Hello,

I recently got some motivation and last week I installed the following:

- pulled the 87k mile MCS turbo
- installed the JCW turbo
- JCW Exhaust manifold
- installed the CNT Racing catless, resonated downpipe
- Oil catch can (we'll see how it does)
- NM Engineering hot/cold side piping
- Wagner Competition IC
- Helix short shifter
- Momo taller shift ****
- H-Sport Competition Rear Sway Bar (25.5mm hollow) on softest setting, figured I'd play it safe.
- WMW rear sway bar end links
- NM Engineering Torque Arm Insert
- Detroit Motoring Turbo Oil line Kit
- JCW Intake and Amsoil air filter
.... I think that's it. My head is spinning. Haha.

Still to install:
OEM front sway bar bushings (they don't make poly ones for my stock FSB according to WMW)
Power Flex Front Control Arm Bushings
WMW Turbo blanket
Brakeman BBK
Konig Dial-In 15in rims (gotta figure out spacers)
Dunlop Direzza DIIs 205/50
H-Sport rear camber links
WMW front sway bar end links
CNT racing CAT back is out for delivery today
TSW KW V2 Coilovers (STILL haven't shipped from RMW!)
GFB DV+
Vorschalg Camber Plates
Manual Transmission flush
JCW Spark Plugs
WMW 14mm to 12mm wheel stud kit
Rear Trailing arm inserts


As you can see I installed a brand new Borg Warner JCW Turbo:

http://www.turbochargerpros.com/addt...40-30091.html#

Model # 40-30091OH
(The "High Performance Model" or otherwise known as JCW)
http://www.turbochargerpros.com/parts/40-30091_OH.html

I have a leak from the turbo oil return line where it attaches to the underside of the turbo with an 8mm screw, a pretty substantial one. You can see in the large stock photo of the surface the turbo line connects to on the underside of the turbo here (Sorry, I don't have a picture of the underside of my turbo, but I can verify it looks just like the picture on the underside). It's smooth.

And here is my old MCS turbo, smooth as well where the turbo oil line connects:



Here is where I think the problem lies:



The top return line is the new one I received in a Detroit Tuned kit (A brand new kit, but bought through NAM) and has the same bezeling as the OEM part I looked up for my car:


The bottom oil return line in the picture is me holding up the old oil return line that was on the car when I bought it, mated fine to the MCS turbo... see it's flat, no bezeling. I think the oil is leaking out there, quickly!

I don't see any other part #s available to me for the oil return line. Has anyone every seen this?

 

Some progress photos for anyone interested...

Turbo removed:



JCW Turbo installed, sans downpipe, and JCW intake plus a few other things:



Wagner Competition Core installed;


NM Engineering hot and cold side boost tubes:


Amsoil Filter and JCW airbox:


CNT Racing CAT back exhaust:

 

Did you figure out if you were losing oil through the new return line? I just ordered one and am curious if that's where the leak came from.

 

Labels I can read off the parts:

Original
V753445580l
Ax 234/07

New
V758383880
Ax 338/12

But they don't seem to correspond to part #s on Real OEM.

This is what shows up for the following vehicles on RealOEM:
You Have Selected: 09/2007 R56 Cooper S Coupe N14 USA Left hand drive
You Have Selected: 11/2007 R56 Coop.S JCW Coupe N14 USA Left hand drive
You Have Selected: 01/2010 R56N Cooper S Coupe N18 USA Left hand drive
You Have Selected: 07/2010 R56N Coop.S JCW Coupe N14 USA Left hand drive


https://i.imgur.com/C8hnWnT.png

So it's always the same part #.

 

Who are you getting a tune from?

 

We only sell the MINI part for return lines in all of our kits. We have had them come without o-rings (this would be number 2 if so). When you installed the new line, did i have an o-ring installed? The surface below it doesn't really matter. Give us a call and we can help as much as we can. Detroit Tuned 586-792-6464

 

Chad, you guys are a stand up outfit, seeing as how I got the kit new, but second hand. This return line did have an O-Ring, but I think the problem is the new Borg Warner JCW turbo....

I thought the return oil line was leaking at the turbo. Turns out, the turbo itself is leaking, not the return line. My "new" return line definitely had a different bezel on it than the flat beveled original one that was on my car, but I'll never know if that was contributing because I swapped the old return line (but with the new Oring from the New part) back on the car, and I don't see any leaks there.

