[Minicoopernewbie]

Hi
We are interested in the purchase of 2018 Mini Cooper which is Cat N.While the body work was repaired,the previous owner told us that there was a "problem with turbo as engine was overheating.Lady said something about cooling system".
How big a work is this to sort out as the asking price and colour and specifications of the car is very desirable to my daughter?
Many thanks

 

[Allspeed]

How long is a price of string....walk away

 

[mike1967]

i've spent my whole life working on cars and every time i have touched a high performance car with water problems its never been how the seller has said it to be,, ie they say what they think is the less problem and twists a story around it, so you could think bargain all i need is a turbo ie £300 in parts 4 hours fitting time say, compared to maybe the real story, ie owner driven car until steam came out and eml light and limp mode comes on,, trouble is if it has been run to this point chances are, head gasket and turbo damage, or add to this cracked cylinder head, trouble is n18 turbo cylinder heads are rare and very expensive, if yours is warped its valves out to skim head plus crack test the head, also you would be foolish not to replace the timing chain while got head off on those engines,, and if the heat damage has effected the piston rings ie makes them go weak and fry's the valve stem seals as well. £300 at bets of a turbo £2000 at worst for a secondhand engine,, add to that the car is on register so when come to resell car it limits who will buy it. just the on the register reduces its value a lot.. one big question is why would someone sell a car very cheap with a £300 fault when without that fault its worth a lot more maybe,

 

[Minicoopernewbie]

i've spent my whole life working on cars and every time i have touched a high performance car with water problems its never been how the seller has said it to be,, ie they say what they think is the less problem and twists a story around it, so you could think bargain all i need is a turbo ie £300 in parts 4 hours fitting time say, compared to maybe the real story, ie owner driven car until steam came out and eml light and limp mode comes on,, trouble is if it has been run to this point chances are, head gasket and turbo damage, or add to this cracked cylinder head, trouble is n18 turbo cylinder heads are rare and very expensive, if yours is warped its valves out to skim head plus crack test the head, also you would be foolish not to replace the timing chain while got head off on those engines,, and if the heat damage has effected the piston rings ie makes them go weak and fry's the valve stem seals as well. £300 at bets of a turbo £2000 at worst for a secondhand engine,, add to that the car is on register so when come to resell car it limits who will buy it. just the on the register reduces its value a lot.. one big question is why would someone sell a car very cheap with a £300 fault when without that fault its worth a lot more maybe,

Hi
We are buying it of a salvage aution centre-but happened to see the previous owners phone number inside the car.And she told me that while damage was to the rear(bumper,tail gate etc) repair guys and insurance guys "then noted turbo was heating up as there was cooling problem" and decided to write it off.

 

[mike1967]

Hi
We are buying it of a salvage aution centre-but happened to see the previous owners phone number inside the car.And she told me that while damage was to the rear(bumper,tail gate etc) repair guys and insurance guys "then noted turbo was heating up as there was cooling problem" and decided to write it off.

what sort of mileage has it done, insurance assessor dont tend to get to involved with mechanical problems from a rear end shunt strange one guess its a pay your money and take the chance. maybe the owner wanted it wrote off so could have a new one from who ever run up the rear of it as by sounds of it that could be the accident, so by adding a vague comment about the engine bearing in mind it cant be driven on a road enough to prove or disprove etc,, might just be a add on, most people do this when they dont want the car to be repaired,, sound to me like it could be like that id direct form auction and never been but back on the road,, but if has been repaired and checked and put back on the road then at later date after realising its got a turbo/heat/water problem bearing in mind its water cooled it might come back to bite you,, end of day its a gamble, based on just a turbo
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Mini...=262897287333989dad24fc884cc49a3d62e2c165c189
the unknown bit is whether a 2018 n18 turbo is same unit as a 2015 one, as 2018 car and emissions changes over this time might have a difference ,, that said the above link they refurb turbo's you should be able at worst to send your old unit to them for refurb, at best the 2015 one will fit, UK or german sourced turbo refurbs tend to be good, GAP TURBO'S online worth talking to have a fb page as well prices are on par with ebay sellers
as for changing the turbo its a easy job would always fit new oil feed pipe, always prime a new turbo before starting ie pull the wires off the cam sensors and crank until oil flows through turbo bearing, failure to do this will allow the turbo bearing to run dry for a few moments and can damage the turbo,
after this prob need a diagnostics to reset and clear any codes maybe , as its 2018 not meany out there for that age of car, wurth snooper is only one that might do thats cheap.

