New engine needed!!!!!

[Stanners7]

Hey all

Bit of a long story but ill try and cut it short. Purchased a 2006 Mini cooper S with full JCW engine from a private seller. ive had the car for just over 2 months when the engine light comes on. I take the car home ring mini to book it in. on my way to drop it off at my local mini garage it cuts out on the motorway leaving me having to be towed to mini. They call me later that day to advise that the car did not have enough oil in it causing one of the "driving chains" to snap which may of caused damage to the engine, after further investigation (mini charging £900 for them to take it out and look at it) they have found that the engine is damaged and will cost me £11,000 in total for a new engine and labour. The car has full service history from mini garages and had a service under 3,000 miles ago unfortunately it no longer has warranty on it. BMW have offered a contribution of £4,000 but are saying of course because i brought it privately rather than from a dealer there's not a lot they can do.

Of course i feel absolutely sick! not many people have £6,000 - £7,000 to spend on a new engine especially after just buying the car. Mini are saying that due to the performance of the car you need to top up the oil every 1000 miles. I'm not new to minis i have had 2 previously both brought from mini and have never heard of such a thing! i think its terrible that mini have not even thought of putting some sort of oil indicator in their cars if this is the case.
Im really just looking for some kind of feedback or advice anyone can give me.

thanks

[mab01uk]

Look for a good secondhand MCS engine from an accident damaged Mini, which will be much cheaper, try these Mini specialists below for one plus some help and advice:

MiniMatt|BMW|MINI|Modifications|Parts|Spares|Servi ce|Tuning|Repairs|Racing

Mini Spares Uk - Minispares UK

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[marque]

Hi ya so sorry to here about your engine that sucks

I take it the light you was talking about was EML light
if your oil warning light did not come on you should complane about that if it had come on you might have been able to catch the problem before it came to this
Has it got a bmw service history
11k sounds abit steep to me have they taken the head off or given you a strip report

[Poprin]

All I can say to the OP is I am gutted for you, makes me feel a little sick in the stomach just reading that.

I assume your JCW is the new shape with the turbo engine? I have a Cooper S 2006 first of the turbo ones and when I first bought mine I didn't check the oil for a month. Bought it from Mini and with the low miles and fairly new car for me a didn't think to check. Engine started sounding a little noisy on startup so checked the oil... barely a trace on the dipstick!! So blind panic, go out buy some oil from mini and it chewed up the litre top up in one go. Long story short but I check my oil every week now and i've used about 3.5 litres in 10,000 miles. The oil consuption was very high when I first got the car but turned out to have a leaky water pump which was making the engine run hot. After this was repaired it is much improved.

The only suggestion I can put to you is either, try to maybe persue the previous owner (might want to get some legal advise on this first) but with it being such a short period of time you might get some comeback that way. Short of that I would suggest speaking to a specialist Mini place and getting some other quotes, only trouble is a Mini -1 engine stuck at your local dealership they have you over a barrel a bit because you'll need to transport the thing anywhere you need to take it... sorry man that is a sob story