Yasmina Bursac.
Posted on 02/09/2015 6:05:02 AM PST by rickmichaels
An Ontario woman has decided to Go Public, as she fights to get Mini Canada, owned by BMW, to pay $10,200 to repair her Mini Cooper, after a blown engine that left her car unusable.
"When the car stopped dead, I could have been killed or killed someone," Yasmina Bursac told Go Public.
"I'm a relatively experienced driver, I've been on the road for a long time. It was frightening."
Bursac bought her used 2010 Mini Cooper S from a Volkswagen dealership in Mississauga, Ont., in July 2013 for $21,000 .
The vehicle was only three years old with 61,000 kilometres on the clock, and Bursac says the Volkswagen dealership she bought it from told her it was in good shape and safe to drive.
But just over a year later, on Sept. 26, 2014, Bursac says she was travelling at 70 km/h along a Mississauga road when her car suddenly stopped without warning.
She heard a hissing sound and couldn't restart it.
Bursac had the car towed to a nearby gas station where a mechanic looked at it.
"He told me … the engine had been completely damaged beyond repair and I needed a new engine. I was in disbelief because the engine only had 64,000 kilometres on it," she said.
Bursac wanted a second opinion, so she had the car towed to Budd's BMW/Mini dealership in Oakville, Ont.
She says the dealership confirmed the worst — a vacuum pump had failed, causing the timing chain to snap and doing irreparable damage to the engine.
Bursac says the dealership told her a refurbished engine would cost her just under $10,200. Bursac was shocked; she still had about $19,000 in car payments to make.
Bursac called Mini Cooper Canada to complain. How could a relatively new car with so few kilometres have such a massive mechanical failure?
After some negotiation, the company offered to pay 60 per cent of the $10,200 cost, if Bursac got the repairs done at its dealership.
But Bursac had done some research, and believed the initial estimate was inflated, so the offer to pay a large portion of the cost wasn't the deal it seemed to be, especially when the damage wasn't her fault.
"It was shocking, because online the price range for a refurbished engine was between $1,700 and $3,000."
Class action lawsuits involving certain Mini Cooper models have already been filed in the U.S.
One $85-million US lawsuit alleges BMW failed to notify consumers about a design defect that could cause water pumps to fail in thousands of 2007-13 Mini Coopers.
That class action is pending court approval and involves the water pump that wasn't recalled. BMW denies the allegations.
In November 2013, a big class action lawsuit was settled involving the 2002-06 Mini Hardtop and the 2005-08 Mini Convertible.
Plaintiffs alleged a design defect caused the continuously variable transmissions or CVTs in the vehicles to prematurely break down, which could lead to transmission failure while driving.
In that case, BMW denied the allegations but agreed to provide refunds to consumers.
Go Public could not find a record of any class action lawsuits in Canada, but that doesn't mean there are no unhappy Mini drivers.
George Iny, president of consumer advocacy for the Automobile Protection Association in Canada, says his organization hears a lot of complaints about the older Mini models — especially those manufactured between 2002 and 2008.
"A used Mini is a piece of junk. And the pity is, unlike other BMW products, it's sold to people who would otherwise be driving in a small Volkswagen or Toyota or something like that," he told Go Public.
"These are the people who don't necessarily have the BMW wallet to pay for BMW price repairs. It's both not reliable and very expensive to fix."
The problem, according to Iny, goes beyond Mini products. He says that across the country, provincial governments are failing when it comes to protecting car owners.
Iny says that under most provincial consumer laws, defective goods are subject to a refund or replacement, but the provinces seem to ignore that when it comes to defective vehicles.
He says car manufacturers know they won't be penalized or face fines if their cars are defective.
"Very few retailers would refuse to take back really defective goods. Car makers and car dealers do that every day," Iny says.
Iny wants to see so-called "lemon laws" in Canada, like the ones in the U.S.
Individual states have their own legislation that goes by different names, but they all give car buyers extra protection if their vehicles are defective — if they have bought a so-called "lemon."
"What you would need is some kind of 'lemon' protection for both new and used car buyers, because the car companies don't respect the implied warranty that you get. You need something clearer," said Iny.
In the case of the Mini, Iny says BMW could do a lot better by offering its customers extended warranties for problematic models or cheaper repair rates, just as other car makers have done in the past.
In Bursac's case, she tried to strike a deal with the BMW dealership, suggesting it fix the car and then sell it, subtracting the cost of the repairs, enabling her to pay off as much of her loan as possible.
But Bursac says the dealership refused, saying the best it could do is offer her $1,000 for the broken-down car.
Barb Pitblado, BMW Group Canada's director of corporate communications, says that because Bursac bought the car second-hand from a non-Mini dealership without an extended warranty, there is little Mini Canada can do.
Pitblado says the company offered to pick up 60 per cent of the cost of replacing the engine as "a gesture of goodwill and to make [Bursac] happy with her brand experience with Mini."
Pitblado offered to put Bursac back in touch with the BMW/Mini dealership.
Bursac declined that offer, saying the situation leaves her saddled with car payments for a vehicle without an engine, which she can't drive or sell.
"It was just a horrible experience and it's continued to be a horrible experience," she says.
#80 A crunch is a good sound for a car to make as you turn over the engine.... : )
The mid 2000’s VW Passat had an “engine sludge” issue that caused a large percentage of engine failures and 10k bills. VW kept it a secret and when they failed they pulled the same thing, offering to pay half of the inflated charges which basically got them off the hook financially for a flawed engine design.
I think I’d rather have the government be a watchdog for these types of things rather than suing and fining other companies for no consumer protection reason but becuase it;s boatloads of $$ for government.
