A few days ago, I got the RMW street header and cam installed as well as had an oil change. I was also going to get JCW injectors but the part wasn't installed, so my RMW retune was going to happen after the injectors arrived. Until then, idle was a little rough.

Still I managed to drive over 200 miles without any problems until tonight. I was at my inlaws house, and pulled away, when suddenly all power was lost. SES light went on, I pulled over. My Scangauge II told me it was code P1688.

A quick Google search said it could be the BPV failing/sticking, or something with the MAF. I've had the DT BPV in place for the past 50,000 miles. My boost gauge seems to be showing that vacuum when I let off the gas is working properly. The needle closes immediately--doesn't flutter or hover.

I drove the car back to my inlaws house and opened the bonnet--because there was a burning smell. Suddenly a big puff of smoke came from the bonnet. I had a light with me, but couldn't tell where it was coming from.

I checked the oil dipstick, and the oil level appeared low, but couldn't be 100% certain in the light I was in. Might be totally unrelated.

Guess I'll have to call AAA to flatbed the MINI back to Danny's tomorrow.

Wonder what the problem is?

Richard

 

Ugh.. good luck Richard. Let us know what if anything failed.

 

an '05 with high miles... I would like to bet $1 on a split harmonic balancer and a damaged belt as a result.

 

Thanks, will do.
Yeah forgot to mention that I'm at about 96,000 miles...

 

if you do end up needing a harmonic balancer let me know. I have one that I took off my '06 at 12k or so.

 

Yikes! Smoke under the bonnet SUCKS.

Hope it turns out *relatively* OK, Richard....

 

Thanks...not sure if I can wait that long to be back on the road--but certainly if that's the problem, I'll consider it.

Yeah--it came from the passenger front side. I couldn't see anything dripping underneath the car either. The smoke smelled kinda rubbery/plasticy..

 

Could your OCC tubing have collapsed?

 

Hmm, that's an interesting thought. It is in the same area and could explain the smoke. I wasn't able to see much in the dark last night--I'm headed over to see my car now so I'll be able to have more info, I hope, soon.

Richard

 

Just got off the phone with Danny. Although he hasn't seen the car yet, he's betting it's the crank pulley. Will let you know!

Richard

 

When I did my OCC, I got seduced and did not use the stock black tubing that M7 supplied and used some sexy blue silicon tubing from the auto parts store. The tubing collapsed and it began to smell. The collapse was were the tubing attached to the grey tube partially under the IC.

Easy to check - starter up and take a look, perhaps a friend can rev it up.

 

I'll check it out, but I've had the Alta OCC working fine for the past 59,000 miles...

 

http://www.motoringunderground.com/f...ead.php?t=4149

 

Thanks, I saw that already but didn't think it was relevant because:

1.) My PS didn't fail
2.) I already have the DT BPV and had visually verified that I hadn't lost vacuum through my boost gauge.

 

tubing does deteriorate, easy elimination.

 

...+1 for harmonic balancer.It happened to me a few months back.

 

Well here's the problem. Crank pulley separated in two pieces. Danny had one in stock and got me back on the road pretty quickly. Thanks everyone for your support. The burning smell came from the rubber in the pulley.

Richard

 

Glad you're rollin' again...

 

Im glad it got fixed without too much damage! Did you have an aftermarket crank pulley or stock?

 

Thanks, that was stock and after some thought, decided to replace it with another stock one. Not sure if the extra HP I got from the RMW Header and Cam just accelerated its destruction or was just a coincidence though.

 

So, you had serious mechanical failure, trouble shot, fixed and back on the road in less than 24hrs?
I'm afraid I'd still be waiting for the tow truck.

p.s. used your Black Wow I got from you at MITM, love it.

 

Well in some ways I guess the stars were all aligned for me last night, lol.

I was out celebrating my birthday (a few days early) with the wife and just picked up my son from her parents house, and the problems began just as we left the house, so that was fortunate. But it was also late Sunday night and none of my MINI mechanic friends were answering their phones.

But I was able to do some basic troubleshooting. My Scan Gauge II gave me the code, I saved it before deleting it for future reference, and cleared the code--course the code came back several more times once I started moving.

With my PocketPC, I did a Google Search on "OBD MINI Cooper P1688" and found a number of potential causes..none turned out to be correct though. One of my MINI friends looked up the code on his desktop computer and also gave me the info about the BPV..suddenly it dawned on me that it would make sense to have a PDF version of the MINI OBD codes in my PDA for future reference. P1688 is MINI specific--BMW doesn't show this, nor any other brand.

I was able to borrow a car from the inlaws to get the family home safe, and dealt with the problem the next morning.

Danny (MiniCorsa) actually returned my calls first thing in the morning, and gave me some likely causes--his initial assumption turned out to be spot on. While I contemplated about calling AAA to get a flat bed out, Danny said I should be able to drive it to the shop as long as I stayed out of boost--otherwise it would go back into limp mode. He was right! It took me 45 minutes to drive on the surface streets to the shop--what probably was a 20 minute freeway drive, lol. He was all ready with a replacement crank pulley--and an hour later, it was done.

Just another example of why I love having Danny working on my MINI! =)

re: Black Wow
Awesome!!! Thanks for the feedback!

Richard

 

where is the "pat myself on the back for a cross county diagnosis" smiley ?

haha... glad to hear it worked out for you.

 

Oh but you were only half correct, as there was no damaged belt...lol jk. Yes you were correct! For those that are as ignorant as I am--the harmonic balancer and crank pulley are the same thing, lol.

 

yeah, I guess I got a little cocky with the belt prediction.