2009 MINI Cooper S Head Repair

This 2009 Mini Cooper S had the timing chain tensioner back out of the engine causing valve damage.  There are various problems with the timing system on these R55 powered Mini Coopers made from 2007-2014.  The tensioners can back out or fail hydraulically (there is an updated tensioner designed to reduce the chances of this happening) or the plastic and metal guides can fail.  We have seen the most problems with cars that are low on oil and or have had infrequent oil changes.  The best insurance seems to be 5,000-mile oil changes and making sure your Mini does not get low on oil.  In this case, we had to remove the cylinder head, replace several bent valves, clean the intake and exhaust ports, replace all the timing components and reinstall the head.  A telltale sign of pending timing component failure is a rattle from the engine at startup.  If you hear such a thing we recommend you tow the car to a qualified Mini specialist such as DART auto for diagnosis and repair.  Thousands of dollars can be saved if the car is still running and the timing components can be replaced without having to remove the cylinder head.