Car serviced and MOT'd - a week later it dies. Oil cap not secured

ess0two

*Kat* wrote: »

No
Oil is fine between the lines
Mini Cooper R56

What's the diagnosis to engine noise and needing a new engine,can't be lack of oil related damage.

wgl2014

If the oil level is ok and there isn't oil sprayed all over the engine bay I can't see what issue the loose filler cap would cause?

*Kat*

ess0two wrote: »

What's the diagnosis to engine noise and needing a new engine,can't be lack of oil related damage.

It's my 'big ends', which will cost almost the same value as my car which is why the garage is saying not to do it.

I read this online:

Failure is almost always caused by an oil pressure problem, reduced lubrication lets the bearing hit the crank, leading to a spun shell or complete bearing failure.

I really don't know what to do. If I hadn't taken care of my car, I'd let it go as my fault, but I know that I have. I have looked after it, I have checked and put oil in it regularly, it's got a full service history. It had no advisories at the MOT last week...I just can't understand how my car would suddenly die, and the only thing I can think is that the garage did something - and they did leave the oil cap insecure.

ess0two

Google is littered with similar stories of 'big ends' going for no apparent reason,sounds like an inherent engine fault.

sevenhills

*Kat* wrote: »

I really don't know what to do. If I hadn't taken care of my car, I'd let it go as my fault, but I know that I have. I have looked after it, I have checked and put oil in it regularly, it's got a full service history. It had no advisories at the MOT last week...I just can't understand how my car would suddenly die, and the only thing I can think is that the garage did something - and they did leave the oil cap insecure.

Some die young, some live for ever; just luck of the draw.

Aylesbury_Duck

From everything you've described OP, I think it's an unfortunate coincidence. If all the garage carried out was a service and MOT, you haven't lost a significant amount of oil and you drove 100 miles before anything seemed amiss, I can't think what it might be that the garage did to cause the problem.

65,000 miles isn't old by any measure, but it's not young either. A full service history and clean MOT record would not tell you if there was an inherent engine fault or for example, a belt tensioner pulley about to fail. I think you've been unlucky.

lewishardwick

Who serviced the car? Main dealer? Mini specialist or a Halfords type outfit?

I'd imagine that envying to be in a higher state of time than the bog standard mini. Get yourself onto all the owners forums to set of it has a history of engine failures.

If it's the same engine in my DS3 DSport (which was, I believe a BMW/PSA project) then you could have a case. Though that was cam chain issues. So could /could not be related...

lewishardwick

A quick Google suggest it is the same engine design. Duff cam chain tensioner causes timing issues.

Get yourself onto the Mini forums, read up on it and get in touch with your dealer. Oh and make sure your service book is stamped up by reputable workshops...

System

*Kat* wrote: »

No
Oil is fine between the lines
Mini Cooper R56

Then it wasn't the oil filler cap being loose or even completely absent which caused it. For it to have been that then the engine bay would be covered in oil, there would be a strong smell accompanied by loads of blue smoke as the oil burned on the hot engine and there would be no oil showing on the dipstick.

The 1 mile driven with the noise is what has terminally killed your engine. As soon as I would have heard the first sound it would be clutch pedal down, engine off, into neutral, coast to side of road and park up, phone recovery. Had you done that instead of continuing to drive for 5 minutes or more you may still have had an engine.

AdrianC

Tarambor wrote: »

Then it wasn't the oil filler cap being loose or even completely absent which caused it. For it to have been that then the engine bay would be covered in oil, there would be a strong smell accompanied by loads of blue smoke as the oil burned on the hot engine and there would be no oil showing on the dipstick.

Agreed.

The only way a loose oil cap could cause any issue is if it had come off completely, allowing all the oil inside the engine to be outside the engine. Smell, leaks, smoke would inevitably result. Don't ask how I know this...

The 1 mile driven with the noise is what has terminally killed your engine. As soon as I would have heard the first sound it would be clutch pedal down, engine off, into neutral, coast to side of road and park up, phone recovery. Had you done that instead of continuing to drive for 5 minutes or more you may still have had an engine.

Don't agree with this, though. If the noise is the sound of the big ends - the bearings that join the crankshaft to the connecting rods to the pistons - failing, then the engine is already toast. Running it won't add much more damage, unless and until the conrods actually poke out the side and say hello. That could be the difference between your old engine being a viable exchange core and not, so could add a reasonable chunk to the cost of the engine swap. But it won't save the engine...

Quite why swapping the entire engine is cheaper than getting the crank reground is another question entirely...