Four problems related to timing tensioner have been reported for the 2009 Mini Cooper. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The timing chain tensioner on my Mini was changed as part of silent service bulletin which aught to be a recall. By the time it was replaced it was too late, now a year later my timing chain is out of spec and rattling away in my car with a replacement set to cost about $2000 for parts that Mini claimed would last the life of the vehicle. Mini refuses to replace any parts until they've failed so I'm stuck either paying out of pocket and never seeing a dime back, or risking life and limb on the road until these parts fail so that Mini can own up to their mistake. . .
The engine was rattling heavily when the car ignition was on around 5 pm at the workplace parking lot . In the meantime, the check engine light was flashing. The car failed to deliver the power to the transmission. A few days late, my car was towed to a local dealership and diagnosed with leak oil from one of timing belt tensioners and a broken tensioner. The dealership had to replace the broken one with a new timing belt kit together with tensioners as a goodwill from the Mini Cooper USA (85% warranty deductible). Even though, I felt the quality of this important engine parts was unacceptable with such a low milage on the car. The timing belt of this model was a metal chain located inside the engine box and supposed to last life-long without worry. I was lucky that this incident happened just in the parking lot. I could not imagine potential consequences if this incident happens while driving on the highway. I sincerely believe the manufacture BMW/Mini should be fully responsible for such a defect product and a proper action by the manufacture should be considered to avoid such an incident happening to other customers who own this model.
Timing chain tensioner failure. No warning whatsoever. Timing chain broke, causing complete engine failure. Out of warranty so Mini won't touch it. Will cost $7500+.
The timing tensioner on my Mini Cooper s backed out, resulting in a massive oil loss while at highway speeds. This is apparently a known issue by Mini, but no known recall has been issued at this point.