Timing belt tensioner failed resulting in slack in the timing belt. Final result was the timing belt slack contacted plastic chain guards which broke off and lodged inside the engine. After being towed to mini service, they recommended replacing the entire engine. This is a safety issue because the critical timing chain failure LED to premature engine failure. There was a strong smell of smoke and I had initial concern that the car was going to catch on fire. I was lucky that the incident did not occur while driving in traffic as I would have been stuck on the road without any power endangering myself and other drivers. Mini is well aware of the issue with the timing belt tensioner, but has failed to proactively address the issue. The service manager at mini even has a bag full of bent rods at his desk that he showed me and told me he has had multiple cars come in with the same issue.
2007 MINI Cooper S transmission complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 26 of 26, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Timing chain failure causing $1800 damage. Was told it is a known issue and could've been replaced prior to the damage and saved time, money, and potential danger. Thankfully nothing happened to harm anyone. Knocking noise, smoke, engine light came on, running poorly. Has been fixed now.
I bought this 2007 mini cooper s pre owned about 1 month ago. This car had approx. 32000 miles on it when I purchased it. After driving the car for a few days I noticed a burning smell like rubber or plastic. I complained to the man who sold this car to me and he had the turbo water pump replaced through the recall due to overheating. Heat in the motor reaching more than 225 degrees can destroy many other parts on this car! Now after the turbo water pump replacement the car continues to smell like burning plastic and he says it must take a while for the odor to leave the car. Two weeks later the car begins loosing power and acts like it has no clutch. I am an experienced driver and have owned many cars with manual gears. This car is now in the shop for repairs, a burned out clutch, and could even be transmission problems that are very premature and so many other people have had the same problem with this year make and model car. Why can't something be done to help those who were cheated by owning such a troublesome car. This car also had the timing chain replaced a very low mileage!
Vehicle produces loud metallic sounds from the left side of the engine on cold start. Mini USA has repeatedly stated this is okay, however now at 25000 miles the noise is constant and loud. Reading data from other mini owners this problem is now extremely common on all mini coopers with the 1.6l produced after 2007. Mini has quietly replaced numerous belt tensioners to fix this problem but refuses to admit this is a large issue over the entire fleet of vehicles. Issue results in a $3-4k labor bill to repair.
While driving in heavy traffic following extended highway speed, stopped at traffic light and engine died with no warning and would not restart. Car had to be towed a considerable distance to original dealership. Learned that the vacuum pump seized / locked up, causing a chain reaction of catastrophic results that totally destroyed engine. Car needs complete new engine at 74,000 miles (out of warranty)and mini USA attitude is that such engine failure is not their responsibility even though this particular mini was impeccably maintained beyond mini servcie requirements, but to no avail as engine blew at a very young 74,000 miles of age and there are repeated instances of same engine failure on internet bmw/mini blogs. Note: this catastrophic damage follows last year's large out of warranty expense of replacing the entire electronic steering lock system as vehicle could not be driven safely and again mini felt no responsibility for equipment failure even though the problem was subsequently acknowledged by the fact that electronic steering lock is no longer installed in new mini coopers!
The engine began to make a large rattling noise and the check engine light eventually came on. I stopped the car and checked the oil to see if it was low and discovered that I was not able to get the dip stick back in. At this point I called a tow truck and took it to a local mechanic because there isn't a mini dealer within 100 miles of my location. Turns out it was the timing chain tensioner which is a common problem for the cooper s and mini has released three fixes and claim the latest tsb will fix the problem. My car has less than 40,000 miles and I had to spend $1,700 dollars for a $26 dollar part that was faulty to begin with. Mini knew they had a problem and tried to fix it but failed on two separate occasions there's no telling how long this new fix will hold up. Not to mention my car is still louder than it use to be before the problem and it sounds like a diesel engine at idle. This noise doesn't give me confidence that the latest fix will last and mini needs to seriously take a look at the problem and send out a recall before the timing chains start causing life threatening problems.
