2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: BMW Hit With Mini Cooper Engine Defect Class Action

Your honor I would like to call our first witness.........


Mr. Carbon......:devil:



Your witness Mr. Walnut

 

More on the MINI Lawsuit

This is a suit involving MY 2007-2009 vehicles only. The complaint is pretty detailed, including photos of the design of the motor.

I have attached a copy, for anyone who is interested.

BTW, I do not live or practice in New Jersey, do not handle class action lawsuits, and have no vested interest in the outcome of this case (particularly since I own a 2004 JCW and this lawsuit does not pertain to my vehicle).

 

The FOX spin? Once ABC or NBC or CBS gets hold of it the MINIs will explode when you look at them sideways on a Sunday drive.

 

One of our members here is an attorney, I pm'd him the info, let's see what he comes up with.....

 

I have a 2007 MCS. Love the car. Hate everything in the engine bay. I understand I have to change rotors and brakes and fluids and what not over the life of the car. I didn't understand that I would need to change HPFP, injectors, timing chain and tensioner, water pump, vacuum pump, aux water pump, half dozen gaskets and o rings to stop oil leaks...and now a burnt exhaust valve. All this over 12 months.

Probably won't fix the valve and pay for a new cylinder head. MINI will have to pay it to keep me in a Mini. Maybe a Subaru BRZ is next. I don't know. Torn...

 

Here is another site that references the suit. You need to subscribe for additional info, but I imagine this will be reported in the news if it is not a frivilous filing.
SKEEN et al v. BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, LLC et al :: Justia Dockets & Filings

 

I was wondering that too.....

It always makes my spidey senses tingle when I read one of those threads, all that indignation and call to action - you know it's all an attorney trying to drum up bidness and hit the deepest pockets he can find.

Every "successful" class action suit I've ever seen really only benefits the attorneys, those named usually get a voucher or some pittance for their efforts......but it's the principal of the thing right? "They" shouldn't be allowed to get away with this! Right?

Yeah right......

I asked in that thread what exactly they wanted from the mfr if they won? buy back all the 2007-2009 cars? New engines for all? Warranty forever?

All I got was crickets.....

 

Having a 2009 I was concerned until I realized it was the "S", not the "justa". So there you have it. :lol::lol::lol::lol:

Jim

 

:cornut: If you want spin, wait until MSNBC gets a hold of it.

Jason

 

Be interesting to hear more on that as it unfolds.. if it unfolds.
BMW might put a staple in it and sweep it under the door.

 

Someone register a free profile and copy and paste the text after u click read more:wink:

 

Wonder if this has anything to do with a certain thread on some NAMless site?

 

Yes I heard those same crickets. You are correct the big winner in such law suits are the lawyers.

 

The lawsuit was just filed in the last day or so. It is a class action lawsuit seeking damages for people with the "N12" or "N14" motor. I haven't yet read the entire complaint, but from a brief overview it appears to be a complaint about defective timing chain tesioners, which apparently let go and "cause catastrophic engine failiure."

 

Uh, the two situations are completely unrelated, carbon fouling vs timing chain failures.....

Unless you're suggesting there should be a class action against BMW/MINI over the carbon fouling issue.....that one might actually have some merit, and force them to come up with a solution or give us free carbon walnut shell blasting every 30K or something. I would support that idea.....

I figured this was a chain tensioner suit, and I'll bet it is the one we were discussing on that sewing site.....

To me the biggest disservice that will come from this is the halo bad publicity that the regular (uninformed) media will start breathlessly throwing at us in the name of the public's right to know.

 

I can't wait until FOX news covers the story and puts the FOX spin on it.

 

Exactly.

Well, I just read the text and it is full of incorrect information and assumptions......if nothing else BMW's attorneys should be able to tear this thing to bits strictly on technical issues.

However, the core part of the suit is true, the tensioners fail before they should, and when they do it creates catastrophic and expensive failure.

It's interesting that the one guy claims to have replaced his entire engine for $3800 at 74K miles, which tells me MINI must have paid for part of it.

I was called to testify in a Porsche case once, fortunately or not I never went on the stand, but I hope BMW has better lawyers than Porsche did in that case. This guy was a grandstanding ass, who clearly had no idea of what his case was about or how to defend it. When it was his turn.... his defence consisted of yelling loudly for emphasis like he was on TV in a courtroom drama, then when he was done, he winked at me and smirked, like he was Clarence Darrow or Mr. Burger or something. Porsche lost that one, big time.....Ms Perrywinkle Mason for the plaintiff tore Porsche a new one on that case.

I've commented many times on the sewing site forum that the so-called death rattle had nothing to do with a tensioner issue, that what they were hearing on cold startup was not the tensioner, but like the term "stealership", it's gained an internet life of it's own, and now anytime someone hears the normal diesel sound of these engines when cold they assume their tensioner is bad and the engine is going to blow up. sheesh.

I hope the next gen of BMW engines at least sound better than these, cause these things are not pleasant to listen to.....they made a real error in not tuning them to at least sound better, if nothing else.

I hope Mach V can keep us in the loop on this one, I'd like to follow it, closely.

I still wonder exactly what they expect to get from BMW on this.

 

BTW, the tensioners do not "let go", instead they never pressurize properly on startup, till the engine hit's a certain rpm, then they come in immediately - at least that's what mine did, it was replaced at 3K and I've had no issues with it since.

The big problem with these is people who don't realize that something's wrong and continue to drive the car anyway. Those are the chains that get stretched beyond the length that the tensioner can support, then the chain is loose and banging around, and eventually breaks the guides, teeth on the sprockets or jumps time. Bang, that engine's toast.

Sometimes parts of the plastic guides break off and jam in the chain sprocket, causing the engine to jump time. Lots of ways these can cause a failure of the engine, but it all relates back to the same thing, tensioner failure.

 

Actually, I think the lawsuit is for both the naturally aspirated and the turbo models.


I wonder what this will do for resale value for ALL MINIS. :-(

 

My 2010 cooper S experienced tensioner failure at 13k under warranty. Dealer replaced chain and components. I have a ton of carbon on my pipes but was told this is normal. I sent a NJ lemon law letter to corporate on the 13th, as the suspension was ridiculously faulty and I'd been to the dealer five times over it.

I posted that issue on the "Why is everyone's MINI Breaking?" thread. Gotta say tho, the service guys at the dealership were great - they called in a rep who pinpointed the problem as the front sway bar bushings.