1.6 THP Prince engine - issues?

jonessa

jonessa

jonessa

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Does anyone on here own one of the many vehicles fitted with these engines?

I was looking at buying a 2008-2012 Pug 308GT for my wife to potter around in - (good boot space, good NCAP rating, cheap for the spec and i've got a soft spot for sporty Pugs, despite how rubbish they are), however, I was actually advised by a Pug specialist garage to avoid any car with this engine due to numerous issues.

I've read about a few cases on other forums, but wanted to get some feedback from anyone on here who owns a car with one of these engines?

It's fitted in the Cooper S amongst other things.
 
If it’s the N14, which I suspect as the N18 came in with the Countryman in 2010, then timing chain tensioner and carbon coking are issues well documented in MINIs.
 
I've got the N14 Prince engine in my 2008 JCW. I bought it in 2013 and shortly afterwards got the whole timing chain system replaced since it was knocking - a common issue with these engines. They generally start knocking when cold and then get worse and knock all the time. The updated chain and tensioner seem to help this matter now.

Coking of the intake valves is another problem due to direct injection not washing the ports clean. This can be cleaned by walnut blasting to remove it.

Likes a drink of oil too!
 
my missus had a 2007 1.6gt 207cc (nasty,nasty car)

when we bought it the bloke that runs the local garage that looks after our cars said its not a good engine at all and the had replaced several

he did add though that if oil changes are done regularly they are a lot better, he also said the type of oil used is critical on these
 
I've just bought a 2014 208 GTi, and for the last week it's been faultless :p

I'm fully expecting something to go wrong with it though, purely based on the Prince history.
 
I was considering the 207 GTi a while back (not sure if same engine), and was put off by the relatively high number of horror stories I read.

jonessa said:
i've got a soft spot for sporty Pugs, despite how rubbish they are
Click to expand...

I suffer from the same condition. My first car was a K reg 106 1.1, not sporty but god it was good fun. No PAS either so it was a great workout. I've liked the look of GTi's ever since.
 
TacticalFish said:
I was considering the 207 GTi a while back (not sure if same engine), and was put off by the relatively high number of horror stories I read.



I suffer from the same condition. My first car was a K reg 106 1.1, not sporty but god it was good fun. No PAS either so it was a great workout. I've liked the look of GTi's ever since.
Click to expand...

My brother had a P1 GTI6 and I had a P3 306 1.6 Meridian. Loved that car. I tortured it for 7 years and it never once let me down. Brilliant car. I recently looked and it's still going!
 
I used to love sporty Peugeots, having owned a 205 1.6 GTi, a 205 1.9 GTi, A 205 Mi16 and then a 306 GTI-6. A few years back I got mrs HB a 2009 1.6THP 207 CC for her to potter about in. It went OK, but loved drinking oil. After about 8 months she and I wasn't happy with it so we sold it.

I did ring its neck a lot though, not too bad in the corners and straight line was "OK" - roof vibrations let it down, despite multiple fixes and the dealers (Contacted 3) were woeful, when the same 3 used to be very good 10 years prior.
 
I owned a 2009 Mini Clubman JCW with the prince engine fitted. I had nothing but bad luck with the car, which had done only 25k Within the space of 18 months I had 5x new chain tensioners fitted, 1x HPFP, a top half engine rebuild when one of the tensioners failed and valves hit pistons. All that work was done under warranty from MINI and all happened when the engine was stock.

Since I got rid of it, I know its had two new turbos and further engine troubles. I would never touch one of the 2nd gen R56/R55 Mini's with the N14 prince engine ever again. BMW made some improvements with their own tech on the N18 which seems to be more reliable but for me, my experience with the Clubman has put me off the 2nd gen for life, hence why I now own a 1st R53 Cooper S with the 1.6 supercharged Chrysler engine and a 2014 F56 Cooper S with the BMW B48 2.0 Turbo.
 
Bit of a thread bump here,

Are the newer 1.6 prince engines sorted now? as in the 308 GTi . I know they run a forged internals.
Trying to find out any dramas with this engine in that car,but very little on line.
 
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