r/minir56

Just wanted to share my experience repairing my Mini Cooper S. Almost everyone says people should avoid this engine for various reasons, which are understandable.

For people who don’t wrench and perform any car maintenance, this is not the car for you. It’ll cost you $$ at the mechanic for seals and parts overpriced for retail monopoly and labour costs.

Now, if you do wrench or even understand the basics with a little YouTube help and a handy workshop manual bought or found free online, this car can be maintained and running in near-new conditions with the right mindset. I found almost every issue I have experienced well documented online and how to diagnose and repair it myself. I have repaired wastegate and boost leaks, to all types of oil and coolant leaks. The only thing I had to car in for was a transmission replacement for a secondhand one.

The car now is running in almost perfect condition for its age and ready for either mods or keeping it stock. Please note I have waited over 7 months after all is done to give my genuine opinion as I’ve doubted myself and the reliability of the parts for being so cheap.

I have bought genuine Mini Cooper parts like vacuum pump seals, valve cover, and compared them to the aftermarket parts listed, and I was astonished by the Chinese aftermarket parts and how much better they performed for a fraction of the price (thank you tariff war).
All the parts below were bought from either AliExpress or Alibaba.
Vacuum pumps, HPFP, all coolant and intake silicone hoses and lines, aftermarket BOV, coolant expansion tank, oil filter housing, downpipe, turbo feed lines.

I know it is hard to believe how reliable these parts can be. I also had doubts too, but when I installed MINI genuine parts and parts from known aftermarket brands, they always seemed overpriced and occasionally fail or leak. I’d then replace the whole unit/part with AliExpress parts, which seemed slightly better built for some reason. I would not experience any failure, and the car would actually perform much better than expected.
I’ve only needed a jack and stands, a socket set kit, and accessories like swivel bits, a magnet for assistance, and fishing dropped bits.
If you’re ever lost. Pop into your mini garage, ask them to diagnose it, and then do the work yourself. Never tell them that’s what you’re planning to do. Always use high-grade full synthetic engine oil and change oil regularly, which is super easy.

I have been gradually pressure testing the car by aggressive driving and racing. The car seems to be enjoying it with no issues. Thinking time for the timing chain replacement, VANOS solenoid, spark plugs, and coils, then a stage 1 tune.
These parts would obviously be OEM and Bosch brand for reliability as they experience the highest amount of stress.

All brake pads and rotors are also Bosch and high-quality racing local brands for reliability and warranty performance reasons.

Doing all the work alone and not needing any assistance shows how easy it can be to replace all the parts listed above and more without any labour cost. People should also stop hating on Chinese parts and have reliability anxiety because most OEM and aftermarket parts are also labeled Made In China on the packaging. MOST OF THE TIME, IT’S THE SAME PACKAGING AND BOX with different brand print.

Hey guys, never used Reddit before but can’t find any answers to my questions online so I thought I’d come to the professionals.

My girlfriend’s R56 Mini Cooper S (2007) is smoking from the bonnet when idle at lights or junctions. We’ve just had the engine seal done and spark plugs replaced due to a jumpy throttle and slight oil leaking, but those issues seem mostly fixed.

We bought this car about 2 and a half weeks ago and it seemed fine. But about a week ago the bonnet started smoking, and after I opened the bonnet, the smoke seemed to be coming from a whole on the turbo heat shield. The Smokey-ness can vary from like a very little amount to somewhat concerning, but is always very predominantly white.

This has genuinely got me so puzzled so any help is greatly appreciated!

I’ve been looking for this part for six months… I’d really appreciate it if anyone could help me find it… I’ve ordered everything I could find on eBay, but none of them fit… I’m talking about the 3D-printed ones… Please, I’ll pay for the part plus shipping…

Hi everyone, a couple days ago my mini started to throw a lot of smoke but only on low speeds, for example: I take the freeway drive a couple miles at 70 mph and all is good, but once I come back to city streets or making more constant stops, the car starts to smoke a blueish smoke through the exhaust and it’s a lot, making a huge cloud behind, but If I go back to higher speeds it disappears, I already changed the valve cover thinking it was the PCV, also the hoses where replaced, but still it keeps smoking, I already checked coolant levels and it haven’t lowered, oil might have lowered a bit but I feel with such amount of smoke it should have burned a lot more, the car has 175,XXX miles, it had a engine overhaul at 110,000 so timing chain is good, does anyone had this issue before? I’ll appreciate your opinions :)

Not the best photo (couldn't get camera to focus) but I assume this is a blown/worn head gasket as I've also got oil in my coolant tank. Is this an easy job on these to sort? It's not overheated on me and my coolant temp has been normal on past couple of drives so don't think I'll need to have the head skimmed. Also do get a small bit of white smoke from the exhaust sometimes.

Any help or opinions would be appreciated. Car struggles with cold starts, stumbles and stalls at idle, crazy fuel rail pressure deviations, -25% fuel trims, and it rarely ever builds boost. I am getting air mass implausible and intake unmetered air faults. I have had this cooper for way too long and have thrown way too many parts at it. All of the parts are oem, I have done a full timing kit w/ vanos solenoid, whole intake system (map/maf, boost pipes, throttle body, intake manifold+gaskets, and intercooler), pcv, injectors, fuel rail, high pressure fuel pump, and diverter valve. I have checked every vacuum line. I’m at a complete loss and I’m honestly about to sell the thing the way it is lol