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I came from the Subaru world before Mini and ringland gaskets damn near killed the 2013 STi's and WRX's. Gaskets were going out regardless if the engine was stock or tuned to 700hp.
Engines and components are one of those things that break from time to time. Its hard to point fingers like you said. We all know its a dice roll when we tune/mods are cars but that's the fun part of having these cars!
If we wanted vanilla cars, we'd all be driving a Prius but who the hell wants that!!
I came from the Subaru world before Mini and ringland gaskets damn near killed the 2013 STi's and WRX's. Gaskets were going out regardless if the engine was stock or tuned to 700hp.
Engines and components are one of those things that break from time to time. Its hard to point fingers like you said. We all know its a dice roll when we tune/mods are cars but that's the fun part of having these cars!
If we wanted vanilla cars, we'd all be driving a Prius but who the hell wants that!!
ahhh yes the ringlands. Aren't they STILL having those issues even on current model STI's? I thought the issue never completely got fixed.
I'm not talking about lean conditions when your motor popped. I'm talking about very possible long term lean conditions when you were running your custom intake and downpipe with the stock ECU and then later with the JB4, this could have put your engine in a bad place.
I could see both of those combinations creating constant lean conditions which in turn could have weakened your engine internals.
This is all just my idea's as to the situation.
I see. That’s a good theory.
But here is the history of my car.
1) Stock
2) Muffler Delete/NM Engineering intake
3) JB4
4) Sold Everything, back to stock again to fund new project
5) New Intake/New Turboback
6) Shipped ECU to BT (no OBD at the time until patched)
7) Colder Spark Plugs from BT
8) Blown Motor
9) New Motor all stock again
10) Evolve Tune
Last edited by johntotah94; 12-27-2017 at 11:17 PM.
Reason: Formatting
I see. That’s a good theory.
But here is the history of my car.
1) Stock
2) Muffler Delete/NM Engineering intake
3) JB4
4) Sold Everything, back to stock again to fund new project
5) New Intake/New Turboback
6) Shipped ECU to BT (no OBD at the time until patched)
7) Many datalogs/videos sent of multiple gear pulls
8) Blown Motor
9) New Motor all stock again
10) Evolve Tune
According to your build thread it looks like you were running the custom intake and downpipe with stock tuning for numerous months. No?
Did you have to pay out of pocket for a new motor or did mini cover it?
According to your build thread it looks like you were running the custom intake and downpipe with stock tuning for numerous months. No?
Did you have to pay out of pocket for a new motor or did mini cover it?
Yup. You are right. Maybe that is the reason, maybe it isn’t.. dont want to blame anything/anyone. I talked to many Tuning companies prior to tuning this car. Many have told me that the new ECU’s are smart and adaption takes over for most mods. Apart from CEL Delete. So many tuners believe in “E-Tunes” and not custom tunes because they tune on stock factory map on stock car. And adaption will take care of the intake and exhaust. I mentioned MAF and the larger diameters. BT told me not to stress about the intake and exhaust because I was very concerned that I need to tune specifically for it.
I really want to express the fact that I am not blaming any party at all for this catastrophic event! I don't want to start drama between companies or me talking crap about anyone. Im not here to give BT a bad name, I just happened to have their tune during the engine failure. Maybe it was the tune, maybe it was a manufacturer defect, maybe it’s because of the use of the JB4 in the past, maybe it’s because I used my intake and exhaust on the stock tune, it can be anything! Who knows...
I was hoping the MINI ECU Safety Features would prevent an event like this. I thought the worst that could happen was maybe a few misfires/detonation or something weird sounding, not an outright blown motor. Just want to let the community know that there is a case of a blown motor for B46/B48. Up to you guys to decide whose fault you believe it is, with everything presented. I am not here to argue or debate, just simply documenting a case. I was mad already at the time and I am over it. It is the past so I put it all behind me but a very very expensive event. About $9500 because the starter needed to be replaced also. When the motor blew, my MINI Connected said, “car will not start, see dealer immediately”. Maybe the car destroyed the starter motor for safety so I don't attempt to start it again? Because with the new motor, the car would not start so we replaced the starter motor also and everything worked fine.
Anyways, here are some pics of the event. Pretty nasty looking.
The time of the event. Some smoke, car not starting, then I stepped out...
When I moved the car to the tow truck. Nasty puddle.
Cyl 1 piston smacked the spark plug!!
I just bought these from BT! Very Expensive!!
When I removed the splash guard. Painful sight..
Another view.
When I looked up after removing splash guard. Can see the rod bolt and smashed piston.
Surprised how thin the block is!! Unless thats how normal engines are? Felt very cheap and thin in my hands. But don't know how most cars are.
Simply just raises the threshold for CAT Monitoring Status so it doesn’t trigger a check engine light solely because of a “bad efficiency cat”.
is it optional? I run one of those o2 extension bungs it has a very tiny catalytic converter inside it, so far I've only got an efficiency error once and I have no cat at all before that bung. I do have a high flow cat further downstream but I never bothered to get another bung & harness extension to reach back there
is it optional? I run one of those o2 extension bungs it has a very tiny catalytic converter inside it, so far I've only got an efficiency error once and I have no cat at all before that bung. I do have a high flow cat further downstream but I never bothered to get another bung & harness extension to reach back there
Yeah optional and free. The reason to do it is so you can plug in O2 sensors normally without worrying about spacers when you are running a catless System. Not sure the exact coding but it doesn’t remove the check engine light completely. Just adjusts the cat monitoring efficiency threshold to a point where it won’t trigger.
Wow. First impression. Haven’t driven it hard yet because it is pouring rain. But Evolve really mastered the maps for “partial throttle”. My previous tune was similar to an on/off switch. While it felt very fast and fun because boost smacks you , it was annoying when trying to drive normally.
Wow. First impression. Haven’t driven it hard yet because it is pouring rain. But Evolve really mastered the maps for “partial throttle”. My previous tune was similar to an on/off switch. While it felt very fast and fun because boost smacks you , it was annoying when trying to drive normally.
That's strange because since day 1 my Bytetronik tune has been the most smooth driving car I think I've had. Zero off/on like you report. Also I feel it's far from too aggressive. There are tunes out there claiming and dyno'ing more HP than BT's tunes.
You seem to the be exception to all other people I talked about before going with Bytetronik. Not sure why that would be, but no one report the on/off or too aggressive-ness of the tune, and I would have to agree with all of them based on my personal experiences with the tune.
I don’t know anyone with a BT tune as it is fairly new for this platform.
The only tuners i know is Evolve which is fairly conservative focusing on drivability, Manic (which I personally know because Nick flew to LA to tune my R56) which is fairly conservative because of weak pistons on B46/B48, and Bytetronik.
Which tuners are more aggressive?
Also, it’s kinda on and off. With BT, if you slowly lower your foot, after half throttle it basically feels like full boost. Not linear. Which isn’t a bad thing necessarily.
Also, it’s kinda on and off. With BT, if you slowly lower your foot, after half throttle it basically feels like full boost. Not linear. Which isn’t a bad thing necessarily.
Just something I noticed.
So, basically it's like it's in sport mode. I keep mine in sport mode all the time anyway. I don't see a downside to that. What's wrong with hitting WOT without having to stomp the accelerator to the floor?
12-27-2017, 09:27 AM
