[R55 Newbie]

Hi all,

So I bought a 2008 Cooper S Clubman Petrol with 98,000 on the clock.

I bought it sight unseen (although did do a facetime walk around with the seller), with a known engine problem. I knew it had a noisy timing chain (and was priced accordingly). Intended to swap the chain, guides etc before using it. Sent a transport agent to go and collect it. When it arrived, I took it for a drive and it drove fine, engine had plenty of power. Then stupidly took it for a 10 mile round trip with the good lady. Made it back to within 1/4 mile of the house and the engine management light starts flashing, misfire and an oil pressure warning comes up on the display. Yes, I am an idiot. Let's move past that

So, diagnostics-wise, it is misfiring on cylinder 1. Multiple codes about various misfires on all cylinders, upstream O2 sensor activated, knock detected etc. Took the plugs out, plug on cylinder 1 had burned away the electrode and was only finger tight (in fact all the plugs were finger tight). Put new plugs in, still misfiring. Swapped coil packs between cylinders. Misfire stayed on cylinder 1. Bugger. Plug from cylinder 1 now has oil on it.

Compression tested all the cylinders. Zero compression on cylinder 1. The other 3 were consistently around 110. So - I am assuming the chain or vanos has slipped and I have a couple of bent valves on that cylinder. I haven't done a leak down test as whatever it tells me will likely mean that the head has to come off, and frankly if the head has to come off them the problem should be apparent!

So..... I am expecting an engine tear down. Which I am happy to do myself, so what I am asking really is what else should I be doing whilst I am in there? I know my way around the spanners but am not that familiar with these engines. I know about the stretch bolts etc and the torquing up + x degrees.

So I am planning to do the following (not necessarily in this order!):

• Engine strip, head off, replace the bent valves (after checking the guides and the cylinder/piston condition) and lap in some new ones
• Will also examine the camshaft bearings for any sign of wear/scoring
• New timing chain and guides plus both the vanos and exhaust sprocket, new tensioner and all bolts
• Flush the cooling system and rad whilst I am in there (coolant looks pretty mucky)
• Oil pump chain and crank sprocket
• Crank seal
• Thermostat
• Replace all gaskets on the oil filter housing
• Drop the sump pan and clean out, check the oil pump pick up
• Oil/Air/Cabin/Fuel filters (obviously) + fresh oil and coolant and new gaskets etc for anything that comes off

Is there anything else I should be considering? The intention would be to keep this car for a long time, so I am thinking "proper" fix, rather than just get it working.

I am worried about the oil pressure message. Should I consider replacing the oil pump whilst I am in there, or is there a way I can test it?
I am also wondering if I should pull the block and replace the clutch / slave / thrust bearing whilst in bits - a friend was telling me that there is a seal that can leak onto the clutch plate?

Also, where is the best place to buy the parts without paying dealer prices - I see loads of places on eBay advertising the parts - but what is the quality like - are there some recommended sellers?

I am not going to start for a while as my garage is currently occupied by my MG Midget, which has the engine sitting on the floor next to it, so I have to get that back together before I start on the mini (it is parked up out of the way at the moment and now SORNED so no rush), so in the meantime I will be gathering information and parts. I will keep this thread up to date once I get started.

All advice welcomed. I know that the engine rebuild is probably more work than the car is worth, and I have considered parting it out (good spec including full leather and factory nav), but I hate seeing otherwise solid cars get scrapped for mechanical issues.

Cheers - Mark

 

[R55 Newbie]

Thanks both.

Whilst I am still likely to do it myself, I have since spotted this:

MINI COOPER S R55 R56 1.6 TURBO ENGINE SUPPLY & FIT. 2006 TO 2010 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for MINI COOPER S R55 R56 1.6 TURBO ENGINE SUPPLY & FIT. 2006 TO 2010 at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Which seems cheap to supply and fit. Is this a case of too good to be true? Has anyone got any experience with these guys?


