Sorry, modern content - 2012 Mini Cooper

[Del]

Stepdaughter bought a 2012 petrol Mini Cooper from a well-established trader, thankfully with a three-month AA warranty.
A couple of days after she picked it up, it started to hesitate under acceleration, stutter, and emit white smoke. She said it was intermittent, so I suspected something like a sticking valve, and a search suggests that these engines are known for sooting up.
She contacted the trader, they picked it up and went to work. It's taken about three weeks but they said it was fixed, and dropped it off last night.
She went out this morning, and a hundred yards up the road it's done the same.
I've spoken to the service department and they tell me that they've had the head off, changed all the valve stems and seals, the headgasket, the coil pack, and the timing belt. So it seems they have been quite comprehensive trying to fix it.
Any ideas from the RR hivemind that might know what's wrong, and what needs to be done?
Please have this picture of my stepdad's Rotrex-supercharged classic Mini as a thank you.

[stealthstylz]

Usually fuel pump and injectors going down

[stealthstylz]

And I can't impart this advice enough - tell her to take it back and get her money back and buy something else. They are truly woeful engines, only saved from being in the top 5 worst engines I've ever seen because Jaguar Land Rover insist on always having that title

[astranaut]

A friend of mines mum went through the same, dealer allegedly did the head gasket twice, she ended up going to court for her money back. That was an 09 1.4.

[Rich]

No such thing as a three month AA warranty. I sell them and the Minimum the AA sell is 1 year administered by WMS group. Your legal statutory rights are a 6 (not 3) month return to vendor warranty. Within the first 3 months you are within your rights to return the vehicle if faulty for a refund. A petrol 2012 mini doesn’t have a timing belt either unless there is some version I don’t know about.

[kevins]

If it's the same as the one series, as well as injectors and coil packs the ecm goes, daughters other half has already spent £1500 on injectors and coils and his still ocassionaly goes into limp home because of misfire despite being 4 years old and less than 30,000 miles. Bmw answer is 3 grand for a new ecm!
(fortunately you can get a remanufactured one in the aftermarket with improved drivers for £500)

[Del]

They may well have said chain, tbh!
This is sounding slightly concerning, especially as she has her heart set on a petrol Mini...but thanks all for the info.

[xbl]

I've had a few mates need new turbos on R56 minis, they're shockingly unreliable. Latest one, a 58 plate with <40K on the clock has had a turbo, chain, oil pump and head gasket in the last 12 months and to be fair it's treated well.

[duggers]

Isn't that the turbo charged PSA engine in those. Tells you all you need to know.

[mk2cossie]

Nov 27, 2021 21:54:59 GMT duggers said:

Isn't that the turbo charged PSA engine in those. Tells you all you need to know.

Also known as the Prince engine I believe.
Other than using a lot of oil, and the chains being a bit of a git, we've not had much in the way of catastrophic failures with them at work in all the vehicles that use it

[Del]

Sorry gang, I forgot to update on this.
So they replaced the camshaft, and it's been fine since.
Although I note the using oil comment above, and she's just told me that the oil light came on on the way up to us today.

[duggers]

I'm amazed how manufactureres get away with using engines that just aren't right.
Ford Ecobang 1.0 being another good example.

[stealthstylz]

It'll have so much bore wear the pistons will be like a prick in a shirt sleeve. The engines will keep going till it eventually burns a exhaust valve out if she keeps it topped up, but usually they're dead well before that as they won't go through emissions legitimately.

[stealthstylz]

Dec 24, 2021 17:47:39 GMT duggers said:

I'm amazed how manufactureres get away with using engines that just aren't right.
Ford Ecobang 1.0 being another good example.

We're starting to get more and more of the latest generation engines through (2016-2020 ish) and it almost makes me long for the good old days of the Ecobang debacle as the aftermarket were straight onto them and even though they were curse word they were cheap to sort. These new generation engines are insanely bad, across all manufacturers.

[ChasR]

Dec 24, 2021 18:45:43 GMT stealthstylz said:

Dec 24, 2021 17:47:39 GMT duggers said:

I'm amazed how manufactureres get away with using engines that just aren't right.
Ford Ecobang 1.0 being another good example.

We're starting to get more and more of the latest generation engines through (2016-2020 ish) and it almost makes me long for the good old days of the Ecobang debacle as the aftermarket were straight onto them and even though they were plop they were cheap to sort. These new generation engines are insanely bad, across all manufacturers.

Some of the flaws we see OEMs get away with is surprising!

I can believe your comments there!

Out of curiosity, have you seen any JLR Ingenium 4 cylinder engine yet?

[stealthstylz]

Dec 26, 2021 11:20:37 GMT ChasR said:

Out of curiosity, have you seen any JLR Ingenium 4 cylinder engine yet?

Yep, 5 or 6. I nearly curse word my self laughing stripping the first one down. 2019, 35,000 miles - came in as wouldn't go through emissions but ran fine. 25 thou bore wear on all cylinders, all crank bearings wiped out. Completely dead chuck in bin start again job. Thought it hadn't been looked after but then the rear came in with exactly the same issue.

[vitesseefi]

Is it the engines themselves or the watery pish they are specifying as “lubricant”?

Nick

[mk2cossie]

Dec 26, 2021 21:18:20 GMT vitesseefi said:

Is it the engines themselves or the watery pish they are specifying as “lubricant”?

Nick

I think its a combination of the oil used, and lack of servicing when needed, instead of when the dash light tells the nut behind the wheel that is the main issue!

We've had many Peugeot and PSA vehicles in at work that sail through emissions, and run pretty damn well.
But the ones that don't, are always the more neglected vehicles

[Del]

Must admit that I'm slightly concerned that this one was serviced before she got it and the oil light has already flashed on.

[kevins]

It's all driven by emissions, (both toxic gasses and co2) they use very thin oil, variable displacement oil pumps, the minimum possible coolant, local coolant circuits in the head coupled with high compression ratios and boosting to get specific outputs that would not have looked out of place on race tracks 25 years ago.

They do need regular servicing with the correct oil (not just the grade but also correct addative pack) and servicing at the correct time or mileage interval (whichever comes first)


If they are looked after and nothing leaks they can be perfectly reliable, we have taken many ecoboosts to well over 150,000 miles on our fleet at work with no major issues, and the later ones have cylinder head temperature sensing which negates the coolant loss and overheating issues which failed many earlier engines.

This does mean the secondhand market is a minefield, a full main dealer service record is about the best you can get but not fool proof.