 

[Minicoopernewbie]

what sort of mileage has it done, insurance assessor dont tend to get to involved with mechanical problems from a rear end shunt strange one guess its a pay your money and take the chance. maybe the owner wanted it wrote off so could have a new one from who ever run up the rear of it as by sounds of it that could be the accident, so by adding a vague comment about the engine bearing in mind it cant be driven on a road enough to prove or disprove etc,, might just be a add on, most people do this when they dont want the car to be repaired,, sound to me like it could be like that id direct form auction and never been but back on the road,, but if has been repaired and checked and put back on the road then at later date after realising its got a turbo/heat/water problem bearing in mind its water cooled it might come back to bite you,, end of day its a gamble, based on just a turbo the unknown bit is whether a 2018 n18 turbo is same unit as a 2015 one, as 2018 car and emissions changes over this time might have a difference ,, that said the above link they refurb turbo's you should be able at worst to send your old unit to them for refurb, at best the 2015 one will fit, UK or german sourced turbo refurbs tend to be good, GAP TURBO'S online worth talking to have a fb page as well prices are on par with ebay sellers
as for changing the turbo its a easy job would always fit new oil feed pipe, always prime a new turbo before starting ie pull the wires off the cam sensors and crank until oil flows through turbo bearing, failure to do this will allow the turbo bearing to run dry for a few moments and can damage the turbo,
after this prob need a diagnostics to reset and clear any codes maybe , as its 2018 not meany out there for that age of car, wurth snooper is only one that might do thats cheap.

done 9000 miles
it was an accident (oct 2018) and notes from recovery man shows damage to rear and no concerns at front end.
I contacted the auctioners and they said they were not aware of such an engine problem,but will contact the insurers to confirm.
is there anyway/site of finding out time difference between date of accident and date of write off-then it will clearly show whether it was repaired and put back on road and THE developed/recognised a new problem.

 

[mike1967]

done 9000 miles
it was an accident (oct 2018) and notes from recovery man shows damage to rear and no concerns at front end.
I contacted the auctioners and they said they were not aware of such an engine problem,but will contact the insurers to confirm.
is there anyway/site of finding out time difference between date of accident and date of write off-then it will clearly show whether it was repaired and put back on road and THE developed/recognised a new problem.

insurer is only way, with 9k on it i doubt its got any issues to do with turbo or should not have, a rear end hit wont of hurt turbo, unless when hit up rear of car it damaged the end of exhaust as to bend it over as to block the flow from it,, then yes when run after with this blocked would allow turbo to glow red hot maybe, even then i have had many turbo cars where when pushed would make the turbo glow bright red, had a couple of renault turbo's back in 1980s that would melt the paint off the bonnet because i had mapped them and set the turbo to over boost with bigger injectors etc, and they all kept running,, that said i always cooled them down before switching off,, so chance are it could be exhaust damaged at time of running car after the accident and turbo could be fine

 

[Minicoopernewbie]

insurer is only way, with 9k on it i doubt its got any issues to do with turbo or should not have, a rear end hit wont of hurt turbo, unless when hit up rear of car it damaged the end of exhaust as to bend it over as to block the flow from it,, then yes when run after with this blocked would allow turbo to glow red hot maybe, even then i have had many turbo cars where when pushed would make the turbo glow bright red, had a couple of renault turbo's back in 1980s that would melt the paint off the bonnet because i had mapped them and set the turbo to over boost with bigger injectors etc, and they all kept running,, that said i always cooled them down before switching off,, so chance are it could be exhaust damaged at time of running car after the accident and turbo could be fine

many thanks for explaining.
If it was you-how much maximum would you bid for this car given the details I have told you so far?

 

[mike1967]

many thanks for explaining.
If it was you-how much maximum would you bid for this car given the details I have told you so far?

what i would do is search internet on like for like as far as you can ie also being a cat car, see what others sell for and work backwards off that, i think on a 10k forecourt car say i would be looking at around 5k for one that has a hpi flag up and some issues, i have always found that most people will only ever buy cat cars when they are so much cheaper and all issues and all repairs have been done correctly with mountain of proof,, this all said anyone else bidding on it within the trade will always have a max figure that allows them for any hidden issues,, it's worth what someones willing to pay,