I think he may have already figured that out.......................

Kevin

 

I have drained the oil into clean, pure catch pan.
The oil was so pure it was just funny, no metal flakes or metal parts at all.
I got about 3 liters out of the engine with the oil filter still in and without turning the engine by hand, so we had enough oil in it I think.

I removed Intercooler also and saw nothing in it, so it never went through Supercharger.

I'm going to remove fuel rail, intake manifold and see if I can check out intake of the supercharger.

 

I'm just guessing here but, if the oil light came on in hard turns, you ran it low on oil.

The motor takes no less than 4.50 liters or 4.75 US quarts of oil with filter.
If you drained out only 3 liters you were at least 1 liter short.

Hope that's not what happened...

 

Very true about the oil pressure with the Porsche but not so much with the "Hardly Abelsons".

Now that had me laughing my *** off...

 

That is funny. The primary reason for dry sump systems in performance cars is so that you don't get high-G starving of the oil pickup. The other benefits of a dry sump are nice, but the oil starvation is the main concern. The question was rhetorical. Here is a nice article about dry sump systems: http://www.f1technical.net/articles/8766

 

One additional benefit is efficiency since there is less parasitic drag loss from the crank swinging around and slinging oil headed back to the sump. It still happens in dry sump systems but to a lesser degree. It's pretty amazing how much vacuum those pumps pull to get the oil out. I've heard that they had issues with Nascar motors sucking the seals in on the covers that replaced the oil pan. They were running 20+ in Hg vacuum.

 

Yeah on topic here guys.

Well, I removed Intercooler, Fuel rail, Intake manifold, Supercharger, A/C compressor, oil pan and lots of more.

I never found this screw, but I'm positive about it that theres something with the supercharger... because when I was turning the supercharger, it got stuck, then I turned it in other direction and then It was no problem turning it both directions. Clockwise and anticlockwise.

I removed the oil pan and was looking for something down there, and no bent rods.

I removed (1) rod bearing seat and checked out the actual bearing (2), and it looked fine.


How can I test the bearings for worn out or blown ?

 

visually you want smooth surface no scratches or scuffs . should be shiny . then plasti-gauge to spec . you can purchase plasti gauge at any auto parts store . any auto manual pretty much will show what bad lower bearings look like .

 

What I have done:
I removed both side covers of supercharger now.
On the pulley side, we had lots of oil
On the water pump side we have NO oil.
The gears are in great shape on the water pump side tho..
I beginned to hear that grinding noise higher and higher until my car died.


Here is an detailed description of how it all happened:

So, the problem day starts. I pick up my friend and we start driving, I was showing him my car for the first time so I was giving it a good spin.
In a long right side turn, up an hill, I noticed the oil light went on for 1-2 secs while in the turn for a good speed.
I slowed down and just thought I had some great G´s there, for the reason of the oil light.
Then we drove around for a while, and I was at straight long road, then I decided to let the MINI show us all it got, I was in 3th gear around 4500rpm, when the grinding noise got REALLY loud.
It was like some old diesel tractor.
I drove back to the place I picked him up, and I open the hood. We did not notice where the sound came from, but I think it came from the supercharger.
I also noticed that my air filter was not on the hose. I put it back there.
I drove by my self, to my garage.
The grinding noise really loud, and I was testing to see if the motor was powerless that usually, I thought it was.
When I was on the driveway in front of my garage it was like the motor suffered from air and died.
I put the key back and, put it in the ignition position for 2 seconds.
In these two seconds, the motor made belt slipping sound and did not completly start.
I tried to start again with just the relay click, so the motor seems like its stuck.



And here you have my thoughts, what maight have happened:

Before this all happened, I recently changed to 17% pulley.
Some weeks after that I heard very low grinding noise at some rpm´s.
(This is where I think I had low oil in the supercharger, water pump side )

So, the problem day starts. I pick up my friend and we start driving, I was showing him my car for the first time so I was giving it a good spin.
In a long right side turn, up an hill, I noticed the oil light went on for 1-2 secs while in the turn for a good speed.
I slowed down and just thought I had some great G´s there, for the reason of the oil light.
Then we drove around for a while, and I was at straight long road, then I decided to let the MINI show us all it got, I was in 3th gear around 4500rpm, when the grinding noise got REALLY loud.
(This is where I think all of the fluid went out of the supercharger, on the water pump side)


It was like some old diesel tractor.
I drove back to the place I picked him up, and I open the hood. We did not notice where the sound came from, but I think it came from the supercharger.
( I think it actually came from the supercharger )

I also noticed that my air filter was not on the hose. I put it back there.
( Here I think some dust and stuff went through )

I drove by my self, to my garage.
The grinding noise really loud, and I was testing to see if the motor was powerless that usually, I thought it was.

