SRW, I would definitely post this on 'North American Motoring' site. Sorry to hear of your problems. Please keep us posted.

thanks for the reply.  Now I'm told there is no compression in cylinder 1, they need to look deeper, and it may need a valve job.  Why would the car need ANOTHER valve job after just 30K since the last valve job? Could it be faulty parts? Are parts under warranty? Bad repair the first time? The shop seems honest, but maybe they may not be good with Minis (even though they work on them).  Bottom line:  I can't afford another big bill. What options do I have? Any insights would be helpful. 

Leakdown test is a good first step.  Might also have them boroscope the #1 cylinder to see if there are any visual signes of problems.

I presume the misfiring issues went away after the 75k repairs..  Curious to hear why they had to replace the head...

If it was me, I would probably go to another shop - one that is familiar with MINIs, or at least with BMWs.

Let us know what you find out....

leak-down test should lead in the right direction. If parts failed from previous repairs, all bmw parts have a 24 months warranty. In regards to your shop's warranty look at your paperwork, it it's not on paper you have no warranty. If does not want to give you a break in price, I'd go elsewhere.

I've got a 2007 MIni Cooper (just over 100k) with misfiring issues (rattling, stalling). The independent shop I go to ran error codes, and cylinder 1 came up.  They first replaced spark plugs, but the problem remained. Now they've found a cylinder 1 compression problem and need to look deeper. This doesn't sound good. The same shop did a major repair at 75K, including complete valve job, replacing head and  timing chain.  Am I in for another expensive repair?  Can anyone provide a $ estimate? Is the repair shop liable for anything since the problem may involve work/parts similar to what they've already done? What options do I have?  Thanks for any insights.

SRW