in union city,and im awaiting to hear from them when to come and pick up my car. When the recall was first announced,I tried to contact bmw/mini headquaters, they told me I will receive a letter in the mail regarding the recall,which I never received. I need help forcing these people to be responsible, fix my car or if not reimburse all the money I have invested in repair (not only in atlanta but in florida as well). Please I need your advise. A very frustrated mini cooper s driver .
Turbo charger oil feed line - very poor design crimped tube with an o-ring seal failed in very hot environment and caused large oil leak onto hot catalytic converter. Stopped car before fire started. Dealer wanted $1,300 to install a new $50 oil line of the same poor design. Every single 2007+ mini cooper s has a similar oil line - they are all failing at fairly low mileage - no exceptions. Mini should redesign this part and issue safety recall and re-imburse those that already paid to repair oil line.
2007 mini cooper s. Consumer writes in regards to defective power steering hoses and oil pan gaskets. *smd the consumer stated the steering hose and oil pan gasket failed at the same time.
Turbo oil feed piping fails at connector. Banjo type fitting on tubing fails on connection above turbo, spilling oil on turbo unit. Produces smoke and a potential fire hazard.
As with alot of other mini cooper s models for this year, my timing chain started to rattle, the dealer replaced it under warranty, not once, but twice, the water pump had been replaced, fuel pump replaced, throttle body replaced and the list could continue. Now the car has 98,234 miles on it and it is sitting at the dealership with a blown motor from bad #3 cylinder, leaking head gasket, and valve issues. This car has several design flaws that the manufacturer will not own up to. For a car with a price tag of over $32, 000 made from bmw, you wouldn't expect any of this.
I own a 2007 mini cooper s, that I purchased brand new in june of 2007. I immediately fell in love with the car and knew that this would be the last car I would ever own. It is a $31,000 car that I have blood, sweat, and tears made expensive ($560/month) payments on for the last five years. About two years into owning this car, I noticed when it was cold out that my mini would get what is now known as "the death rattle". When I called ralph schomp mini (where I had purchased it), they told me that the noise was nothing that I had to worry about and that it just had to do with cold weather. A year after that my mini would struggle to get moving, I thought it was a battery problem, again the mechanics at ralph schomp mini told me not to worry about it, again just cold weather. A couple weeks ago, I noticed that my car was acting up severely. The check engine light came on. Then a couple days later it went off and it seemingly stopped having issues. About a week after that, it started acting up again and the check engine light came back on. I attempted to take it to another auto place to have it diagnosed, but it was non-conclusive, and the symptoms only got worse. I had my mini towed back to ralph schomp mini, and their diagnosis resulted in saying that the timing chain tensioner malfunctioned and had come loose which did significant damage to the engine and that I would need to replace the engine. An engine supposedly built to last at least to 250,000 miles only made it until 52,000 miles and will cost me as much as $8,000 to repair. My warranty expired literally six months ago, and I am only about three months away from having her paid off. In looking up this issue online, many other 2007 mini owners have also had this issue. I am incredibly disappointed in the entire situation, and would encourage a recall to be issued on 2007 mini cooper s.
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