[AussieMini]

After a nice drive up to Toowoomba on the weekend just gone (150ks from home) my eight week old Cooper S just stopped.

I pulled over, popped the bonnet and coolant was spraying/boiling all over the engine bay.

After being towed away by BMW Roadside Assistance I get a call from the dealer to tell me my engine is cooked and needs replacing.

So now I have no MINI for two weeks (minimum) and I'm stuck with a BMW paid for Avis rent-a-car Commadore. (Now if you want a piece of cr@p car a Commadore it what you want).

I have to say though that BMW's Roadside Assistance has been faultless and Brisbane BMW have even been kind enough to load me a nice BMW this weekend on top of my rental.

Mixed feelings but the experience has been ok.

[nhodge]

ooooh bugger. not a good look at all.

any idea on what the root cause is?

[AussieMini]

Yeh nhodge, the dampener belt broke. It unfortunately runs the water pump.

[ShermanM]

Not a good thing to hear.
How many K's has your Mini done? It should not break that early. Not the first I have heard though.
Be careful with oil consumption as well. Mine is starting to burn a little to much to my liking.

[eltel]

Was there no indication on the temperature guage? Or did it happen too quickly? Was there any change to the engine noise?

I'm not looking forward to this happening to me if there are no signs that something is amiss.

[red cooper1]

Danny,sorry to hear about your cooper s dying.
Hope BMW are right about the time it takes to replace your engine.I know how you feel not having
your car as mine is currently at the panel beaters and should be ready in about one week.

[IML337]

yeah, what happened to the temp gauge?! (though in nav cars you don't get one anyway - I'd have no idea unless I heard something)

Sorry to hear though... Glad the dealer is being co-operative. I can't believe the whole engine needs replacing though?! Wouldn't it just have blown a head gasket or something?

I hope it gets sorted soon for you!

[warped]

That kinda sucks sorry to hear that the engine cooked itself, but I would be asking some serious questions about what the temp gauge was doing through this whole experience

I would probably be happier with the whole engine being replaced myself ... simple peace of mind ... you never know what else may have been cooked at the same time

Hope the car is back as good as new as soon as possible

[brett]

Sorry to hear about your mini, should see if you can get the same engine number stamped onto the block, as it will effect your resale come trade in time. how many K's did you do on the original?

But that's what happens when you go poking bannana's in your bonnet scoop.

Good to hear Brisbane BMW are looking after you. Didn't loan you a M3 or 7 series did they

[Harry Morant]

Sorry to hear about your motor - does this mean its back to sub 4000 revs for about 2000 clicks. Is this a known problem with the belt?

Not trying to make light of what would be a real blow to all of us here on the forum but I couldn't help thinking of a particular sketch from Monty Python. "Its not dead - its just pining for the fjords"

[21Blue]

sorry to hear the sad news. This raises more doubts in my mind on whether the Mini is a reliable car. I have heard of many sad stories on how the cars have broken down/malfunctioned etc.....

[AussieMini]

Thanks for the sympathy guys, I'll pass it on to my "S" when I get to the dealers to get some shots with it's "heart" (engine) ripped out.

First of all my MINI had only done 4,300ks and showed no sign of dying before it stopped. No engine noise, no nothing.

As for the temp gauge, I wasn't really keeping an eye on it mainly because in a brand new car you shouldn't have to. In my old Mitsubishi Colt I had while at uni my eye was on the temp gauge more than the road, but in a new BMW product? Who would of guessed?

They will also stamp the new engine with the old numbers to match them up. They are replacing the engine because when it overheated it appararently "scored the crank" according to the dealer. In these cases the tech said they don't just replace a part or two, they replace the entire engine. I am happier to wait two weeks for a new engine than get it on the road in a few days with a couple of parts replaced from heat damage.

All the same it should not of happened. This is my second BMW/MINI and I have to say would be my last if this happened again. If this does happen again you can bet you'll see me driving a Pug 206cc Convertable before the end of the year! Bring it on!

See how it goes.

