Timing Belt Service?? Really??
 

Any input would be greatly appreciated...

A new MINI dealership opened 2 months ago in the Louisville Ky area. I took my 07 S there in May to ensure everything was working properly since the warranty was close to expiration. They said everything was good to go.

About 3 weeks later the check eng light came on and i took it in. They said is was a bad cam sensor, so they changed it. i left and 21 miles later the light came back on. So i took her back in and they said they were going to put the cam sensor back in since it didn't fix it and change the timing chain pulley. If that didn't work i would need a timing service. (which at just over 50k i find hard to believe.) so the light came back on... i'm going to take it to the Indy dealership for a second opinion since this is a new dealership and they don't seem to know what's wrong. I really feel like they are just grabbing at straws.

Has any one else has similar issues or know of any 07 Mini's that have had to have a timing service? I hate to pay $1600 for a timing service and find that it's not really the problem...

Our '07 MCS needed a timing chain replacement at 28,000 miles (yes, really!).

Apparently there was a design problem with the tensioner.

Even if your car is out of warranty, I would expect you could get them to do it for nothing. I'd certainly take my complaint up the chain of command if the dealership didn't agree to do it free.

I'm really disgusted with this car. I expected a lot more from BMW, especially at this price. Let's face it - considering you can option these buggers out to the high 30s, there are a lot of other options out there in this price range. Quality and reliability
should be to a standard much higher than this.

They told me i would have to pay. After doing some research yesterday and finding out that it's an ongoing issue, i will definitely be trying to get this taken care of at no cost to me! I'm not happy about this. :( i love this car but it seems many people are having problems. I may need to cut my losses and go with something else. She's been my baby for 3 1/2 years though!

Thanks for your reply! Greatly appreciated!

How did this get resolved? Interested, same problem.

I have just been told my 2007 Cooper S with 25,000 miles needs a new timing belt. I was quoted $2,500. After looking over multiple forums, and even finding a petition going around to have this issue recalled, it seems pretty obvious that this is a manufacturing/design problem. There is no way that a car this 'gently used' should need a new timing belt already. I contacted MINI USA and MINI North America, and was told very quickly by both that MINI will cover the parts, but that still leaves me with $1,400 in service.
Has anyone been able to get MINI to further address this problem? This car has already had two recalls in its short life, and now with this, it's almost too much to justify fixining or even keeping the car! I love my MINI but this is crazy!