I have an 06 R53 car with the following (known) mods-
K&N Cold Air Intake
Invidia free flow exhaust
15% reduction pulley
Crower NS1 Cam
JCW Copied Ported Head

Heres my question- Car ran great when I first got it. I knew it had some mods, but mainly thought based on what I saw, intake and exhaust. Recently I blew sparkplug #2 and had to have headwork done. That's when the mechanic (a bmw/mini trained tech) pulled the head, Timerserted all 4 plug holes, ported the head per JCW specs and at my request added the NS1 Cam. I got the car back and it ran for about a mile then the service engine light came on and the car almost began to stall out at low RPM. Threw a fault code PS0172 (rich fuel) and a the mini-mechanic and a different local mechanic who knew of the mods could not figure out why it was throwing the code. Did an injector service on it, and gave it a s/w update from BMW. Now the car runs really sedate compared to how it ran prior to sparkplug issue. The car may have been chipped and the BMW update erased it.
Any thoughts?

 

With what you have, a custom tune would really liven things up. BMW software is usually pretty conservative.

Where are you located? There are a few tuners across the country, and some can do remote tuning.

 

Cars of today are a tad more sophisticated than the Chevy's of yesteryear.... back in the day we didnt have OBC's with 20 different engine monitoring sensors.

What Nabe said. Need a tune........

 

I live in Raleigh, NC. Dan Zipkin, Grassroots Garage in Greensboro is my mechanic for this car. He suggested injectors and the tune. Just want to make sure, if I'm going down the rabbit hole, it's the right rabbit hole.

 

I have a R52S and I have the same symptoms than GoFastR53.

Mods I have:
K&N Intake
Custom Exhaust 2.5"
Custom Header 4-1, 2.5"
15% reduction pulley
RMW Street Cam
450cc injectors
Head Cooper S - ported and polished
JCW Spark Plugs

I had those symptoms after I got Head - Ported and Polished, Camshaft, oil filter and fuel filter installed.

I reported the problem to the speedshop who installed those components and they replied: "You just need a tune and everything will go fine." I got a tune from Jan (RMW), last month, and the AGR was anormal low on the dyno. He told me he never saw it before and I have to fix it. Since that, the car still under observation.

For now, I have a conservative RMW tune and my car still stall at idle and still running rich at low RPM.

 

I would pay very close attention to whatever Jan recommends to remedy and then go get a retune from him. You will be happy.

 

Sorry to hear you lost the old tune. Definitely go with Jan at RMW. You won't be dissappointed.

 

Jan passed 2-3hours on troubleshooting on my car. He checed the spark plugs, belt... evrything in the engine bay. Then they put my on the lift and checked the whole exhaust line: They found out the pre-cat of the header was partically blocked. They beated up the cat for a better flow. At least, it was better than before. Since than, I changed the header by a custom one with high-flow cat and hoped everything was fixed but the car still stall often (at least 1time/day) at idle.

I want to share an info: After 2 weeks I picked up the car at the speedshop, I found out the sound of the exhaust changed to a tone quieter suddently (I guess the header failed at this time). So, the pre-cat partically blocked was a consequence, not the cause.

 

My car is currently in an another garage-shop for some work on it: Seafoam the engine (throught vaccum hose), change oil pan gasket and change oil. As soon I will get the car back, I will post a message if these fixes change something on the engine behavior.

 

Mine is scheduled for Jan next Wednesday in Greensboro. Grassroots added the big injectors. RMW is the last hope but according to many, a good hope. I'll post afterwards.

 

Thanks for the update.

 

The common thing I noticed between the two is that both engines had head work and new cams put in. Maybe the cam timing is off due to the chain being off a tooth or so on the sprocket. Just a guess...

 

Definitely look at cam timing as searocko said, especially Heavymetal yours sounds like it could be the culprit. Jan should be able to spot it on the dyno when it just doesn't "look right". Gofast its less likely, Dan knows his way around the insides of a motor but mistakes do happen, your symptoms sound more like just a poor tune

 

Thanks. Mine is more like really poor low end torque and idle stalling. That makes me think fuel mix. High end runs well and no sputtering or missing. In fact, once I get going, if I downshift to first (yeah, first) when exiting apex on a sharp turn (ala #12, Oaktree @ VIR) I can all but ignore the problem. I'll be checking back in a week.

 

 

It all lies within the cam and timing...go back over it....install the stock cam...and see if it clears up. it wouldnt take more than an hour or so to swap cams...

 

I will leave next week my car to the BMW Dealer in my area: I don't have any powersteering and the car still under MINI NEXT warranty, so freebie! So, in the same time, I ask them to put a diagnotic about my idle and my check engine (maximum 1.5hour). I told them my MINI is modified and they will try to keep my current ECU setup (RMW). I would like also some feedback about what they should look up. I saw someone suggest to check up the compression test... anything else?

 

I got news from the BMW dealer: They replaced my powersteering pump by a new one, put my 060535 belt and found out the reason of my check engine (and probably the cause of my problem). I dont have the check engine code but they explained me the air-pressure (from the intake) sensor/controller failed. They will put the new sensor tomorrow. I hope after that everything will be okay.

 

FIXED: My engine runs perfectly at idle and doesn't stall anymore. Plus, I dont' have any check engine light ON. They replaced the Air-Pressure sensor and everything is fine.

 

I know this may sound silly but... if it started running bad after putting a cam in.... Check to make sure the cam's not off a tooth.

 

HeavyMetal, glad to hear it's fixed.