I know that there are thousands on this site, but I had a pretty unique problem that got me thinking. When I received my brand new '04 in Feb of this year the car would go into fail safe if I barely exceeded 4500 rpm's. I posted here about this problem because I was wondering if the computer had a break in mode. You all assured me that my car was screwed up. One of the members here told me to check the clamps that secure the rubber boot to the intercooler. Sure enough the one visible on the passenger was loose. After I tightend it the car ran great for the next two months. I did notice some oil along the front of the intercooler and even just below that on the front outer edge of the intake manifold. I took off my intercooler cover only to discover that the clamp hidden under it was also loose. After tightening this the car ran even better! The difference was like I had just done a pulley upgrade. But within two days I got my fisrt experience with the dreaded yoyo. Prior to tightening the clamps I had never had any yoyo. I have also never had a stumble to date. My car is a 11/03 build.

I have cleaned the oil and it has never come back as it now must be going through the intake system. this got me thinking about excessive blow by, ring seal and the variations in HP readings among identicle Mini's.

I have built many high performance street and drag race engines in the past and one thing we all knew was to never use synthetic oil in a brand new engine because the stuff is TOOO good and the rings never seat right. We would use a good quality dinosaur oil for the first couple of thousand miles. I am now tempted to drain the oil and put some good dino oil in it and go out on a lonely road and do the old seat the rings trick. I also think a catch can is a real good idea. But if the rings are not properly seated this could account for some of the factory variations in our HP.

Have any of you looked inside your intake systems to see if excessive blow-by is shooting a bunch of oil in there?

 

I Ran my engine in "hard" I did not excede the limits, but I got it there nice and fast. I have had a very strong engine, and have gotten good dynos. I think that you need to push the engine a bit during break in, to get a good seal.

 

I run it into the rev limiter a few times a day

 

Funny you should bring this up because after the first 7000 miles, I removed my intercooler and found enough oil to collect at the bottom of the rubber bellows. Before I installed my Alta TMIC, I cleaned the bellows and installed their oil catch can. Since then, I haven't been able to catch any oil and the intake system appears clean after another 5000 miles? I've been using synthetic after the first change at around 2000 and 4000 thereafter. My rings seemed to have sealed ok with synthetic

 

Are you finding much oil in the catch can?

 

>>Are you finding much oil in the catch can?


Nothing...it's a very cool "oil vaporizer" can

 

>>I Ran my engine in "hard" I did not excede the limits, but I got it there nice and fast. I have had a very strong engine, and have gotten good dynos. I think that you need to push the engine a bit during break in, to get a good seal.

what kind of dynos did you get?
i havent dynoed mine yet, but i have seen several dynos of stock and kinda know what to expect from a conservatively broken in car.

thanks for any info you can provide.

 

well my ******* MA told me the car was "broke in at the factory" so... My break in period was... Ruthless. The only other MINI that I have had much experience with belongs to a buddy of mine. My car has ALWAYS been hotter than his... Randy (Webb) also told me that I had "a hot one". Either he was looking at my bum, or he was talking about my car, I have always just assumed it was the car

_________________
Mr Whoa


03 CR/B Pulley/Webbmotorsports ECU/Pilo Intake/Nology wires/Denso IK22's

 

As a professional racing engine builder for over seven years at Ivey Engines Inc., and having built over 400 engines and dynoed more, I do know this. You always break in an engine with regular engine oil. We used Penzoil only for dyno work on new engines because it has a very high ash content which helps seat rings etc. After that synthetic is best but not a must.

Also, without going into great detail, an engine will develop a 'personality' due to how it is broken in. For race engines, after a warm up period and a normal set of pulls with medium load the engine is shut down and allowed to cool (heat sink)somewhat. Good time to check all systems for leaks etc. After another warm up it is run full bore from there on out. Now I realize the difference between a race engine and street engine with tolerances and clearances being the biggest difference. I am not saying this is how to break in your new MINI. Follow manufacturer suggested specifications :smile:

However, as seen in this thread, running the engine hard (after break in) helps the engine develop a 'personality'.

My last car was a '91 SE-R which I bought new. I donated it with 302,000 miles on the original engine and drove it at several track days every year. After break-in I NEVER babied it.

 

I would sincerely doubt a Mini or MCS engine could go 302,000MI, that would be extremely unusual... Something just urks me about the MC/MCS engine durability...


150,000MI, quite possible if cared for properly and well maintained...

 

ZFXR you may be right. Forced induction engines don't normally last as long. Time will tell.

On a side note: these recomended oil change intervals are amusing.

 

So I guess the answer is:

Drive it like you stole it! Sound good to me!

 

>>
>>On a side note: these recomended oil change intervals are amusing.


Amusing to say the least!

 

No way am I waiting to 10,000 for my first oil change.My 04 MCS looks like it has used about one half quart since new at my current reading of about 3200 miles.Hope this is OK consumption....Seems a little high.Maybe some oil is in the catch can or something.I broke it in by the book and I was carefull to vary the speed a lot and not lug the engine.What do you think about my rate of consumption?

What about yours?

 

I changed my oil at 1800 miles (5 quarts). Around 5000 miles later (6800) I added .5 quart.

 

I posted this link before on previous break-in discussions:
[URL=http://mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm]

The article seems to make sense. However, given we have supercharged engines. the piston crowns may run hot, necessitating the synthetic oil from the get go. It is squirted from underside of pistons as we know. It may have to be synthetic due to the higher operating temperature limits to avoid coking of oil and carbon build up on ring lands (my speculation). Noone has commented on this. I think BMW assumes the longevity of the engine and reduced maintenance costs trump the possible superior performance of proper ring sealing attained thru initial dyno oil usage and proper (hard) breakin of the rings. A manufacturer will NEVER tell you to be hard on the engine or drive train, for obvious reasons.

Re longevity, I have not heard of any stories of busted/worn out engines, except for hydrolocked engines. Have there been any engine problems? My guess is that the engine is real solid. After all, Chrysler has lots of experience building really strong 4 bangers.