Posting for a friend who hasn't got on line access currently

Clubman Cooper "S" FSH 18k very gentle miles 44 months old but now out of warranty and according to the AA man the timing chain has gone and car is waiting to be towed into a BMW dealers tomorrow for full analysis

Naturally they want to make a good will claim does anyone on here have any tips as to the best way forward out of this unexpected nightmare scenario :puzzled:

Many thanks in advance

Has he had any cold start rattle issues and, if so, were they resolved by MINI? He may be able to argue that damage was inflicted before they actually managed to fix the problem at about tensioner version 14!
Good luck. Please let us know if he has any success, it may help others in future.

Has he had any cold start rattle issues and, if so, were they resolved by MINI? He may be able to argue that damage was inflicted before they actually managed to fix the problem at about tensioner version 14!
Good luck. Please let us know if he has any success, it may help others in future.

As far as I know there were no cold start rattle issues until that journey of around 3 miles from home. Several hours later upon returning to the car it was now dead!:hmph:

Posting for a friend who hasn't got on line access currently

Clubman Cooper "S" FSH 18k very gentle miles 44 months old but now out of warranty and according to the AA man the timing chain has gone and car is waiting to be towed into a BMW dealers tomorrow for full analysis

Naturally they want to make a good will claim does anyone on here have any tips as to the best way forward out of this unexpected nightmare scenario :puzzled:

Many thanks in advance

Timing chain should almost last the life of the car, shouldn't be failing at 18k, that's for sure. Even the belts on the cooper diesels (diesel engines use belts, not chains) aren't recommended to be changed before 100,000km.

If out of warranty, the best is, as you say, to try for a "goodwill" repair since this chain has failed very prematurely. It's going to be very important to diagnose why the chain failed, particularly if it has something to do with the tensioner

the car should of had at least 2 if not 3 oil changes because of the low mileage the car does per yr.

Todays news from the Mini dealer was not a timing chain problem but "cylinder heads need decoking" and they will be asking Mini for a goodwill claim

Anyone heard of this before on such a low mileage modern engine!

Todays news from the Mini dealer was not a timing chain problem but "cylinder heads need decoking" and they will be asking Mini for a goodwill claim

Anyone heard of this before on such a low mileage modern engine!

Has nothing to do with mileage and everything to do with driving style. Lots of short stop-and-go trips that don't heat up the engine will cause this.

Car should be taken on long highway drives to heat up the engine and burn off the carbon.

You should also be checking the oil level to see if it's consuming an unusual amount of oil.

Has nothing to do with mileage and everything to do with driving style. Lots of short stop-and-go trips that don't heat up the engine will cause this.

Car should be taken on long highway drives to heat up the engine and burn off the carbon.

You should also be checking the oil level to see if it's consuming an unusual amount of oil.

The carbon build up will be on the INLET side so the above advice will not work.

Many Direct Injection engines have the same problem of carbon build up on the inlet side as there is no fuel to keep the inlet clean only oil vapour from PCV that will then burn onto the hot inlet side.

Seafoam or other engine treatment into the inlet manifold has been used sucessfuly by many - search and you will find many usual posts on this topic..

Engine was rebuilt 100% free of any charges and is now running perfectly once again

Well done BMW for not putting up a fight and just getting the mess sorted quickly and pain free on the wallet :-)

I've only just caught up with this thread, well done on the fix.
There are many R56 S that have had coking problems, mine was decoked and had a new bottom end at 36k miles/30 months. She is not driven gently on short runs, has inbetween oil changes and BG44k/ V-power. It appears to be something technical that I don't understand, venting of a pcv (?) I think.
An oil catch can is one way you can stop it happening but there are others.