I just had my 2012 Mini Cooper S (66K miles) repaired last week last week for a failed/leaky water pump. My car had an episode where it overheated and shut down and wouldn't start after pulling over and allowing it to cool. It was towed to the dealership where they found it to have both a short in the battery and the failed water pump. The brand new water pump was installed at the Mini dealership along with a new battery and it was determined there was no other problems. Four days later the car just shut down while driving to work with the engine light coming on (the temperature light did not come on). Towed again to the dealership and have now been informed that water was leaking into the engine basically destroying it and a whole new engine is required. My 3 year/36000K warranty is obviously expired. Cost of new engine approx $11,000. Mini will put up approx $8K leaving me $3,500 cost. They state because I have been a good customer and bring in car for regular service and own a second 2013 Mini I got for my wife 2 years ago. Could an improperly installed water pump have caused this problem?
It doesn't set well with me and my question is if the new water pump was somehow installed improperly at the service department could that have contributed or been the cause? The brand new engine will have a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty. Options limited as the car is fully paid for so I am faced with spending the $3,500 on basically a relatively new car.