Well I was about to 60k miles so I figured I would change my plugs out, everything went really smooth... actually changed them all out in about 10 min. I placed these in for the stock NGK iridium's, http://www.briskracing.com/silver-ra...rk-plug-detail..... Starts right up actually even better than b4 and idles fine... rev's fine out of gear so I assumed everything was 100% A-ok. Well on my commute to work in between stop signs on the country roads, I decided it would be fun to get on it a little bit and see if i felt any difference. I sure did.... throttle is fine all the way up until about a 90% depress on the pedal.... then....it just stutters and jumps constantly. So as long as I don't mash the pedal to the floor everything seems great but why am I getting this jumpy, making my car feel like its going to blow up and die on the side of ride road feeling?!?!?!

 

It may be one of the plug wires breaking down. I changed mine at 62k and it helped a missing problem I was having. I also do a reset on my ECU when I start having little problems and usually it helps.

 

I guess I'll reset the ECU and see what that does.. I'm not throwing any codes, so I cant imagine it would be a plug wire issue... I mean it was just fine before i changed the plug's.

 

I had a similar experience with 2 different vehicles (not MINIs) when I substituted spark plugs. Detonation, missing under load, etc.. One was a '97 Honda and I used Champions instead of NGK . Went back o NGK and problem solved. One car was so bad the porcelain shattered on 4 of 6 plugs. Older cars don't seem to mind as much when a plug not recommended by the mfr is used, but newer ones are much more sensitive.

The configuration of the Brisk plug leads me to believe the center electrode isn't iridium or platinum as they are usually very skinny (this stuff is expensive). It may be breaking down under load as a result. Put your old plugs back in and see if there's a difference. The OEM plugs are good for 100k miles.

 

It's easy to damage plug wires. If going back to OEM plugs doesn't help try the wires. Good luck.

 

The Brisk plug's are 100% Silver center electrode.. so it's supposed to have better, more consistent spark due to better conductivity. I'll reset the ECU.. see if that does the trick if not I guess I'll put the old plug's back in and see if it changes anything this evening. My owner's manual says replace them at 60k... so i figured what the heck lol.. idk maybe i damaged them when removing the covers....guess I'll find out tonight thanks guys!

 

sounds like more of a carbon issue

 

Problem solved! Had to gap them to right around 0.018 instead of how they came as a 0.028 like the stock NGK's!

 

What this tells me is that the Brisk plugs require *more* voltage to fire than the NGKs, which is just the opposite of what so many say about the plugs. This, plus a few other facts, also makes it hard to believe that the center electrode is pure silver. First of all, I can't find anywhere on the Brisk website where they say the electrode is pure silver. Second, silver has a lower melting point than copper, and is much softer than copper. I have seen articles where they state that copper is too soft to last for long inside an engine. That's why the so-called "copper" plug's center electrode is really tipped with a nickel alloy. So, I wouldn't be surprised to find that the Brisk center electrodes are really silver alloyed with some other metal to make them harder, and possibly raise their melting point, all of which could lower their conductivity (as nickel does to a "copper" plug) which could also explain why they require more voltage than the NGKs.

The main problem I see with having to decrease the gap in order to get reliable firing from the plugs is that you are getting a smaller spark, which means possibly less energy starting combustion, and also possibly increasing the quenching effect on the resulting flame kernel, since the initial flame kernel will be smaller and the electrodes are closer together.

It's also possible that the spark plugs will not last for long before they start missing again since over time the plug electrodes will erode and the gap will increase.

It could be that your ignition system is not operating optimally and that's why you had to decrease the gap so much. You might want to get your ignition system checked, or upgrade it to take better advantage of the Brisk plugs.

 

Sorry gents but this may be a silly question: How do I reset the ECU? I'm having similar issues w/ my 09 R56. I had a valve cover leak and a bad water pump replaced just two weeks ago and also did a good carbon cleaning at Motorwerks BMW. They couldn't figure out what was causing this miss/stutter though.

I think you guys may be on to something.

 

You saying Motorwerks in Bloomington couldn't help you?

 

I ended up having to place the gap on my plugs right around .0016-.0018 you have to make sure they are all within that tolerance or they will act silly. Wouldn't a smaller gap require less spark? Not to mention smaller gap = less temp. it wont burn as hot with a tighter gap. It may well be the coils are going south.. but when i got them within tolerance everything has been golden. Apparently brisk calls out they need the smaller gap than the NGK's so they don't run hot and melt the all silver electrode... just how they are engineered for the material.

 

I haven't heard anything positive about Brisk plugs in the MINI. Not sure why you'd want them. Alta tried selling them a while back for the R56 crowd and they were a complete flop due to quality issues. If you have a stock engine, stick with stock NGK plugs. There is no reason to deviate from this unless you have a high boost tune on your car. I bet your problem will go away when you put the stock plugs back in.

 

Like i said.. the issue was resolved once the correct gap was done. I haven't had a single issue since i found the actual gap required for the plug and I would assume most people's issues were gaping this plug just like the stock NGK gaps as i did. You CANNOT do that due to change in material.. it will run far too hot and mess your engine up along with misfires.... I got them to test them out and they have actually helped my MPG out oddly enough.. this may be due to the change in plug's in general and getting better spark but I'll switch back to NGK's after I'm done with these to test it out.

 

Affirm. I'm station in ND and took my car out there for a valve cover leak, the recall for the aux water pump, and my actual water pump.

The other issue was the stuttering/hiccups I experienced when getting on the throttle, say- >75 percent throttle. I did a carbon cleaning since it may be a long while before I get a chance to clean the internals and I'm just shy of 100k miles.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to pinpoint the issue w/ the stutter. The only things I have on the R56 is:

NM Engineering Intake
NM Engineering Engine Mount
De-Cat/De-Res stock exhaust
Some cosmetic changes

Everything else is stock. Any ideas? I'll try and get a video or something.

 

Well, I got my NGK plugs in and swapped them out today w/ a few minor hiccups. The issue is gone. Now it runs super smooth and pulls like it should w/ no misses.

Just figured I'd give an update in case OP still has issues.