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R56 - N14. Seven years of ownership - my experience and problems encountered

44K views 12 replies 12 participants last post by  TrackieBear 
#1 ·
Car's name - Mechanically Inept with Niggles Included

After 7 years of problematic ownership, I have reluctantly come to the end of the road with my car. Though I would share the experience and problems I have had over 7 years:

Mini Cooper S chilli pack delivered 18th May 2008. 2 owners, same driver. Was wife’s company car and I then bought it from the leasing company. R56 N14 engine. 76,000 miles.

2008 – Power steering failure – warranty repair.

2009 – Windscreen spontaneously cracked while stationary – warranty repair

2009 - Drivers side electric window fails – warranty repair

2010 – Timing chain failure - warranty repair – timing chain, pulleys and tensioner replaced

2011 – Leather coming off driver’s seat – warranty repair

2011 – Clutch and duel mass fly wheel fails – repair at a cost of £1,200 at an independent garage. – circa 40,000 miles

Other – ABS and hill start stops working – investigated
Car alarm goes off whilst driving - investigated

Heavy use of oil – investigated a number of times.

Loss of power investigated a number of times

Noise coming from windscreen after replacement investigated

2013 – Rocker head gasket replaced – oil leaking - independent garage

2014 April – Second timing chain failure – parts and 60% labour paid for by BMW - timing chain, pulleys and tensioner replaced. Warning light on and loss of power.

2014 April – Turbo oil feed pipes fail – Around £500 pounds to replace – I paid BWM to fir replacement pipes

2015 – Boot mechanism replaced

2015 -Thermostat replaced

2015 - Air conditioning pipes replaced

2015 - fuel pump replaced (BMW paid for parts and labour for fuel pump). Total of £1,400 paid for by customer in 2015 visit.

2015 - Two weeks later, engine warning light on, limp home mode engaged. BMW Found lose air intake pipe and fixed. No charge.

15 minutes after pick up from to the above investigation, engine warning light on again and limp home mode engaged. Being looked at as I type, but I have made the to call to end my relationship with my Mini and look elsewhere. Despite my love for her, it has been all one way...............

P.S. Over the years I have used around 50 litres of oil to keep levels correct between services.

P.P.S. Apart from one service at an independent garage around April 2013, all services conducted by BWM / Mini.
 
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#3 ·
That is a sorry tale of car woe ::frown::. You have shown a lot of patience to keep your car that long. In 11.5 years with 2 Cooper S's I have had a faulty remote locking reciever done under w/tee on my R56 which also used a lot of oil for the first 3-4k miles. There is no car out there that you can g/tee reliability, if you change your mind I hope you get a reliable F55/56 you deserve it.
 
#4 ·
Got a Mini Cooper s on a 07 plate and I am having trouble finding out what and were the part is because I ain't got a clue and it is bugging me. Done a diagnostic check and the only existing fault code is 2F42. Described as crankcase ventilation heating element open circuit. What is it and were is it can any body help me ?
 
#6 ·
I understand your pain.... I bought a second hand (factory) JCW 2008 model (N14), 2 years ago, and can honestly say that it is the most expensive car to maintain that I've owned in 30yrs of driving!

Car was in excellent condition when I bought it, with 60,000 mls on the clock, and full BMW service history.

First thing to replace was the windscreen, but not the car's fault, just a few stone chips from its previous 5 yrs usage.

The drivers window motor failed same year (replaced with genuine BMW motor at dealership)
Then shortly after, the engine started to produce some hesitation under load. Diagnosed as faulty High Pressure fuel pump. (replaced with genuine part)
Although this helped, the power delivery was still lack lustre.
Under further investigation\expense, I had the engine walnut blasted, (described from the independent specialist that carried out the job as the worst case of coking up they had seen) BMW dealership had told me it didn't need doing previously!! This is only going to happen again, due to the direct injection design.

Then shortly after, the clutch and flywheel needed replacing, as a small amount of vibration was noticeable when pulling away in first gear. It wasn't necessary to do it straight away, as it wasn't severe enough.
However, just 2 months after that diagnosis, the oil feed pipe to the Turbo started to leak. Pipe was cheap enough, but the labour to get to it was horrific! £600 from BMW to replace it . (Full front end strip out to get to it) They advised me to get all the oil pipes replaced at the same time, and also replace the clutch and flywheel, as it involves stripping the front end off again to get to the clutch.
BMW agreed to reduce the price to carry out both jobs as a 'goodwill gesture'. Still cost £2000 though, and they had to replace a worn looking alternator belt whilst they were at it.
Just 300 miles later, the vibration was still evident when pulling away (although very subtle), so after taking it back to the dealer, they diagnosed it as faulty clutch, and they replaced it again (at their cost).

That little lot was in the first 18mths.

Serviceable parts consisting of rear brake discs and pads, new battery, and the usual copious amounts of Castrol Edge LL04 oil (at £20 per litre) . Common oil consumption with these N14 engines.

This week the Engine malfunction light came on (static amber), but went out again after about 50 miles of driving. Nothing noticeable during this event, so not sure why this happened.
Also, the air con has now suddenly stopped working.

If I had done my homework prior to buying the car, I would have looked elsewhere . Having said that, they are great fun to drive, and have bags of character with the popping and burping of the exhaust.
Not a cheap car or reliable by any means!
 
