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2007 Cooper S

2K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  mike1967 
#1 ·
In the last year I’ve bought my wife a 67 plate Cooper S with auto which was a lovely car but she didn’t like the auto trans so sold it. She fancied trying a clubman so got a 67 plate Cooper. Really nice car but a bit too big for her so am about to buy a 2007 Cooper S with 30k on the clock. Going on Saturday to view and if happy, collect. Is there anything I should be looking at in particular? I’ve checked MOT history online and it’s never had any advisories and says it has full service history.
 
#2 ·
In my country there are so many loop holes, smoke and mirrors. That a history report could potentially mean absolutely nothing. Working with people during the purchase of a car can difficult.
When you really need to have the car checked out by a professional. Off hand I would say it is a 75/25 percent gamble in you favor. Just because the car has 30,000 miles on it does not mean it not gonna need a new timing chain. Be prepared for that. If the car has a warranty that would be the best. I would call a mini cooper dealership and try to get a extended warranty on the car to make it easy on myself.
If the seller does not want you to take it to get inspected for compression and all the other things it requires; then try to do the inspection when you look at it. whatever that may require.
With my mini cooper the biggest things that have bugged me over the years are interior related. stuff like the wind screen after opening the sun roofs and the lighter housing socket was loose. Stuff like that can really nickel and dime someone. When I got mine it had 25,000 miles on the clock. The sunroof screens were saggy not torn and the screen after you open the roofs up was slightly loose. Now because of the action of moving the screens back and forth and wind blowing against the other wind screen they are torn in small area's. Pricey!
All in all sounds like a 7 out of 10 purchase.
 
#3 ·
take someone with you that knows these cars is best way even then they can go faulty as age is not in its favour and with 30k on it its been sat around doing nothing for a long time this in its self can hurt stuff most common is valve stem seals also check it cold not started from day before it should start and right away idle and not cut out, if cuts out chances are the high pressure fuel pump could be on way out common issue and a £800 part for genuine one, i have them repaired for £140 so can cheaply fix that, also you will be looking at timing chain around 60k as chain stretch they all do it cant get away from it it's a must do job at those miles as running with a out of time prince engine will cost in long run... worth getting a AA report on it for piece of mind,, i have lost count the amount of customers that say to me wish i had got you to come see it before buying it etc,,
as for full history if has invoice all well and good but anyone can stamp up a book and make something look up to date
 
#4 ·
That's very smart about the HPFP and maybe even the vacuum pump would need a squirt or two of oil from pulling the valve cover before really taking off anywhere. Those things get scored up pretty bad when they don't have proper oiling or inspection. Dicey to say the least.
Biggest thing is getting over the hill with the first stock timing chains they had on them. After that the next timing chains can do so much better as they are revised when purchased in kit form. To include a new tensioner and well the guides themselves are revised and no longer look like this.
Blue Brown Denim Textile Electric blue

first series timing tensioner guide rail; stock on mini cooper R56 turbo N14 engine.
Blue Wood Brown Denim Textile

View of the same guide different angle that was revise in the first series guide rails N14 turbo.
Blue Wood Denim Textile Flooring

Finally the area that fell in question with broken pieces of the guide rail on mini coopers that had timing that failed. This has four side rails on it total. Revised kits and guide rails are only sold with two side rails. leaving less of a chance of pieces breaking off during a loose timing chain scenario.
Point is It's a really nice car to have with the revised kit. And actual maintenance. Plugs, oil, etc...
 
#12 ·
your saying they come without the top guide now, if so I bought 3 sets in December and all these had the top guide with the kit the reason they have a top guide is to stop chain from lash when vanos sprockets rotate etc,, should have a top guide,
 