What? It sounds like crunchy potato chips...mmmm...potato chips.
It’s paid off though and I have a strict “pay as you go” policy with paid off vehicles.
It makes no sense, but don’t ask me to make sense please. I’m terrible at it.
My ex-wife drove the thing, and she did terrible things to it. I not only paid it off, but paid to fix a bunch of damage she did to it. She liked to pop curbs you see.
I figure if it poops the bed, it poops the bed. I’ll buy a new one. I just hate buying cars.
Yes, that probably is the bendix. You may want to get that fixed soon as it could damage the teeth on the ring gear (which is pressed onto the flywheel). That repair requires the removal of the transmission and then the flywheel.
The starter replacement shouldn’t be too expensive. And, yes,
plan on the car lasting a long, long time.
I have a hard time believing the vacuum pump somehow caused a timing issue, but I don’t know this engine’s design. If it is designed in such a way that a vacuum pump failure can cause a timing issue, then the whole damn engine is a piece of crap IMHO. Because losing vacuum can happen by any compromise to the system, not just the pump itself failing.
However, the reality is, interference engines are the norm not the exception these days, with the need to get as much HP output out of as little space as possible, for fuel economy etc, they are the norm.
I heard that the first Lexus RX model (RX300 with a 3.0 liter engine) had sludge problems that caused early engine failure.
The wife has the RX330 and apparently Toyota/Lexus fixed the
problem. I have been a long time Toyota fan, but they are not immune to problems.
Many vehicles have problems, if they admit to them and fix them then fine. If they hide them like VW did with their, I think 1.8 or 2.0 ltr engines then it's a crime.
A vacuum pump is used to create vacuum for the brake system. On modern BMW's your engine no longer creates enough vacuum to support the brake booster due to the valvetronic system. Vacuum is no longer created in the intake manifold at times and could lead to a loss of brake assist. To make sure there is enough brake assist BMW has added a vacuum pump that runs off the engine. If the vacuum pump fails it can lead to a loss of brake assist or in the worst case scenario if it seizes it can lead to engine failure.
Yikes. So it seizes, breaks the timing chain, and the pistons smash the valves at max lift. The BMW engineering analysis probably determined that driving the pump off an external aux power belt was too unreliable and risky. What a brilliant design!
Governments have put car manufacturers under such pressure to increase mileage and reduce emissions, that they have to resort to fiendishly complicated mechanical tricks to comply with the regulations and still provide a car that people enjoy driving.
But they cost you plenty when you buy, and even more when they break.
Maybe, but I thought it said the dispute dates to 2013 and that it was a 2010 model. Original owner/leasee moved the car before the warranty was out. Smart move on most European brands.
Canada warranties might be different, but I’d sure think BMW and the dealer would want this to go away if it is as presented.
Stupid woman.
Did she get the car checked out with CarFax?
That’s what I did before I bought my used car.
It checks for maintenance history, water damage and accident damage - stuff your used car salesman won’t tell you.
You get peace of mind when you buy a used car. I consider it important to do your homework before you buy a used car.
If you buy a used car, and one year later the engine blows, the dealer you brought it from shouldn’t be on the hook unless there’s an extended warranty. Carfax isn’t going to predict something a year in advance. In this case, it sure seems like BMW Canada should make it good (low miles, barely out of warranty, known problem). They may known something about the car’s treatment by the buyer not mentioned here.
I always wanted a mini so I did some reading ... the problem seems to be a hydraulic tensioner that leaks (since updated) and the chain is a single wide that wears out very quickly ... I’ve had other cars with chains go 200,000+ miles without reaching the limits of the tensioner... mini’s are wearing out chains at 25-60,000 miles... this is a defective chain , chains do not stretch... what is termed “stretch” is actually wear at the joints.
This is actually good news for me ... I want an early mini with the “death rattle” from a bad chain .. and I want it dirt cheap... I’ll change it out while I have the head off for porting.
Yasmina Bursac.
A failed vacuum pump caused the timing chain to snap? Can somebody explain that to me?
What’s a vacuum pump on an engine? I thought they all tapped the vacuum in the intake manifold.
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Many mini’s are supercharged so it’s possible they have vacuum pumps for brake boost (like most diesels) I just don’t know ...
The timing chains are poor quality and are “stretching” beyond what the tensioners can adjust for... these are interferance engines (all the high performance ohc engines are) ... a chain doesn’t actually stretch ,, the joints wear and the cumulative wear on hundreds of joints has the appearance of stretch... if the stretch becomes excessive it’s possible to hammer an exhaust valve with a piston and (guessing here) the shock of the interferance and sudden massive increase in force as the valve hitting the piston attempts to stop the cams rotation , that shock snaps the (already weak/worn) chain and likely holes a piston.
Yikes. So it seizes, breaks the timing chain, and the pistons smash the valves at max lift. The BMW engineering analysis probably determined that driving the pump off an external aux power belt was too unreliable and risky. What a brilliant design!
Germany engineering at its finest.
I’ve had vacuum pumps fail on me ... on Lycomings... but on aircraft the vacuum pumps use graphite impeller vanes that are self lubricating and run off a jackshaft... absolutely no chance of engine damage when one fails..
Check the owners manual. For my wife’s ‘03 TDI, the belt is on a 100K service interval. Parts were about $350, special tools $250 and I did the work myself.
It may have banged up pistons and possibly bent connecting rods.
For my wife’s ‘03 TDI, the belt is on a 100K service interval. Parts were about $350, special tools $250 and I did the work myself.
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So when can I marry you?
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