#7 ·
Despite my 2005 MINI having only let me down once in the 3 years I've had it, I've fixed numerous 'common problems'.
Fortunately I do a lot of my own work on cars. But I'll say this now, I will NEVER buy another MINI or BMW in my life.
The are put together with the shoddyiest of components.
Issues with my Mini that I've sorted in 3 years of ownership...
- Mushroomed passenger strut tower (do a Google Image search for 'mushroomed strut tower' - it's all MINIs and BMWs)
- Rear shock absorbers were dead after only 75K miles
- Exhaust backbox rusted
- Car failed to start at 10pm leaving me stranded, cost me £150 to get it back home. Fault was the ignition switch
- I bought a faulty fuel pump from dealership, they then forced me to jump through hoops to get it replaced
- Water in battery box
- Sump gasket leak (still to fix this one!)

In contrast, my previous car, a 1999 Toyota MR2, which I owned for 9 years, and was 13 years old when I sold it, issues...
-
that's it!!!! NOTHING!!!!!
It was even on the original clutch when I sold it at 120K miles.
 
#8 ·
I just don't understand, well I understand that you can never compare Japanese make and German or other Euro makes. The cost, reliability, maintaining it, parts etc, they can never be compared. But I just don't understand how one make is so much more expensive than the other yet, the much cheaper brands out there (Honda, Toyota, Acura) are That much more reliable?

Can any professional mechanics out there really tell me? I know it's a stupid question. Maybe European cars just not meant to be driven past, let's say 50k - 100k miles? I guess we should look at it as a short term eye candy, status kind of thing. They just can't survive like the Japanese make as time goes by. It feels like this is an obstacle that the European make can never overcome. Yes, they make very nice luxury beautiful vehicles, double or sometimes triple the cost of a Japanese or other make vehicles, yet they last half the time. No one wants to always change cars, are there things we can really do to avoid all this hassle to try to keep our Euro cars live longer?

The reason I brought all this up is because I'm currently a new owner of a BMW, and recently purchased a preowned F56, I really want to be proactive while I still can after reading all this, I don't want to end up in the same ****.
Other than our regular oil changes, possibly tranny fluid change, I could use more tips on how to baby our car?

Thanks for reading.
 
#10 ·
unless the bodies and underbodies are cosseted they tend to rot out faster than well anything!! :eeksurprise:

engines usually hold strong but the body usually disappears :laugh::big_grin:

i brought this and it neede some work :big_grin:


Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Van


Vehicle Car Auto part Engine Fuel line


Land vehicle Vehicle Car Mitsubishi Minivan



i originally brought it for the 4d56 diesel engine, it was to go in a mitsubishi montero i had a few yrs ago but the montero sat and rotted away coz i lost interest and this delica has been sat for 5 yrs and is rotten ::wink::

most imported cars rot away toyotas and mitsubishi's especially, mitsubishi FTO's were known to rot coz they they didnt use much paint they also didnt have the salt and grit on the roads we have here so they
just rust


oh and the leaky deleky you see in the pictures has a rotten chassis and rear spring mount thats why the rear wheel looks funny..

japanese make great drivetrains but bodys are **** !!
 
#11 ·
A couple of years ago my mate dropped his 2005 Mazda 6 off to me for a pre MOT and I diagnosed the underside of the body as terminal. How it passed its last MOT is beyond me but he only owned it for 6 month so was clearly raped. I condemned the car due to the major rot on the drivers side sill and other structural points and strongly advised him not to drive it again as it was in my opinion beyond economical repair. The car never drove away from my garage and was taken away on a flat bed to the breakers yard!

Last year my other mate, again with a Mazda 6 had a similar problem but not quite as bad and again I condemned that car. He seen the Mini collection I had so when I advised him that he needed a new car his mind was instantly made up. I took him out to buy a Mini ONE that he had seen advertised and when I looked over it the car was a pile of shyte so instead he bought a R53 Cooper S! After the honeymoon with the Cooper S was over he changed it for a Cooper D Clubman which is more practical for his needs and he is now a fully devoted Mini man!
 
#13 ·
I have a 2009 Mini Clubman JCW 1.6T Manual 6 Speed.
I got the timing chain and parts replaced and joined the lawsuit to make mini pay for it. (Bad dealer in Michigan wouldn't warranty repair it)
I replaced the clutch and flywheel.
I have changed every part of the cooling system but I paid for the parts directly and changed a few to alternate parts that were recommended paid about 1500.
I also did the vacum pump before it failed to an alternate part.
Also changed my oil pan seal with the BMW tube sealant which lowered the oil loss a ton.
Then I had my crank seal replaced (while I was having the cooling parts installed.)
I run seafoam through the different parts of my engine to clean up the carbon buildup in the turbo/injectors/and block.
I have upgraded the entire air intake package from the CAI to every pipe and the intercooler and then had it tuned. I generate a lot of power with my R55 and I stay on top of its maintenance and do preventative work to keep it rolling. 92000 miles of Joy.
 
#13 ·
Old jap cars are reliable as hell. Ironically its because they are built so badly, the tolerances on parts were that bad that as the engine coked up and got remnace of oil in it they perform better. This is coming from a guy whos mk1 mx5 got quicker and quicker in the 3 years of ownership until one day i flushed the engine changed the oil and it all seeped out and the engine went bang. New cars/ engines are built so close tolerance and the power produced they are just inherently less reliable
 
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