[Mark Woodward]

My daughter has been quoted by her local Mini dealer £2,000 to replace the oxygen sensor, the vanos solenoid and the vanos actuator on her 07 mini hatch. Seems excessive to me or is that a fair price? If so will end up scrapping it.

 

[mike1967]

My daughter has been quoted by her local Mini dealer £2,000 to replace the oxygen sensor, the vanos solenoid and the vanos actuator on her 07 mini hatch. Seems excessive to me or is that a fair price? If so will end up scrapping it.

way to much money, and have they diagnosed it correctly, how many miles has car done, if over 60.000 miles then its in realms of needing timing chain replacement, main dealer for that job £800 ish,
the 02 sensors are £100 for genuine take twenty minutes to replace.
the vanos solenoids are £45 each . hour to replace both,

or diy the chain kit for full kit with new vanos sprockets £225 for the bits.
new cat £100 ish

 

[Mark Woodward]

way to much money, and have they diagnosed it correctly, how many miles has car done, if over 60.000 miles then its in realms of needing timing chain replacement, main dealer for that job £800 ish,
the 02 sensors are £100 for genuine take twenty minutes to replace.
the vanos solenoids are £45 each . hour to replace both,

or diy the chain kit for full kit with new vanos sprockets £225 for the bits.
new cat £100 ish

Thanks Mike. It's on 66,000 miles so could prob do with timing chain replacement. Dealer said because of where the solenoids were positioned the timing chain would have to be removed to get to them and so they would recommend replacing the chain but that would cost extra to what she was quoted for solenoids and O2 sensors. Sounds like BS to me but don't know enough to know if that's the case. ::frown::

 

[Scudder]

Utter tosh that access to the solenoids requires timing chain removal... or actuator (and probably nothing wrong with the actuator anyway) as above, timing chain kit replacement will more than likely be all that is required.

 

[mike1967]

Thanks Mike. It's on 66,000 miles so could prob do with timing chain replacement. Dealer said because of where the solenoids were positioned the timing chain would have to be removed to get to them and so they would recommend replacing the chain but that would cost extra to what she was quoted for solenoids and O2 sensors. Sounds like BS to me but don't know enough to know if that's the case. ::frown::

the solenoids are mounted front and rear of cylinder head single 10mm bolt holds each in. the exhaust cam one is on front of head very easy to change 10 minutes tops, the inlet is a tad more of job airbox and rubber 90 degree inlet pipe remove ie 7mm jubilee clip both head,,, the vanos sprockets are correct name for them these are oil fed from the solnoids valves need 25psi min to work and state of engine oil makes a big difference to them,
i would very much doubt on a 66k engine these vanos sprockets would be faulty, i would however say 100% the timing chain is stretched and tensioner has gone weak,

 

[Mark Woodward]

the solenoids are mounted front and rear of cylinder head single 10mm bolt holds each in. the exhaust cam one is on front of head very easy to change 10 minutes tops, the inlet is a tad more of job airbox and rubber 90 degree inlet pipe remove ie 7mm jubilee clip both head,,, the vanos sprockets are correct name for them these are oil fed from the solnoids valves need 25psi min to work and state of engine oil makes a big difference to them,
i would very much doubt on a 66k engine these vanos sprockets would be faulty, i would however say 100% the timing chain is stretched and tensioner has gone weak,

Thanks Mike, much appreciated

 

[mike1967]

Thanks Mike, much appreciated

trouble with garages is they edge their bets when pricing things up, ie will change everything in the price that could cause the problem, in their defence its because if went back to customer and did have something else at fault they would look silly for sure,
me personally i leave things open as far as can with people ie then worst case and best case and hope when its apart i can check it all through and only replace the repair as such,, 9 times for 10 on these engines a timing chain kit without the vanos sprockets on a around 60k engine normally ends well, if engine has done 120k then i would replace the whole lot and prob while in there do a head gasket at same time as they tend to weep after 100k mark a lot of the time,,,
BUT BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ON THEM ALWAYS COMPRESSION TEST AND OIL PRESSURE TEST WHEN HOT NO POINT WASTING MONEY ON A WORN OUT ENGINE