#7 ·
it isn't
 
#9 ·
If you do it yourself it should only cost about a hundred and fifty for the timing chain kit. And about 25 dollars U.S. for the Seal. And about 140 dollars for the two sets of timing cam lock kits; To cross reference with. About 30 dollars U.S. for the oil pan gasket. So you can remove the oil pan and oil pump bolt to get in there and clean everything from the snout of the crankshaft(oil pump gear) with brake cleaner. If you advantageous buy a new oil pump gear(19 dollars U.S.) or sensibly tighten the TTY bolt over again a smidge tighter then required torque.
Get in there on the way out after completely the timing job with a new serpentine belt 28 dollars U.S.
So in the U.S. I know it would come up to about.
381 dollars U.S. give or take you can find seals here for as low as 13 dollars. but I forgot to add the price of brake cleaner for 8 dollars. Also you will need a Mini special tool
and a set of E Sockets.
Set of two jack stands floor jack to hold the engine at the brace point with the oil pan on or off with 1 inch pieces of wood between the jack stand and lower part of the engine on the outside case from the crankshaft gear assembly considering your upper engine mount is off and you need to support the engine or you could add this part to the running total. That stuff should be ordinary stuff like a socket set with a 1/2 drive to add to that and a 1/2 to 3/8th adapter. and a 3/8 quarter sized extension not a long or a short half the length of a short standard extension.
That would cover the entire job. As far as parts and tools needed. The valve cover gasket I would reuse and use
to grease it up and install it again to prevent leaks.
Getting the car into the service support position will take simple tools like a screwdriver common sockets 16 and 14mm,10mm,8mm for the ground wire to the coil packs and a 10mm wrench. Maybe a mallet or dead blow hammer to lightly tap the bumper forward after removing the bolts in order to slide it forward as per radiator service support position would require.
Myself I would put electrical tape on the inside of the crank sprocket SOCKET that is 18mm. Use a black marker after torquing that bolt and mark the corner of the bolt hex. Then wrench the bolt 180 degree's from where that mark was. And the only other thing Not in the book I would do is after torquing the exhaust camshaft bolt I would give it 135 degree's and not 90 degrees and not 180 degree's 135. And use the special tool during the tightening of the crank sprocket as something to hold the balancer hub stationary as the crank bolt is being turned making sure it keeps from kiltering(a floorjack under the end of the handle resting on it; so when you wrench it does not do anything but stop the tool in turn stopping the hub. Just don't let it kilter the hub. If you have torqued proper it shouldn't just watch it's geometry.
So you might want to add a torque angle socket tool to go with that.
About 450 dollars but the tools pay for themselves if you already have a small tool setup anyway.
 
#13 ·
If you do it yourself it should only cost about a hundred and fifty for the timing chain kit. And about 25 dollars U.S. for the Seal. And about 140 dollars for the two sets of timing cam lock kits; To cross reference with. About 30 dollars U.S. for the oil pan gasket. So you can remove the oil pan and oil pump bolt to get in there and clean everything from the snout of the crankshaft(oil pump gear) with brake cleaner. If you advantageous buy a new oil pump gear(19 dollars U.S.) or sensibly tighten the TTY bolt over again a smidge tighter then required torque.
Get in there on the way out after completely the timing job with a new serpentine belt 28 dollars U.S.
So in the U.S. I know it would come up to about.
381 dollars U.S. give or take you can find seals here for as low as 13 dollars. but I forgot to add the price of brake cleaner for 8 dollars. Also you will need a Mini special tool
and a set of E Sockets.
Set of two jack stands floor jack to hold the engine at the brace point with the oil pan on or off with 1 inch pieces of wood between the jack stand and lower part of the engine on the outside case from the crankshaft gear assembly considering your upper engine mount is off and you need to support the engine or you could add this part to the running total. That stuff should be ordinary stuff like a socket set with a 1/2 drive to add to that and a 1/2 to 3/8th adapter. and a 3/8 quarter sized extension not a long or a short half the length of a short standard extension.
That would cover the entire job. As far as parts and tools needed. The valve cover gasket I would reuse and use
to grease it up and install it again to prevent leaks.
Getting the car into the service support position will take simple tools like a screwdriver common sockets 16 and 14mm,10mm,8mm for the ground wire to the coil packs and a 10mm wrench. Maybe a mallet or dead blow hammer to lightly tap the bumper forward after removing the bolts in order to slide it forward as per radiator service support position would require.
Myself I would put electrical tape on the inside of the crank sprocket SOCKET that is 18mm. Use a black marker after torquing that bolt and mark the corner of the bolt hex. Then wrench the bolt 180 degree's from where that mark was. And the only other thing Not in the book I would do is after torquing the exhaust camshaft bolt I would give it 135 degree's and not 90 degrees and not 180 degree's 135. And use the special tool during the tightening of the crank sprocket as something to hold the balancer hub stationary as the crank bolt is being turned making sure it keeps from kiltering(a floorjack under the end of the handle resting on it; so when you wrench it does not do anything but stop the tool in turn stopping the hub. Just don't let it kilter the hub. If you have torqued proper it shouldn't just watch it's geometry.
So you might want to add a torque angle socket tool to go with that.
About 450 dollars but the tools pay for themselves if you already have a small tool setup anyway.
the camshaft bolts at meant to be done 20nm plus 90 plus 90 failure to do this will end up bent valves,
crankshaft bolt 40nm plus 120 degrees ,, also dont need a holding tool except the lock pin that goes in to crankshaft its designed to be used,, if use a holding tool like above its possible to throw timing out, really important people know the correct figures on this as the only thing that holds the sprockets is the force on those bolts and the force that is preloaded on a stretch bolt
 
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