Once the old return line was put back on the car, the oil leak and smoking around the turbo continued. Turns out the clamp between the hold and cold side of my JCW is leaning down on to the foil of the oil return line. This is why I originally thought the oil return line was leaking.

 

The clamp is two pieces. It has "hooks" on the back of it that you tighten with a nut and bolt to synch it around the hot/cold side of the turbo. What you are looking at in the video is me shooting from the top of the engine bay, but looking down the side of the turbo facing the engine, not the bumper. The rough casting on the left side is the hot side of the turbo that is cast and the nut in the top left of the frame is one of the nuts for to mate the exhaust manifold to the hot side of the turbo. In the middle of the frame, off center to the right a bit is the heat shielding for the oil feed line into the turbo. At the ~17 second mark, the fresh, dripping oil is dripping down below the turbo on to the foil of the oil return line.

 

The clamp, while snug, was not showing as much thread as the clamp attached to my MCS turbo so we snugged it up a bit, but no difference.

 

The car is not throwing any codes and appears to idle properly otherwise. I have contact turbochargerpros.com for guidance and they are speaking with Borg Warner for a next step. Stay tuned!

 

For anyone else who is reading this thread (too late for OP), you can replace the return line in question w/out removing the turbo!

It's tight, but doable. Made easier if you put the radiator in the "service mode".
You WILL have to remove the downpipe and heat shields around it to get to the other end of the oil line on the block.

a

 

Correct. I was able to move back to the original oil feed line without removing the turbo. I already had the downpipe off the car, just removed the heat shielding and away we went. Not too bad.

 

Turbochargerspro called Borg Warner on my behalf today. BG stated that when they see this problem it can be from a blockage in the PCV system. When I got home I removed the cap from the left side PCV as you are looking under the hood and reconnected the OEM hose there. Mind you, my MCS turbo was working fine with this setup, but in the interest of eliminating variables, I swapped it back to the stock configuration.

The oil leaking stopped but I still had smoke coming up front the turbo. To eliminate variables I thought it'd be a good idea to check all my connections. I removed the lower heat shield for the 1st CAT that is in front of the the engine, secured in part by the turbocharger bracket, to check the Detroit Tuned oil feed line, it was fine. I also checked the connection for the return oil line to the engine. It was fine. I hit the entire area with brake cleaner and started it up:


I'm not sure what else I can do here, ideas?

 

Are you sure it's a new oil leak, not the old leftover oil sludge and brake cleaner burning off?

After I picked up my oil leak and replaced the oil feed line, upon first startup the amount of smoke was alarming. It took a better part of the 30min drive to work to loose the smell and the smoke for good.

I'm not saying you don't have another leak somewhere, just that it will take more than a few minutes of running to burn off the old oil sludge.

a

 

I hit the are with a lot of brake cleaner, but who knows if there is residual oil around the area. But... I will say the wisps of smoke are coming from the hotside of the turbo, near the V-clamp joining the Hot/Cold side. Another friend suggested I run the car, not just idle it, so I'll give that a shot and see how it goes.

 

I've heard about the oil leaking problem at the turbo due to a faulty PCV. It has to do with too much pressure being able to build up in the crankcase forcing oil from the turbo (which should NOT be pressurized) into the downpipe.

I do NOT know what I'm talking about here, but I was under the distinct impression that this ONLY happened under load (you have to allow that crankcase pressure to build don't you?) and with a worn out gasket internal to the turbo. You have a brand new turbo, so I'm thinking the turbo is faulty and leaking oil even with a perfectly fine PCV system.

You would have to replace your valve cover, or at least test with a known good valve cover (the heart of the PCV system) in order to rule this out.

Best of luck! I am very tempted to upgrade my turbo as well, but since so many people report issues, and my stock turbo is operating well under increased boost (thanks to a tune and supporting mods), I'm only going to upgrade the turbo if/when my stock turbo dies.

I love your mod list though. You did everything the way I would have if I had more $ and time!!! I'm jealous of the faster spool you're going to get over me though!

Again, who is tuning your car? The JCW turbo can produce more boost than the stock one if you can overcome the boost cut. I'd be mighty interested if you found a tuner able to overcome the boost cut (not that I'll follow you down that rabbit hole)

 

So just got off the phone with Turbochargerpros, very nice helpdesk and we worked through a few things.

Basically they want me eliminate all factors but the turbo, before deciding to return it as I could be held liable for the cost of the returned turbo if it turns out it's fine (in Borg Warner's opinion).

