I've owned an '07 R56 for about 5 years. I've had nothing but problems with it. It leaked oil for the first couple years until i replaced the oil filter housing gasket and the oil in line to the turbo. It ran great for a few years after that, doing regular oil changes and maintenance. Just put a new performance exhaust on it last fall and a new set of winter tires in November. That's when the timing belt tensioner decided to fail and now i have a blown engine. I owe $4k on the car and the estimates to fix it are about $4k, likely more. Trying to decide what to do with it. I could part it out and cover some of the money i owe. The exhaust has maybe 300 mi on it and the tires are likley less than 100 miles. The rest of the car is in good shape, so i'm torn on what to do next. I have other cars, so i'm not in need of a vehicle. Just looking to cover the $4k i owe on it. Also, i don't qualify for the Class action suit against BMW for this as the settlement will give me nothing due to the mileage on the car. anyone have any great ideas? thanks! Gregg
If you have the original chain tensioner installed, it would be worth a try to take it to the dealer. Mine didn't cause a catastrophic engine failure, but it was sounding more like a hay bailer than a car when I took it in. They replaced everything even though the car was 7 years old and had 120K miles on it. Doesn't cost anything to try.
We did a compression test and got very low readings, did a leak down test and also extremely low readings. Also found bits of the plastic guard on the timing chain in the top of the engine and assuming there is more in the oil pan. Based on all that, i'm assuming the worst here. May be worth a tow to the dealer to see what they say.
Definitely check with a MINI dealer. Your car is part of a recall campaign AND a class-action lawsuit regarding the timing chain and tensioner. I got a new chain and tensioner for free at 94K miles on my 2007 CooperS. It was a pretty well publicized recall. CD
Yeah I have a2007 also. They replaced mine at 90k no questions asked. Also a bunch of other service campaigns. Hpfp, turbo water pump, chain tensioner and timing chain, some other stuff. It's worth trying.