[mike1967]

word to the wise reason the top guide goes like that is due to chain stretched and tensioner cannot control it lashing around just replacing the top guide will end badly ie bent valves or worst when the chain slips on bottom sprocket as they all do like that when tensioner cant cope with the increased length of the chain,,, you must get a timing kit and replace the complete guides and tensioner and bottom sprocket must do job asap

 

[mike1967]

i just fitted the below kit in ebay link to one of mine this week good quality for money as well

Pardon our interruption...

 

[mike1967]

its not PSA so much, it was bmw that done the head and fuelling and timing design ie they fitted vanos and step motor vvt systems PSA were the bottom end i seen somewhere in a trade mag which would fit right,, as back then bmw never had their own small enough engines to fit the mini i guess so saved money my sharing with PSA and of course PSA could then attach the its got a BMW shared engine in their products, bit its not just BMW that are doing this stupid way of treating customers its most car makers except honda how have stuck to duplex chains ,, the vw skoda audi vw fsi tfs engines all eat chains and end the same way within 100k, once you have changed a couple of chain kits they are very easy to do and get right again as its all dropped in from tom as a cassette as such,
i just rebuilt a cooper s n14 2007 had a piston break up do to timing chain starting a chain of events and oil burning blocked the cat etc,,, i ordered the latest type piston ring set as used in N18 engines they have plastic oil control rings hmmm time will tell lol but so far it runs well bit has a load of oil in the exhaust to burn off etc, its all made of shite on all cars these days built to be light and last as long as the lease agreement i would feel.

 

[mike1967]

trouble is what the customer believes as life of engine and what makers do are two different things,, i agree its poor and to be honest bmw are doing this will all their engines all of them suffer chain issues and head gasket issues etc,, days of old vw audi vag group engine were good like the old bmw stuff,, then both company's around the same time started building shite to be honest the whole motor-trade noticed the change,, as car makers had the government to blame for emissions causing all the issues etc thats my theory to it,, just funny how they are all sharing engines and chassis and gearboxes and all keep the same weak points, even Renault and nissan and the qashqai engines are time bombs all vauxhall stuff years ago was bullet proof not anymore, only honda left i believe they produce their own stuff and dont like to fail,, also so many cooper s mini's got raced from new on lease pcb contracts just had fuel etc.. mileage and if had the main things replaced are best way to buy one

 

[mike1967]

all keeps me busy so not so bad lol