Okay, it happened once at the track. I blamed the melted valve cover on the fact that the last two sessions didn't get a cool down lap and the heat deflected because of the heatshield and melted my valve cover. This time while I was at the dyno, I had removed the heatshield so there was no blaming that this time.

I wanted to take a moment to say THANKS to the guys from the Mini club in FL. I came in extra early (8am when my appt was at 10am) and with all my issues, the guys allowed me to jump back in front of them so I could get done and back on the road. That was very gracious and I appreciate it. Thanks guys.



For those that do not know, the long story short is that the dealer voided my warranty for engine and trans and it cost me almost 600 to get my valve cover replaced.

So this weekend I drove from NC to Orlando for a retune. We couldn't get the boost up for some reason. I checked and rechecked all the hose connections all over and still couldn't make a decent pull. The best pull was still 30 ftlbs of torque less than what I did last time.

Disappointed that the trip was a complete bust (since it seems I am allergic to dynos, seems everytime I get near one, I have problems) I drive home.

I'm running mid 90's on I-4 and all of a sudden I start to smell oil. I pull over and see this.



At this point, I'm on the side of the road and screwed. I decide to continue driving and I pull over every exit to make sure it didn't blow out oil. The hole is the size of a dime and it's all over the place.

After a dozen checks I realize that if I keep it at 65mph, it doesn't blow it all out, just makes a minor mess.

I drive all the way to NC like this. I take the heatshield off and this is what I find...



The downpipe is missing 2 bolts and the third one is half backed off. I'm going to check with the dealer that fixed it last time and see if they had any reason to take the turbo off.

Anyways, so here goes again, I'm just not having any luck lately.


Mark

 

wow buddy, that's a shocking run of luck....

Best of luck sorting it out, please keep us all posted. I know I'm following your threads with much interest and concern (I have a JCW too).

 

I think when you fix it this time it will be a permanent repair. It was probably what caused the issue the first time too. The mechanic probably just put on a new valve cover and never researched why it melted the first time. This was probably your problem from the get-go.
Ronnie948

 

OC,

Do you think the loose turbo could be a cause of the melted engine cover?

I have the M7 heat shield cover and have been checking it constantly since your last thread. Thanks for the info.

 

The hot exaust was going to the valve cover and not into the turbo. It was also the cause for his low Dyno readings.

I'm sure happy he found the problem. Has anyone ever had the Turbo off since the car was brand new??? This should never have happened in the first place.

Ronnie948

 

Wow...Thats really all that I can say. This isnt good luck recently :(. I hate to see that happen but the good news is...that would definitely cause a surge of heat on your valve cover if there is that huge of a gap in there. I have never seen this happen before, especially if you havent done work on the turbo itself or the exhaust. I cant imagine what kind of heat your engine bay was seeing on WOT with that gap...talk about turbulence building up there with EGTs being ridiculous!

Im surprised that this didnt trip a CEL with your wideband

 

Thanks guys, I think obviously this was the original problem. Like Ronnie said, the techs at the dealership saw a melted valve cover, found out I had a tune, blamed the tune and replaced the cover never taking the time to figure out what the problem was.

The bolts were obviously loose but they remember they were removed when Exhaust Depot installed the downpipe. Perhaps they never tightened the bolts down all the way, perhaps they just worked their way loose.

Regardless, I'm pretty sure that's what my problem has been.

Mark

 

that's gotta be a major pain in the ***. at least you made it all the way to NC. On the good side, car looks killer!
_d

 

OC,

I hope this will be the fix and the problem would not occur again.

Good luck to you.

 

I'm surprised no one heard the exhaust leak - it must have been pretty loud........

At least you definitely found the issue, and since you have a new down pipe, I think you can pretty much pinpoint the why as well...

Are you going to re-install the M7 shield?

why didn't you hear the exhaust leak?

 

This may be a dumb question, but seeing as the dealership blamed something that wasn't the problem and voided your warranty, are you now back under warranty? (Granted not being under warranty is like a free ticket to modding insanity if you have the cash, but I don't think I'd stand for that on an '09)

 

Every once in a while I run into a thread like this and it sure brings back memories. Had many cars which I modified,tinkered with all the time and sometimes just downright ruined. Oh! to have the money back I spent over those many years. Now days I drive it normal, go by the manual and not one problem in thirty thousand miles....I forgot to mention: Not one of those cars do I have today.

 

...

Back on topic. I not so sure this recent development will help him with his warranty and the dealer. They may still consider it to be the smoking gun. I wish him luck though.

 

An unexpected turn of events. When I took the cover off the turbo and saw the gap which btw was small enough not to be heard. Apparently on the ride back, it progressively got worse.

Anyway, I called the dealership and mentioned that I thought it was kind of ridiculous for them to charge me to fix my car and not actually take the time to find out what was really wrong. They just figured since it had a tune, they would blame it on that.

The GM of the dealership offered to refund my money on the entire repair and gave me the number to the head guy at the racing division. He thinks I should be able to get my warranty reinstated. We'll see.

Yritchey, as I get older (will be 47 next week) I think of the same things. If I only had the money I spent on modding cars (that I no longer have to make it worse)

But as my friend just suggested, life would be boring and you can't take it with you.

Mark

 

Sorry to see you had more issues. I'm real disappointed you did not get a chance to do a full tune with Jan. That does suck.

Let us know if you get covered by MINI again, that will a good thing.

I do agree with your last statement.

Btw, did the guys in Florida post some numbers somewhere for the R56 tunes. Should be interesting to see what the latest looks like.

Thanks,
Don

 

Well she's back together and I found my lost horsepower. Jan will be in NC in less than a month so I'll go back and try again....

Mark

 

Dang Mark, glad ya found that problem. I really felt sorry for ya with all the troubles ya had with the dealership. Now that everything's back to snuff, I'd be really interested in your dyno numbers!

 

I had the exact problem when i was returning back home on the highway.
The first thing was that the boost cut off and after a 2 hour drive with 80 mile and without any boost i realised that my exhaust was wide open like yours and melted the valve cover with the oil all over the engine..

Fortunately my dealer had changed me the valve cover without paying a single euro..

The problem is the exhaust keeps unbolting in many minis..

 

use jam nuts to prevent them from backing off. Cheap insurance.

Matt

 

Very interesting thread. Please let us know if anything new develops.

 

Sorry to hear about you bad luck. I’m a firm believer in Lock-Tite. A friend of mine had a catastrophic failure on his motorcycle at a track day that lead to a horrible accident. He had a few bolts back out of his brake calipers which caused loss of brakes. Now I Lock-Tite everything that I take apart.

oh yeah....good luck getting your warranty back!!! That would be sweet!!!

 

Let us know if you get your MINI back onto the dyno... We'd be interested in hearing what your car is pulling...

 

Also wish the best for you on that warranty!

Not sure if Lock-Tite would do, considering the heat of the exhaust at that location.

Jam nuts as suggested above, or some safety wire might be more reliable.

 

Jan is coming to my neck of the woods within a month or so and I've already setup an appt.

I'll post numbers when I find out.



Yeah, I'm stupid. I thought about that yesterday. I locktited my nuts (sounds painful but really, it's not ) but thought about the heat. I'm sure locktite is useless at those temps.

Mark

 

Loc Tite does make a high heat gel type but since your turbo gets glowing red hot I'm not sure if it would help. Maybe try stage 8 locking bolts?
http://www.stage8.com/