I almost had a timing chain/tensioner failure. Took my '07 mcs into the mini dealer for its 4 year service. They found that the 'timing chain tensioner is weak and needs to be replaced' or 'tensioner worn and causing excessive chain slack and chain noise'. I bought my mini new, it now has 35464 miles and this should fall into the category as 'unusual'. This should not be a part that wears out or suffers failure with so few miles. As I checked out this failure on the web I quickly found out that this is not unusual but is happening quite frequently. I missed this being covered under the warranty by 2 weeks. My lose? Maybe; maybe not, at least I did not destroy the engine. According to the service department paperwork they replaced the chain tensioner with an updated 551 tensioner, p/n: 11 31 7 607 551, @ $26.21 ($146 for installation). It appears that mini/bmw knows about the problem and redesigned the part to prevent problems in the future, hopefully. If this is true why don't they recall the cars and just take care of it. Had I had the bad luck of destroying the engine my opinion on all their products would have drastically changed. I also own a '11 bmw 335xi.
2007 mini cooper had loud sound coming from engine compartment, sounded like a diesel engine when cold, dealer replaced timing chain tensioner at 32k miles, vehicle has been back to dealer seven times, only twice for scheduled service, now vehicle is starting to make same noise again. Vehicle was serviced @36k miles, now with 42k miles, engine oil is down 2 quarts and dealer says its my fault.
Tl*the contact owns a 2007 mini cooper s. While driving 30 MPH, the clutch began to slip. The contact stated that there was no power moving to the rear wheels. Because of the failure, the vehicle would not accelerate past 10 MPH. The vehicle stalled and was towed to an authorized dealer where the clutch was replaced. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was approximately 33,000 and the current mileage was approximately 35,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2007 mini cooper s. The contact stated that the clutch would not engage or shift into first, second or any other gear. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where the clutch was replaced. The failure recurred within two weeks and the vehicle was taken back to the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact called the manufacturer who stated that they could not offer assistance since the vehicle was no longer under warranty. The current mileage was approximately 40,000. The failure mileage was approximately 25,000.
I bought 2007 mini cooper s pre-owned car on 8/24/09 which has 3,627 miles on it at $24,000. On 10/25/09, is only 3 months later, I was driving a car and noticed smelling something burning. The car won't go in gear and move. On that night, the car stopped in the middle of the load. Even if I push a gas, it just does make noisy sound and smell really bad, and it never move. Next day it was towed to the orlando mini dealer. The dealer says that the clutch was burned out and this repair (per the dealers estimate is $3,000)is not covered by the warranty because it was driven by an inexperienced person or neglected. I am an experienced manual car driver and what the dealer told me is not true. It is only 4,000 miles and it should never happen if we drive in a normal way. The dealer did not listen to me and I ended up going a reliable local mechanic and paying $2,200 to fix it without warranty. The guy at the mechanic says mini clutch is a very common problem and he has fixed several times before. I also went to a website and realized that many people have the same problem and even say it might happen again soon. I believe it was a defected clutch and would like to complain about it. I have all evidences available. I would appreciate if you could help me to recover my monetary damages.
2007 mini cooper s - manual transmission would not allow gearshifts and could only be driven in first gear. Dealership stated clutch came apart after 8 months of ownership. Dealership replaced with remanufactured clutch, flywheel, gearbox oil and clip under warranty. In july of 2009 I noticed that the transmission was shifting rough and the clutch was making a squeaking sound when applied. Dealership got a work order from mini USA to remove the clutch/transmission. On august 12, 2009 the dealership removed the clutch/transmission and replaced the plastic part causing the noise, but noticed the flywheel had heat damage and cracking again. This time the dealership and mini USA state that this was caused by "wear and tear" and not covered under the manufactures warranty despite being covered 15k miles earlier. Current miles on vehicle are 31k with 19k remaining on manufacturers warranty.
I purchased a 2007 mini-cooper s and at 10k miles (1 year old) the clutch needed to be replaced. I don't understand how a new car with 10k miles needs a new clutch. The dealership and the manufacturer both said it was my fault and there was nothing wrong with the car. They quoted me over $3k to repair. I have been driving manual cars for 15 years and have never had a problem with a clutch.
Car clunks while going over rough roads. As per diagnosis from mini dealership, the "transmission motor mount is too small and does not dampen shock from road bumps or acceleration torque" and was replaced.
2007 mini cooper, purchased new, approx 21,000 miles. Parked car would not go into reverse. Many web forums indicate ongoing problems with mini transmissions.
Tl*the contact owns a 2007 mini cooper s. The contact stated that the clutch always emitted an odor of burning plastic. The engine gradually revved within a 48 hour period. While driving 30 MPH, the clutch failed. The dealer stated that a new clutch needed to be installed at the estimated cost of $3,300. The VIN was unknown. The failure and current mileages were 5,000.
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