R56 Cooper S JCW 2011

[BigDave3243]

Hi all,

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere and I've seen threads for other models.

Can anyone tell me if this age Cooper S JCW is prone to the dreaded timing chain issue that I've heard about? The car has done 48k.

Thanks in advance.

[MrC986]

I don't think there's a particular mileage for the cam chain failure - it's perceived by some that it's down to running the cars low on oil - by that I mean running with oil levels close to minimum. Have a look on the Minitorque forum as it might give you more info. Some owners have been known to get away with just changing the chain tensioner, but it's better to do the go the whole hog & do the chain/tensioner for the extra £s.

[BigDave3243]

MrC986 said:

I don't think there's a particular mileage for the cam chain failure - it's perceived by some that it's down to running the cars low on oil - by that I mean running with oil levels close to minimum. Have a look on the Minitorque forum as it might give you more info. Some owners have been known to get away with just changing the chain tensioner, but it's better to do the go the whole hog & do the chain/tensioner for the extra £s.

Thanks for the advice bud. I'll do that. I'll run through the service history too when I get the car from the dealership.

[rigga]

Jcw varients didn't get the revised N18 engine till 2012, so therefore it should still have the N14 engine that has the camchain issues. Strangely the cooper s gained the N18 in Oct 2010.

[BigDave3243]

rigga said:

Jcw varients didn't get the revised N18 engine till 2012, so therefore it should still have the N14 engine that has the camchain issues. Strangely the cooper s gained the N18 in Oct 2010.

Oh, that's not ideal then. I'm guessing it was never a recall issue at any time then?

Is there any way of preventing the failure other than replacing the item of course?

[rigga]

I had a slight rattle on cold start, replaced the tensioner over two years ago, religiously check oil level, and have had no issues since, mine drinks a bit but its random, some times it needs topping up, otherwise nothing is added . There were three revisions at least of the tensioner, latest uses spring as well as oil pressure to keep the guides under tension, like me some get away with just replacing the tensioner, if the chain has gone too slack, then that won't work and it's the complete change out needed.
Tensioner on its own is cheap and easy to change, worth doing that first, I noticed the one I removed was not as smooth in action compared to the replacement, maybe the long life oil change regime is a factor in this problem too, as if the tensioner tolerance between the body and the shaft is too tight, it won't take much crap build up to hamper it's action.