I have a 2006 Cooper S. I have seen on the web they have realised there is a thermostat and electric fan fault, resulting in overheating.

My wife drives the car to work everyday, it has 30 000 kilometres on the clock, and still under BMW Motorplan.

It's in the Mini workshop at the moment. It overheated way past 120 degrees on the heat gauge, and the warning lights started flashing.

My problem, or rather question:

They are replacing the thermostat with the housing, and also the electric fan. They said they will do compression tests etc on the engine also. But how do I know if the engine is still 100%? Surely something had to get damaged inside also? Rings etc?

The dealer said they will service the cehicle, add new oil, then seal the dipstick and filler cap off. I must then drive it for about 2500km. They will then check if the engine used oil, if not, it's fine.

But I don't trust this. Replacing an engine after the Warranty expired is going to be a costly exercise! Want to sort it now, or get them to replace the engine and get it over and done with.

Any advice or suggestions?

 

I would think that if you fully document this occurance that happened before the warrenty is up, and you have a problem sometime that requires major work that can be proven to be a result of this situation, you will have a fairly good arguement to have it covered. Proving that a future problem is related to this overheating obvioulsy could be a debatable point if you had a problem. But things such as prematurely worn rings or a bearing failure, a warped head, warped valves, or other things that could reasonably be related to overheating would have a strong arguement for coverage. Things such as tossing a timing belt or losing a clutch would be hard to associate with overheating. Don't be afraid to discuss this with the dealer now. I think what the dealer is saying and offering to do is reasonable, but that further discussion how to deal with potential future problems is reasonable and prudent to do . Demanding that your engine be replaced just because you are worried about the potential existance of unproven conditions seems to me to be a bit overboard and overdemanding. Just my opinion.

 

I hear you, and thx for the advice.

I'm from South Africa, and here customer service here is a high priority. With my other vehicles which I had problems, engine replacements were done, no questions asked! Very seldom that any brand engine here are opened, and fixed. So asking for a new engine is not realy too demanding.

Don't know on your side, but here BMW sells the Mini's. And they do the warranty and backup. And if there is a slight chance that BMW can save their name, they will! Competition here is fierce, and they will never let their name get dragged through the mud.

I can promise you, if I go back at 2500km, and there was oil consumption on the engine, chances for it to be replaced is 95%.

I just need to get my ducks in a row with all the technical stuff that could've gone wrong with the overheating, or parts that could've been damaged, like head rings etc. It makes things just easier to put pressure on them to change the engine!

 

The most common result of overheating is a failed head gasket. Second most common result is warped heads.

Either problem will result in coolant leaking through the head gasket and either leaking (1) to the outside of the engine (like along the engine block, which can be seen and smelled),(2) into your cylinders (which would result in noticeable white smoke coming out of your exhaust),or (3) into your oil passages into the guts of the engine (which would result in a creamy milky-like substance in your engine oil, which would be noticeable with an oil change).

If none of these problems are evident, then you're likely fine and I wouldn't worry too much (or at all) about other engine problems (like prematurely worn rings or anything like that).

Good luck!