Here were their questions:

Q. Could there be excessive back pressure? Maybe clogged/old CATs?
A. No, the old stock MCS turbo ran fine with the OEM exhaust previously, and now with the new exhaust, the JCW turbo does not have to deal with any CATs at all.

Q. Did you check the PCV valves? Clogged PCV valves can lead to excessive crankcase pressure.
A. The engine in my 2007 MCS is brand new with only ~600 miles on it, remanufactured from MINI and installed by a dealership. So new valve cover with new PCV valves and even if they were old PCV valves, they worked fine with my old MCS turbo with 87k on it. When I parked my car in my garage to do all this work it had the PCV valve that goes directly to the intake manifold blocked off and an oil catch can fitted inline with the other PCV valve, this posed no problem for my old MCS turbo and is a common mod by the MINI community to prevent carbon buildup on this direct injection motor's intake track. But in the interest of troubleshooting I took the cap off the PCV valve and reattached the OEM home to the intake manifold. Still no difference in oil leaking. I also wondered to the support person how there could be excess crankcase pressure when the car was idling (I honestly don't know, I'd think there wouldn't be much at idle)?

Q. Did you check all oil feed and oil return lines? Are these old parts that could be clogged?
A. The oil feed line is a brand new aftermarket braided line from DetroitTuned, something that a lot of folks use without trouble. And if the Oil feed line was slightly clogged, that would cause less oil pressure or oil in the turbo I'd think. The oil return line was brand new OEM, supplied in the DetroitTuned kit. I thought the new oil return line might be leaking, so I swapped the old OEM return line back on the car which worked fine with the old MCS turbo, no difference in oil leaking/burning.


Q. Can you measure the car's oil pressure?
A. I could but it'd involve an $84 adapter (http://tinyurl.com/p2cryfg) and additional work (God knows I'd put a ton of it into this engine bay at this point), with an engine that is brand new and worked fine with my 87k mile MCS turbo.

At this point for fastest resolution, and only costing me time/bloody knuckles, I am thinking of swapping the MCS turbo back on the car with ever other mod left intact. The car left just the way it is right now, but with the known good, old turbo. By swapping that one variable it should let me know very quickly if something changed with the car that I didn't know about in the short time I parked it in my garage, or a mod I did caused something, or poor workmanship.

And of course I will video tape the crap out of the before and after.

Any other ideas?

 

Go drive the car to get engine/turbo up to operating temp.
After 30-60 mins of driving, any old oil residue should burn off. Ongoing oil leaks will show up as fresh oil stains.

If the engine no-longer visible emits smoke and you can't smell any smoke at the end of the test drive - you won, it was just old oil spill residue baked into the block, the shields, and the exhaust.

If the engine bay still smokes after the test drive, take off the aftermarket turbo and trace the oil stains. If no oil stains on the block, it may be the new oil leaking internally. Install old OEM turbo and repeat the test.

Good luck,
a

 

I spoke to Turbochargerpros again this morning (man, those guys on the West coast get up early in the morning!), and we agreed that if I leave everything as is, but swap the old MCS turbo on with 87k miles, and it does not have any trouble, they will warranty the JCW turbo I bought from them. I agree to film/document as much as possible so they can go back to Borg Warner and get their own $ back, show the only variable changed was the turbo. Stay tuned.

 

Game plan....

 

1/2 the game plan has been executed... I'm getting way too good at removing turbos haha:


I'll put the old turbo back on tomorrow night.

 

Well last night I started to put the MCS turbo back on the car:


But I ran out of time to start the car so late with neighbors around (especially with no exhaust:


I'll start it this evening and check for leaks!

 

Fuh....I'm glad I didn't have a leak on my turbo....glad I don't have to do that again! But I have had a lot of time with the Sneed oil cooler and I've spent $100 on oil for this f'in leak!

 

Ya know I worried about an oil cooler on my car and hearing some stories. I don't think for my build I need one so glad I bypassed that potential headache. And I guess I should count my blessings in that coolant is cheaper than oil? :p

Anyway, after I got home this evening I had my wife start the car, and whatdaya know? NO OIL LEAK! Stoked!


There are some fumes from the exhaust of course with no downpipe and a bit of smoke, more so at the beginning, but that's because I dumped a ton of coolants while getting the turbo in and out and then reattaching the coolant hoses to the turbo after remounting the MCS.

Today was a good day....

 

Another test after the coolant I spilled all over the place had some time to burn off: