Hi guys, hoping someone here may have some advice. I phoned my dealer yesterday and have yet to hear back from them. I have a 2014 Countryman All4 and I am finding I have a lot of black exhaust on my tail pipes, almost soot like, should if be concerned? I washed my car on Saturday, and within 200km they are black again. My car is only a month old, not driven hard, followed all the break in period rules-hoping there is not something wrong. While I am asking, can I also ask what type of fuel economy everyone is getting or what I should be getting-again reflecting back to the above question as I feel like I am 400km per tank of fuel. Thanks in advance, looking forward to everyone response.

 

My wife's 2014 CMS has been behaving the same. She drives nothing like I do with my highly modded 2013 MCS, but yet I get way better mileage. The soot has been there since the beginning. I know the CMS has a smaller tank and is heavier, especially the All4S, but it seems to need a checkup. Bringing this up to my dealer come this next maintenance check up.

 

If you can physically see the black or blue smoke constantly, I would say there is definitely a problem. Keep an eye on the oil and anti freeze levels. If its just your tail pipe getting dirty, then it is normal.

 

My new to me 12k mile 2012 All4 soots up its tail pipe very quickly. If I polish it, within a couple weeks it is coated again. There is no sign of oil or coolant loss, so I assume it is just the nature of the tune for the turbo. It really makes you wonder though how long the catalytic converter and o2 sensors will last.

 

Pretty much all of the forced induction direct injection engines I have owned have behave that like that. Its perfectly normal, after a year or so, I don't even bother to polish the tail pipes anymore

 

Even worse using Sport mode, as the Anti Lag System gets ultra rich.
The gurgle, and pop!

 

The sooty pipe(turbo or not) is the result of the direct fuel injection into the cylinders used on the Minis. My last DI car had no turbo, but would soot up the chrome exhaust tips in short order. I too stopped polishing them after a while.

I also wonder about the longevity of the O2 sensors and catalytic converters with this prevalent soot.

 

This is typical for a direct injection engines and is the reason why there is typically carbon build up in the cylinders. Some call it exhaust gas recirulation as the exhaust is reused. As I wash my CM weekly and have the same exhaust tip build up which wipes off with one swipe.

I thought it was strange when I tool delivery of my CM, the sales advisor reminded my to only use top tier gaoline. Recall, if you review your manual recommends using ONLY a top tier gasoline.

"To avoid harmful engine deposits, it is highly recommended to purchase

I thought that was a bunch of malarkey until I read all of the carbon buildup posts in NAM and that they add detergent to their blends.

TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline Retailers
Gasoline retailers must meet the high TOP TIER standards with all grades of gasoline to be approved by the automakers as providing TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline.
In addition, all gasoline outlets carrying the brand of the approved retailer must meet the TOP TIER standards.
Additional gasoline retailers are added to the TOP TIER list as they meet the standards. The retailers known to be on the TOP TIER list are shown below.
TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:
USA
76 Stations
Aloha Petroleum
ARCO
BP
Chevron
Conoco
Costco Wholesale
CountryMark
Entec Stations
Express Convenience Centers
Exxon
Hawaii Fueling Network (HFN)
Holiday Stationstores
Kwik Trip / Kwik Star
MFA Oil Co.
Mobil
Ohana Fuels
Phillips 66
Quik Trip
Road Ranger
Scheirl Oil
Shell
SuperAmerica
Texaco
Tri-Par Oil Co.

 

That would be the case in a port injection engine, but the detergent really never gets a chance to clean the valves in a direct injection engine since the gas is injected directly into the combustion chamber.