Oil Pump Problems of Mini Cooper S

On Saturday March 19th, 2016 I experienced a major vehicle malfunction with my 2013 Mini paceman s. While traveling nb on the 15 freeway in the #1 or fast lane, I slowed for traffic to a stop, immediately the car temperature light turned on and within seconds it changed to the half engine light. During this time I was able to turn the steering wheel 3 times to attempt to move the vehicle out of traffic lanes to prevent injury and the car died. The vehicle rolled out of the fast lane onto the shoulder where I sat with 3 children inside the car and immediately called for a tow truck. While waiting for the tow truck a chp (California highway patrol) officer pulled up behind me and contacted me at the driver window which I had rolled down. He asked what happened with the car and I explained that it had died. He asked me to move it to a safer location and I explained that I couldn¿t. He asked me to get out and he got into the driver seat to attempt to get the car into neutral. He was able to, and he pushed it maybe 5 feet down the slight slope. He used the emergency break to stop it and left it there to wait for the tow truck. Lack of a check engine light on a car with common failure items such as ¿leaking oil pump drive units¿ that allow the engine coolant to leak out should have an indicator light to prevent this type of problem before the problem is huge and can¿t be fixed. When was I supposed to know that the coolant was leaking out?.

See all problems of the 2013 Mini Cooper S 🔎.

When driving down the highway at 60 mph, the engine lost power and had a hard time getting it to the nearest exit for safety. When I stopped the car I attempted to check the fluid levels but the car was too hot to check and I waited for about an hour to cool. When I was able to check all levels down, including the oil, which I just had a change in less than a week previous to this indent. The oil level was down 2 1/2 quarts and the water level was below the safety level. When I took it to my independent certified BMW mechanic, he advised that the timing belt needed to be replaced. I called BMW and Mini corporate offices and they both stated that I should take it to the dealership and they may be able to fix at a reduce cost. Upon further questioning, and them stating that they may not assist due to age, I came to the conclusion that the likelihood of them assisting was zero. They state that the warranty was no longer covering and that the car had too many miles, 85k. I previously had the thermostat replaced, the air intake valve replaced, the oil pump replaced, and now the timing belt to the sum of $4300 in the past year and half. Will never purchase another and will never encourage anyone else to purchase a BMW or Mini product. I will pay and continue to drive, but will put a message on it to not ask me or comment on the "cuteness" of the car because it is a piece of junk! I would have expected to get at least 200k out of it before these major repairs should have ever occurred! very frustrated, not to mention disappointed in this high performance vehicle that sells itself with a simple drive, but mechanically is not supported by its manufacturer.

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While driving on 580 car lost all power without warning. Upon further investigation it was determined that the vacuum pump froze up, bolt on timing gear sheared off and fell into oil pan. Oil pump was destroyed as a result. On 11/7/13 received letter from Mini corp. Regarding a faulty timing chain tensioner with premature wear, which could cause problems. Upon replacement of tensioner assembly, mechanic found a faulty vacuum pump which froze without warning. Oil distribution was compromised. This abrupt loss of power put my entire family in jeopardy, which could have caused bodily injury or death. BMW corporation has been aware of the vacuum pump problem since 2012. Vehicle was purchased used in 3/15/11 with 32k miles. Mini corp lead me to believe that financial assistance may be made available for repairs. I have been declined any assistance for a failed vacuum pump assembly which caused catastrophic engine failure. The vehicle has had reports of similar failure. Highway speed, loss of power, putting vehicle and occupants in peril circumstance, BMW is aware of this issue and refuses to acknowledge design or manufacture/mechanical flaws in the engineering of this motor.

My Mini has a faulty oil supply line going to the turbo charger. The dealership has known about these faulty lines for sometime. Instead of replacing the line with a better design they have installed heat shields to prevent the heat from burning up the o-ring in the fitting on the line. They installed another heat shield on 2/21/14 over top of the oil line to prevent the heat from burning up the o-ring that is already bad. Now they inform me that since the heat shields are in place I need to pay to have the oil line replaced which cost $805. 00. I think that Mini Cooper Should have recalled all these vehicles and repaired the faulty oil lines since they have been doing this from 2007 models to 2011 models. This is a bad safety problem under the hood because when the oil goes to leaking on the turbo charger which is really hotter that the exhaust manifold it causes excessive smoke from coming out of under the hood and could cause a large fire fueled by motor oil pumping out on top of turbo charger. Allowing the dealships to put shields over top of the bad oil line needs to be stopped. They need to fix the problem that exists for free and not try to cover up the problem as they did on my car and then tell me that the oil line needs to be replaced. After the warranty run out. They were well aware of the problem then and now because of them putting heat shields on to prevent this problem. The oil supply line should have been replaced and then the shields put on. Thanks, hope to see a recall very soon.

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