It would mean that the mini would be back on the road by the end of the month, rather than the 3-4 months it is likely to take me to get everything else I need to do first and then actually do the mini.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[R55 Newbie]

Ooops - Double post, sorry

 

[R55 Newbie]

Thanks Mike and TimB

Good information. Just as an update - I decided not to go ahead with the recon engine above, and have decided to do it myself, fixing everything as I go... will also attend to valve stem oil seals, filter housing gaskets and oil pipework as I go.........basically trying to make the car a keeper (likely to have ended up being scrapped if I had not bought it - which would have been insane!)
Have added water pump, wheel, drivebelt and tensioner to the "to do" list

Unfortunately I am not in a position to start fixing it yet, so it is sat in the back garden out of the way. I started putting the engine back in my midget, but then then noticed that the large canopy porch on the front of the house had developed a serious lean to one side..... so have had to remedy that over the last month! That is now done (bar a bit of paint).

That then leaves the engine to go back in the Midget (block is all cleaned up and painted and I now have all the powder coated covers and panels ready and the rebuilt gearbox is now back). Once that is done, I can move it to a lock-up for a few weeks. Then I can make a start on the mini.... So hopefully that will be early new year. I will post updates once I get started. The intention is that once I get the mini into the garage I can spend an hour on it each evening after work, so hopefully can get it all done in 2-3 weeks and I can then be driving it
(Then the midget can come back and I can crack on with installing the dash, sorting out the wiring and installing the interior.... then it should be ready for the summer)

Never-ending list of jobs.

 

[R55 Newbie]

Sorry for the radio silence.... Still working on the never ending list of other jobs, my intention was to fix the Clubman once my new garage was built (my old/existing single garage has been trashed in the progress).... Which started in January and still isn't done, MG has been moved to a lock-up and the Clubman has been sitting in the back garden looking all sad. I had to move it the front of the house to let the builders have access at one point.... except it did not want to move. All the brakes were seized solid, so I needed to make it mobile (pushable) and did replace all the disks, pads, backplates, pad sensors etc, and attended to various corrosion on the brake lines, and some light surface rust underneath. At a similar time I was taking some wheels up to City Powder Coaters in Birmingham so I threw the wheels in the van and had them done and some new tyres as well.... So it has had a little bit of attention. Now is sitting on concrete at the front of the house and is at least being pushed around every so often to keep it rolling

 

[R55 Newbie]

I had planned to use the clubman for commuting to work, and the pandemic and working from home made me lose focus on needing to fix it, although without the garage being complete I could not realistically have done the work on the engine (partly due to the mess that is everywhere due to the building work). In all reality, I cannot see the garage being completed and operational before Christmas (long and irritating story).

So for the meantime I have procured another commuter-mobile. The clubman WILL get fixed, but likely to be next year now. In the meantime, I shall be hooning around (sorry, I mean commuting) in this.

Decent spec with full leather, factory nav, Xenons, Cruise, A/C etc. Will likely be asking questions about this one at some point

 

[R55 Newbie]

have you rebuilt the engine yet

Sadly no, otherwise I would not have been able to convince the missus of the need to buy the R52.

Although another response could be:

Happily, No. However in the meantime I have been able to convince the missus of the need to buy an R52 until such time as I have rebuilt the engine on the R55.

All I need to work on then, is the need to keep the R52 once I have fixed the R55.

 

[R55 Newbie]

i do this sort of thing a lot buy something and then takes me hmmm well worst one was 14 months reckon sat there it bits, my last honda project that was a 6 months engine change lol, if only i used the word no to others asking me to do stuff for them i would have a easy life from being reminded i need to get on with this car or next cars from wife lol

He he, I know that feeling so well. Last week I was at a friends house helping him lay a false floor in his garage and insulate the walls so he could use it as a Gym. So many jobs, so little time.

However when the garage is finished (huge triple jobbie which will have a 2 post lift) then I should be able to crack on and make progress, even if it is only because I can leave the car(s) in bits and do an hour here and there - which I can't do on the driveway!

What doesn't help is that once the garage build started, I was reminded that I had promised to replace the kitchen, and that because I wasn't really able to do anything on cars outside, now would be an ideal time to get started.....