Travelling on the M25 at 9am lots of traffic, sudden and increasing knocking noise.

Indicated, changed lane and decreased speed but within seconds there was a bang and the engine light came on.

Engine stopped, but luckly managed to pull onto the hard shoulder.

Car was covered in oil around the sides and bumper.

AA towed car to garage.

Timing Chain Tensioner had failed so they carried out a compression test to check damage, which showed a failure on 1 of the cylinders.

Thinking this could be fixed they removed the exhaust manifold and found that the bottom end was completely ruined!

I purchased the car from new, now has 46,000 miles on the clock and mainly used for local journeys,

first three years BMW maintained and then well maintained by local BOSCH service centre.

It was only in the BMW service garage a few weeks ago for a recall on the turbo collant pump.

I have found lots of mini owners in the US with similar issues.

Any more in the UK?

If so please post.

We need to get BMW to accept there is an issue and recall.

The mini cost me £22k and is now worth £0.

CONSUMER ADVICE?

LEGAL ADVICE?

HELP!!!

how old is the vehicle?

did you purchase it new from?

dx

57 plate, purchased new in Sept 2007.

ok poss getting near the SOGA limit them.

if BMW have admitted manu issues

as you say you need to find evidence

then you'll be covered for replacement.

dx

The last car I know of with a proper camchain was the Saab 99/900 series.

Are you certain it isn't a cambelt on the Bini ?

What are the recommendations from BMW for changing the timing kit on a mini?

the bottom end was completely ruined!

Is that the bottom end of the exhaust or the bottom end of the engine ??

There are no BMW issued advisories for the camshaft and associated gear.

What are the recommendations from BMW for changing the timing kit on a mini?

There aren't any recommendations from MINI UK in the service or owners manual. Mine was already replaced at 21K without them letting me know whilst it was in for break replacement.

I have since found lots of other owners with the same issue.

MINI UK know what is happening, yet refuse to do anything. It will take a serious injury or death before they do anything!

Get in contact if you have a similar issue.

paperhatftp @ me.com

Steve

What are the recommendations from BMW for changing the timing kit on a mini?

Bottom end of the engine, behind the exhausted manifold.

Originally Posted by belfast4

What are the recommendations from BMW for changing the timing kit on a mini?

Bottom end of the engine, behind the exhausted manifold.

What is, the recommendations for changing the cam chain ??

Have you considered getting an independant enginneers report done, might be costly but will save you the cost of engine repair/replacement and possibly a succesful claim to BMW UK.

There aren't any recommendations from MINI UK in the service or owners manual. Mine was already replaced at 21K without them letting me know whilst it was in for break replacement.

 

I have since found lots of other owners with the same issue.

 

MINI UK know what is happening, yet refuse to do anything. It will take a serious injury or death before they do anything!

 

Get in contact if you have a similar issue.

 

paperhatftp @ me.com

 

Steve

Hi Steve,

My wife's Cooper S 07 plate has just been diagnosed needing a complete timing chain and housing, quote from garage ' good job you got it to us you could of had a complete engine failure, still going to cost close on £1000 though!!! When will Mini UK admit that there is a serious problem with timing chains on their vehicles?

Regards

John

Hi!

I had an issue with my wife's 2007 MCS. We had the infamous "death rattle" so I took the car in to MINI. They diagnosed a problem with the chain, tensioner and other ancillaries and changed the lot. After an offer of "goodwill" from BMW, the bill came to around £600. I am currently in negotiations with BMW regarding this offer of "goodwill".

Of note is the fact that there is a class-action ongoing regarding this very issue in the US. In fact a law firm has even set up a website in order to bring in more clients to strengthen their case:

bmwminicooperclassaction.com

Naturally I'll be very interested to see how this turns out but it doesn't really help us poor Brits here & now.

Lastly, Does anybody know of anyone who has filled out a Vehicle Safety Defect Report for VOSA?

dft.gov.uk/vosa/onlineservices/vehicledefects.htm

Anyway, Good luck & I'll keep you posted...

Moi...

Ps Sorry that I'm too unimportant to post links...

Welcome Death Rattle - MCS 2007

You are not too unimportant to post links. As an anti-spam measure, no one gets to post links until they have made 10 posts.

Yes I am & yes.

I purchased a 2007 Mini Cooper a year last December from a mini dealer

- has been maintained well since purchase and is currently only done 55k miles.