[AussieMini]

Now this'd be very nice!

[swamos]

Quote: Originally Posted by AussieMini

Now this'd be very nice!

You'd look like Ron Jeremy driving one of those !!

This again shows me that all engines should have a high temp warning buzzer that sounds once at 3/4 temp. I mean if they can do it for the handbrake, or ice warning, doing it for temp is simple They probably wouldn't have a engine to replace now if they had one of those.

It is made even more important in the MINI where the temp guage is stuck off in the middle of the car. My 34YO Lotus has better ergonomics placing of it's temp guage.

I think the replacement engine is for the best, though

[CanberraCooperS]

Ive done some investigation and the Computer is supposed to stop the engine if it starts to overheat. The Siemens computer is the same one that the Astra, Vectra use and its got a overheat kill function. I believe this was supposed to have worked.
Sorry to hear you had such bad luck. I am up to 26,347klms and other than self inflicted repairs I have not had to touch the car. The car has been ultra reliable thus far

[cityclinic]

Sorry to hear you blew your motor Danny, at least BMW/MINI are doing the right thing although I think putting you back in a MINI Loaner should be part of the deal.

Same can't be said for Honda, don't ever blow a tranny in a Honda you will get very little support .. definately the worst service I've ever encountered in over 30 years of motoring .. should say denial of a problem 'service isn't even in Honda Australia's vocabulary.

I've never blown a transmission, manual or auto in any of over 20 new and used vehicles I've owned. At 85,000 ks (owned since 8000ks) the auto blew. It was a week before Christmas ,02 and we had booked and paid for a Holiday in Coffs. Honda couldn't fix the car before the end of January 03 due to parts not being available. No offer of a loaner and to make matters worse couldn't get a flight to Coffs in time for the holiday. Hiring a car at peak time was going to cost us nearly $1500.

We contacted every Honda Dealer in Sydney ... same story no parts, end of Jan.

Through a mate we contacted a specialist in Honda Transmissions. The auto was fully recond with genuine Honda supplied parts in 48 hours. Nearly $5000 later, we went on our holiday all went well.

On our return to Sydney, we contacted Honda, sent all the receipts showing genuine parts etc expecting some sought offer to reimburse the costs. Didn't hear boo for months despite contacting them once or twice per week. Finally after getting in touch with the 'person responsible for these matters' and threatening to go and sit in their waiting room in the dirtiest clobber I could find and no shower for a week... sorry Mr Robinson can't help you, your vehicle is out of warranty and you had an unauthorised repairer fix the auto.

Warranty is 80,000 klms. The car was serviced two weeks before the tranny blew. The car has had every service logged and included an oil service every 5,000 ks since new.

We were 5k out of warranty and they couldn't fix the car due to parts not being available from the factory until after Christmas. The receipts for the parts used in the repair by our specialist are from Honda.

We've owned three new and one 8k one owner Honda. We will never own one again.

[alistaircooke]

Quote: Originally Posted by cityclinic

don't ever blow a tranny in a Honda

sorry brad, but thats one thing you'll never catch me doing in a honda or otherwise ;-) ;-) ;-)

Al.

[brett]

Swamos are you saying looking like Ron Jeremy would be a bad thing obviously you haven't seen his movies...He would have to be the luckiest guy in the world

Did you hear an interview with him on the ABC radio? Apparently he thinks male actors are exploited, because they usually have to do all the work, and get paid a tenth of the females

[MrMow]

Dude, be happy you are getting a new engine, for piece of mind. I had a Ducati that kept blowing its oil seals and scoring pistons.. engine was rebuilt 3 times in 2 years.. It may have been fine in the end, but I didn't trust it..

[snoopy]

Best of luck Danny, I know it not good news but at least you are getting a new engine. Had friends that had a new car that overheated and the MFG patched it up and sent them on their way. Well the car was sold just before it needed an engine rebuilt just outside the 100,000 warranty.

As for the 206cc hope you love you MINI rattles because in the 206 you will have plenty more to love.