Early F56 Cooper S...that recall?!

Early F56 Cooper S...that recall?!

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BUG4LIFE

Original Poster:

2,130 posts

225 months

Friday 17th May
quotequote all
I was in the market for an R55/56 Cooper S, but I've realised my budget will net me an early [2014] F56. I figured this was a good option as I could avoid the potential issues with the N14/N18.

A couple of days ago though, I learned about the crankshaft bearing recall, which affected all Cooper S's in 2014 and early 2015. This involved Mini replacing the 'crankshaft guide bearing shell', if they felt there wasn't substantial wear/damage already caused. If there was, the engine was replace!

I've got my eye on a particular car for sale and asked the owner if they had any details about whether the car has had the new shell only, a new engine, or maybe neither. They didn't know but got a Mini dealer to send a PDF of all work carried out on the car, saved on their system. Unfortunately this recall wasn't on the report [other recalls were].

Mini didn't actually call it a recall, it was a 'Quality Enhancement'! Just wondering if any of you guys, that own or have owned an S from 2014 were aware of this and looked into it before buying? I'm thinking; although I can't get a definitive answer whether the car I'm looking visited the dealer for this job [the Gov site says the car doesn't have any outstanding recalls], the fact it's still running 8/9 years later and on nearly 80k miles, it's either had the fix and it's not logged on the Mini system or it somehow has managed to avoid the issue?!

pb8g09

2,686 posts

76 months

Friday 17th May
quotequote all

I've had a couple of BMWs now which had outstanding recall notes on their system. When I took them in for servicing at my dealership, they did the recall remediations free of charge. Typically if there was a recall, one of the previous owners would have received a letter from BMW/MINI stating so. They should therefore have a marker with MINI on any outstanding recalls on the car when you next take it to their service department.

I don't think I'd be overly stressed - to the point that I am anticipating buying a F56 JCW at some point in the future and it won't be on my worry list.

BUG4LIFE

Original Poster:

2,130 posts

225 months

Sunday 19th May
quotequote all
There’s definitely no outstanding recalls on the Cooper S I’ve been looking at. I was just hoping to find out if, in 2015/16, it had had the revised bearing shell only or a new engine. I doubt very much it missed this recall as the engine wouldn’t have survived this long!

Mini did call this recall a Quality Enhancement though. Not sure if that would prevent it showing up on outstanding recall list?!

chrisch77

694 posts

82 months

Sunday 19th May
quotequote all
I had an early F56 2014 Cooper S for a couple of years (19-21) and it was never clear what may have been done to it early in its life regarding the bearing issue, but the fact remains if the car is working fine now at 10 years old and no signs of engine knocking etc then you don’t have anything to worry about. If it was going to be an issue it would have happened by now on a car that has been used.

BUG4LIFE

Original Poster:

2,130 posts

225 months

Monday 20th May
quotequote all
chrisch77 said:
I had an early F56 2014 Cooper S for a couple of years (19-21) and it was never clear what may have been done to it early in its life regarding the bearing issue, but the fact remains if the car is working fine now at 10 years old and no signs of engine knocking etc then you don’t have anything to worry about. If it was going to be an issue it would have happened by now on a car that has been used.
Yeah I agree. Car I was interested in has 76k miles and has been serviced yearly etc...so I'm thinking is all good [just wish it wasn't black]!!

Just called a guy about a very nice looking R55 JCW. Popped on AT on Friday and already has a deposit down frown An F56 would probably be a better buy than an R55...I do really like the oddness of the Clubman though.

DT1975

644 posts

35 months

Wednesday 22nd May
quotequote all
BUG4LIFE said:
I was in the market for an R55/56 Cooper S, but I've realised my budget will net me an early [2014] F56. I figured this was a good option as I could avoid the potential issues with the N14/N18.

A couple of days ago though, I learned about the crankshaft bearing recall, which affected all Cooper S's in 2014 and early 2015. This involved Mini replacing the 'crankshaft guide bearing shell', if they felt there wasn't substantial wear/damage already caused. If there was, the engine was replace!

I've got my eye on a particular car for sale and asked the owner if they had any details about whether the car has had the new shell only, a new engine, or maybe neither. They didn't know but got a Mini dealer to send a PDF of all work carried out on the car, saved on their system. Unfortunately this recall wasn't on the report [other recalls were].

Mini didn't actually call it a recall, it was a 'Quality Enhancement'! Just wondering if any of you guys, that own or have owned an S from 2014 were aware of this and looked into it before buying? I'm thinking; although I can't get a definitive answer whether the car I'm looking visited the dealer for this job [the Gov site says the car doesn't have any outstanding recalls], the fact it's still running 8/9 years later and on nearly 80k miles, it's either had the fix and it's not logged on the Mini system or it somehow has managed to avoid the issue?!
We had that recall done on two of our F56 mini's, a 2014 and a 2015. Both were 1.5 three pots mind not the 2 litre.

chrisch77

694 posts

82 months

Wednesday 22nd May
quotequote all
BUG4LIFE said:
Yeah I agree. Car I was interested in has 76k miles and has been serviced yearly etc...so I'm thinking is all good [just wish it wasn't black]!!

Just called a guy about a very nice looking R55 JCW. Popped on AT on Friday and already has a deposit down frown An F56 would probably be a better buy than an R55...I do really like the oddness of the Clubman though.
We sold both our R55 Clubman and my F56 when we got our current SE. The R55 we had from new as an early customer delivery in 2007 and it was lots of fun despite the diesel engine. However the F56 is massive step up in terms of quality, I would describe it as a BMW in MINI clothing rather than a Rover derived car.

the griffin

96 posts

198 months

Wednesday 22nd May
quotequote all
What's your budget? My mother-in-law is looking to sell her 2017 Cooper S...

BUG4LIFE

Original Poster:

2,130 posts

225 months

Thursday 23rd May
quotequote all
DT1975 said:
We had that recall done on two of our F56 mini's, a 2014 and a 2015. Both were 1.5 three pots mind not the 2 litre.
Yeah the 1.5's were affected too.

BUG4LIFE

Original Poster:

2,130 posts

225 months

Thursday 23rd May
quotequote all
the griffin said:
What's your budget? My mother-in-law is looking to sell her 2017 Cooper S...
Unfortunately not enough to buy a 2017 car...£9k max really.