Greetings all.......


I've recently purchased a 2009 Mini Cooper S Convertible with 34000miles.


Great car....runs well.....A couple days ago I received my notice of the class action law suit involving Mini owners and Mini over the timing chain....of which I do not think I'm having any issues with....yet.


My question to you.....What can I do as a preventative to keep me from having any timing chain issues with this car? What do I need to watch out for? Is there a vin # range that cars that had the issue fall into?


Thanks........
Swmpbgy1

 

Welcome! Congratulations on your purchase. Those are some low miles. Good find. MINI's that are equipped with the N14 engine, which your R57 has, are the ones with the timing chain issues. Typically, when individual would reach 100,000 miles they may develop a problem where the timing chain guides wear or break. Since you have such low miles I highly recommend that you keep an eye on your oil level. If you run low on oil the guides wear from lack of lubrication. This can cause timing chain rattle at start up, noise when running (commonly called the death rattle) and worse-case scenario a jumped timing engine. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Thank you for the update.....So there is nothing I can do to prevent this? New or improved guides? The guides are lubed from crank case oil?


Swmpbgy1

 

You just need to keep an eye on your engine oil level and change your timing components when it needs to be done. You can change it as a preventative measure. MINI has an updated timing chain tensioner HERE, which is 82mm in length and is supposed to run much smoother. When it comes time to do your timing components I'd recommend replacing with this updated tensioner.

 

Thank you again for the quick response!! How hard is it to install this tensioner?


Swmpbgy1

 

You're welcome. You'll want to do the tensioner along with timing chain, timing chain guides, sprocket, and some other bolts. We have all that you need HERE. If you want me to put together a parts list for you please let me know. You will need specialty tools when doing the timing components on your MINI. It does require a good amount of skill. If you go to our website and click on the "tech info" tab at the top and then click on the R56 articles to the right you can scroll down to Engine and click on Turbocharged Engine Timing Chain and Guide Replacing. That shows you the whole process for doing timing. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Thanks again!! But will changing the tensioner to the newer style gain me anything in the long run? or should I just wait till I get to 100k and change everything out then?


Swmpbgy1

 

The 100k note is just a guideline from what we've seen. I have seen people with the timing chain issue at 50k before so you just need to keep an eye on things and if you start hearing anything from that area change it right away. Some people do it way before then as a preventative measure as well. The 82mm tensioner is the 5th gen newest/latest up to date version. The description of using it over the 4th gen tensioner is that it is much smoother. I don't believe it'll prevent the the timing issue from happening so you wont need to replace your components again, but it's always best to go with the newest updated version of anything as they typically make needed revisions to them.