When I was on the driveway in front of my garage it was like the motor suffered from air and died.
( Here I don´t know what happened )

I put the key back and, put it in the ignition position for 2 seconds.
In these two seconds, the motor made belt slipping sound and did not completly start.
( Here I think some stuff went to the supercharger result him to be stuck and not so much pressure on him )

I tried to start again with just the relay click, so the motor seems like its stuck.
( Again, its stuck )




More stuff I´ve done so far:

Now I have taken everything apart, seeing that the supercharer is dirty, it has wery little toolerance, checked out the rod bearings and everythings seems ok.
I did notice some metal flakes and metal "dust" in the oil pan tho, But is it acceptable, or is something wrong ?



What to you guys think what happened when the motor died?

 

DONT use plastigauge. It is old technology.

You should mic the bearings, mic the ID of the rod with the cap on and snug, then mic the journal and do the math. This is the way any machine shop will be measuring your internals.

Plastigauge will mar the bearings if they are in fact still good. It is impossible to get all of the material off. It leaves a trail of scratches on the bearings after startup.

 

One more question. My car is 2004.

Warranty is 4years/50,000miles

And my car is 5 years old and has only 45,000 miles on it.

Do I have the car under warranty or no ?

And how about this, there is no MINI dealer in iceland. Only the BMW dealer that I think serves the MINI´s as well.

 

Nope no chance of warranty coverage.

 

I think it's time for a stroker.

 

I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself and some thinkgs aren't adding up. The odds of the interooler cover screw getting into your engine are very low. It would have to land just right, after your filter fell off. Then get past the charger, then the the intercooler. I highly doubt it.

You said that you drove it home with low power, but then you say the motor is stuck? What exactly was happening with it before you took it apart?

The answers to the fallowing questions will help alot.

What happened when you cranked the car with the key? Nothing, crank no start or crank with poor idling?

What fault codes were stored?

What did the sparkplugs look like?

Compression or leak down test?

Can you turn the engine over by hand now that the rods are loose?

Best of luck,
Jeremy

 

if in fact the belts were slipping after restarting then seizure i would think is not the case . and if you can spin by hand it's not seized . and if ,since you already took the rods apart, the bearings are good there then the mains are probably fine . do replace the rod bolts . bmw recommends this once used ,all done .

 

if it'll crank you should post a video .

 

also you didnt say if s/c seized . this would acount for the belt noise for sure . and didnt mention if you could turn motor by hand .

 

The answers to the fallowing questions will help alot.

What happened when you cranked the car with the key? Nothing, crank no start or crank with poor idling?
Nothing at all. Just heard the starting relay open.

What fault codes were stored?
I really dont know. I don´t have OBDII computer hook-up.
I´m going to have one.

What did the sparkplugs look like?
They looked just fine. They are like the Normal ones, but have 4 arms instead of one, on this picture:


Compression or leak down test?
Are you talking about piston compression test ? No I do not have done that.

Can you turn the engine over by hand now that the rods are loose?
I was able to turn the engine over by hand as soon as I removed the belt and removed the spark plugs.



And I found the Intercooler cover screw, in some other place of the engine bay!

 

if you turned engine by hand with rods bolted up and belt off ,then the engine is not seized . bolt it all up put oil in it and leave the belt off, then see if it'll firew up . if it does shut it down quick and look into a seized pulley. alternator, s/c, idler, ac . look for a pulley now while it's apart is prolly beter idea . hope you're doing this with ign. relay out .

 

Good news that you found the missing screw......

Seems pretty clear to me that the supercharger locked up, that's why the engine wouldn't turn over. Now that you have the belt off and you can turn it over just fine.......

So, you need to have your supercharger rebuilt - the fact that there was no oil on the water pump side tells the story. In some ways you may have gotten lucky, a lot of these don't let you know they've failed till the water pump quits working and the engine overheats - yours didn't overheat did it?

At any rate, I'd put the bottom end back together, either buy a rebuilt s'charger or have yours rebuilt, change your oil and filter and see how she runs. BTW, I don't think the 17% pulley caused the failure, those ends are sealed and if the seal leaks and lets the oil out - it's toast.

Be sure to torque those new rod bolts correctly, but I think you know to do that.

Keep us posted!

 

Thanks for GREAT replies!!
You guys have helped me a lot!

Yeah, I don´t want to wait 2 months for rebuild my own supercharger. I want to find a new one. Please keep your eyes open if you see Supercharger, JCW or not, for the Icelandic boy

I can refill the supercharger with oil and change bearings if someone can tell me how many clearance there should be and so.
Does anyone sell rebuild kit.

 

Go here for more info:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post2784427

Hope this helps...

 

I saw RMW was working on an aftermarket replacement supercharger. Might check there.