Mini 2012 timing chain local repair man or main dealer

Vince · 2015-11-10T15:48:42+00:00

2012 Mini Cooper 12,500 miles, warranty ended July 2015 - still under Mini TLC (if that makes any difference) I have been told by the local official Mini repair centre that they suspect the timing chain has 'stretched' (there is a continuous high frequency rattle) with cost of repair around £1500. The oil level is fine and oil colour looks clear. Service stamps are up to date in the book. The service centre recommends booking in for diagnostic testing at a cost of £120. Is this a repair which could be done by a local repairer (repairer used by a neighbour for his BMW with good feedback) or should it be left to a Mini official repair centre? Are there other faults (cheaper to fix) with similar sounding symptoms? If the timing chain is at fault is the problem likely to reoccur or have Mini made modifications to repair parts stop so that the problem is less likely to occur after such low mileage? Thank you

Nov 10, 2015 22 Replies

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Adrian 10 years ago

Except the Prince engine is a PSA-BMW joint venture, built (for Minis) in Oxford.

And, given the N47's cam chain problems, I rather suspect that BMW did that bit of the engine - chains are unusual for PSA.

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Dave Plowman (News) 10 years ago

I've had two DOHC BMW 6 cylinder engine versions with chains - and neither gave trouble. Although tensioner problems seem to be more common on the V8s. Be interesting if they used some new type of tensioner.

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Tim 10 years ago

Except the Prince engine is a PSA-BMW joint venture, built (for Minis) in Oxford.

And, given the N47's cam chain problems, I rather suspect that BMW did that bit of the engine - chains are unusual for PSA.

BMW gave PSA the Vanos and Valvetronic tech on some engines. They might have said, "here this works with a chain" due to the vanos system, but they certainly didnt engineer the chain drive itself. You only have to look at it to see its not BMW's work.

Tim..

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