Last week it began cutting out and losing power.

Was taken to a local garage - they reported a fault with the vanos unit and catalytic converter ( understandably the latter- which I have no issue with).

Garage reported that it required a new solenoid sensor and complete change of both vanos units and full timing chain kit - giving me a bill of £1 k plus.

They have told me today that a pulley from the water pump needs replacing.

Having read here that other customers have had trouble with timing chain I'm wondering whether this is an issue I should take further with mini.

I have contacted mini and they have asked for chassis number and number of dealership dealing with enquiry.

The problem is that the car was taken to a local garage for diagnostics- wondering if I have a leg to stand on??

I am also unsure whether the garage are also taking advantage of me as a customer as my knowledge of cars is limited.

don't all forget

watchdog are covering the N47 timing chain issue, all filming has been done - on this weds !!

dx

All BMW are timing chain engines, there are normally not a serviceable part unless its making a tinny rattling noise which indicates the tensioner is on its way out.

Its not unheard of for a chain engine to go wrong but that many and the same car with less than 50K on the clock is VERY suspect......

After 6 letters to BMW customer service, they rang me recently and offered a full refund on parts (they had already given me 50% off labour (see earlier post for more details)). I settled as I couldn't be bothered any longer.

A bit more effort may have got a full refund but it's good to know that it's worth persevering to at least get something.

For info, my main points centered around:

• Relatively new vehicle (under 6 years)
  
• low mileage (around 40k at the time of the issue surfacing)
  
• Timing chain is supposed to be non-serviceable
  
• FSH with MINI/BMW & TLC/XL packages purchased
  
• MINI supposed to be a premium (fight corporate with corporate) product
  
• EU regs (fault within 6 years of purchase) & SoGA
  
• Class-Action in the States on this very matter (no outcome as yet)
  
• Safety issue (possibility of engine failure on outside lane of motorway)
  
• BBC Watchdog (other BMW vehicles with same fault)
  
• Potential for contact with VOSA
  

I also queried the responses I had to my questions, especially when I was told that certain info was private - how many recorded faults on this type of vehicle and so on. I suspect that a lot of my letters were not read in full but it's nice to have a basis on which to continue writing without undue repetition. I also made sure that I asked for a response and a refund at the end of each letter as I did not want THAT part of the letter to be missed.

Sorry if this info is overly long, I realise that a lot of it may be obvious but hopefully it's of help to some.

After 6 letters to BMW customer service, they rang me recently and offered a full refund on parts (they had already given me 50% off labour (see earlier post for more details)). I settled as I couldn't be bothered any longer.

 

A bit more effort may have got a full refund but it's good to know that it's worth persevering to at least get something.

 

 

 

For info, my main points centered around:

• Relatively new vehicle (under 6 years)
  
• low mileage (around 40k at the time of the issue surfacing)
  
• Timing chain is supposed to be non-serviceable
  
• FSH with MINI/BMW & TLC/XL packages purchased
  
• MINI supposed to be a premium (fight corporate with corporate) product
  
• EU regs (fault within 6 years of purchase) & SoGA
  
• Class-Action in the States on this very matter (no outcome as yet)
  
• Safety issue (possibility of engine failure on outside lane of motorway)
  
• BBC Watchdog (other BMW vehicles with same fault)
  
• Potential for contact with VOSA
  

I also queried the responses I had to my questions, especially when I was told that certain info was private - how many recorded faults on this type of vehicle and so on. I suspect that a lot of my letters were not read in full but it's nice to have a basis on which to continue writing without undue repetition. I also made sure that I asked for a response and a refund at the end of each letter as I did not want THAT part of the letter to be missed.

 

Sorry if this info is overly long, I realise that a lot of it may be obvious but hopefully it's of help to some.

Hi has any body contacted watch dog on this problem as we just got told by BMW that a noise coming from the engine was a hole in the flexi pipe and needed to repair it ASAP having done this we now a light on the dash board ( engine management light and now there saying it's the timing chain ?? I have had the car 3 years and is only done 58,000 miles and I drive it 20 miles monday to Friday for work and I have put more in to this car than its work really I think I was sold a lemon as am for ever putting money in to it I spent over £2000 last year in bills on it and now this I read that all US mini have been recalled why haven't the uk followed ??

All BMW minis are lemons, there is a huge bush of them.