@ECSTuning just wanted to get a second opinion. Do you know if adaptations need to be reset after replacing the purge valve?

Car still seems to have bad MPG after replacing it.

 

You might need to reset the MPG Avg on the dash, should not be going down. Most people i heard replace it fixed the CEL and no other issues. All i can think of is a O2 sensor going bad also. When the MPG drops that's usually the cause. That or sticky back brakes.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...0507-code.html Other people just cleared it.

Looks like MINI on the TSB just clears the codes.

If you feel you need to sometimes the battery off for 15mins can reset or the Schwaben tool, i have not looked at it for the fuel option the reset fuel/air adaptions on the tool itself. I know it does resets on other menus.

 

Was thinking the same thing. Maybe because the purge valve caused car to run rich it could have messed the O2 sensor up...

Is there any way to tell though without the car throwing a code?

Really good tip about the battery. I didn't know you could reset it that way. I used to do it on my Honda. Will give it a shot, thank you ECS.

 

Depending upon how long one is running rich / with a bad fuel tank vent valve, replacing the valve could prompt an auto-adjust quickly, or take a long time. And depending upon how long one has been running rich, that could cause other issues, or not.

I don't think there is an easy yes-no on this one. If you want to take all the maybes off the table, lose the adaptations, whether via a tool or old-fashioned ECU reset, and re-baseline.

Of note: part of the adaptation reset process was to, after clearing the adaptations, let the engine run in neutral for 2 full minutes "so that basic adaptation can take place." The car certainly wouldn't have gone kaboom if I had just reset and driven away, but it's similar to other ECU resets I've seen where the guidance is to do some kind of while-idle-baselining before first drive as best practice.

Hope this is useful.

 

I would clear the code and then on the O2 sensor the system will run richer on a advanced scanner. When it gets to the limit then it will throw a code. Any more then 5 mpg drop is what we see.

Welcome.

 

By the way I reset my ECU disconnecting the battery and the car ran so good after. ALL the boost.

So it definitely works.

 

Ok good.

 

Here's a video on a failed B38, pretty quick and worth watching. The written description of the failure, sitting just below the video, got my attention in a big way:

 

Add to the list: leaking (engine oil) counterbalance shaft cover seals/gaskets. Part number is 11117797932. Quantity 2 needed on each engine. These are plastic caps with a rubber o-ring sealing them -- the rubber o-rings break down -- parts of the o-rings will literally disintegrate outright over time, leaving seal gaps (and consequent oil leaks).

 

For parties looking at water pump replacement (whether due to leak or proactive to install an upgraded unit with a metal impeller), my experience with this on the B46 engine may prove worth a read.

 

Separately, for parties crazy enough to decide they might want to replace all coolant hoses in the system because of BMW's multigenerational-MINI bad choices in materials -- meaning not just rubber/plastic, but rubber/plastic that degrades in well-documented fashion over time right down to O-rings, I've put together a parts list (figured it out via realoem.com) for my 2017 F56 S and its 10/2016 manufacture date.

An actual parts list for a given car is going to be not just model dependent, but production month-dependent. So there's no way I'm going to offer mine as "grab-and-run-with" unless yours was built the same month I was. But it's looking like total parts cost without sales taxes, presuming some aftermarket sub-ins and leveraging vendors that provide free shipping and handling above a certain gross purchase point, bottoms out between about $850 and $900. No Amazon or eBay leveraging. If one goes single-vendor the floor is probably about $940, with the highest I bothered to price (local BMW dealer) coming in at over $1,100. Again, this is just parts and does not include sales taxes.

If I do this, it's going to be DIY. I'm not trusting, much less paying, anyone to wreck my engine bay in a manageable fashion except me.

Oh, that part cost does *not* include the thermostat or thermostat housing. I dealt with that separately when I upgraded my water pump.

All of this is subject to more change and review, of course. This project is going to teach me every corner of the cooling system, I guess. Not for the faint of heart, and I still haven't determined level of effort. But I will likely take this on somewhere between 120K and 140K miles, and probably more towards the near than the far end of that mileage.

 

Official diagnosis as coolant has been leaking more is cracked oil filter housing. Car is at 120k miles and was quoted an absurd 2250 to repair. Supposedly 1300 of which is for parts

 

Genuine MINI part for the oil filter housing is routinely priced at between $700 and $750. Even if you mark that up a bit "because dealer" and add pricing for fluids (coolant, engine oil) and maybe intake manifold gaskets, $1300 seems way high for parts on that repair. I can see the labor cost of $950 given the by-the-book TIS instruction times dealership per-hour labor rates. It's still a smidge on the high side but the labor is far more explainable than that parts cost, unless they have something in that quote that is beyond the scope of the oil filter housing and consumables.

You can DIY this for sub-$300, including parts, if you go aftermarket. Sub-$200 even, depending upon what oil filter housing you select.

Given that the Genuine MINI part is of the same design that cracks on everyone anyway, I see no upside to the Genuine MINI part (especially given its pricing) vs. aftermarket.

Scroll to post #28 in this thread (if the link doesn't take you straight to it) for my own how-I-did-this rundown. Parts involved would be the oil filter housing, intake manifold gaskets (optional but do yourself a favor and just do it, the original gaskets have almost certainly shrunk from age and heat, you'll have the intake manifold off, and it's easy to do), oil filter (likely included with the housing already but does depend upon what you ultimately buy), coolant, engine oil.

Oil filter housing (includes new filter) that I used in that thread: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-bremmen-...428585235~bre/

All-metal (except the cap) version of same, definitely won't crack like the old one: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-bremmen-...28585235m~brp/

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks. I'm going to call my local euro mechanic Monday and see what they say. Unsure I want to do myself or at all but I'll read over clip appreciate everything.

 

Glad to assist, good luck and let us know.

FYI failure of that part resulting in coolant leak is a critical fail. It's going to get worse, possibly suddenly, and the coolant level can get low enough to get the car to put the turbo in "safe mode" (see that thread) without actually throwing a check engine light, despite the coolant running dry or dry-enough. Fast way to lose an engine or a major engine component. The slow or slow-ish leak definitely will not stay slow. I was lucky.

 

Heads up: something I missed when I replaced my oil filter housing.

BMW instructs you to prime the engine oil before first startup after doing this repair. See this thread for details (and a link to a PDF with instructions). Also applies to any other repair where the oil circuit is interrupted.

 

An update on "Secure vehicle against rolling" -- warranty extension on the automatic shifter assembly for the whole busted internal spring thing. Pre-LCI, the LCI forward doesn't use the same part (so far as I'm aware).

 

@cmt52663 Thanks for making this thread. I have a 2015 Mini Cooper S and dealer just informed me that the thermostat housing/coolant pump is leaking coolant as well. Since it's all metal like you said, replacing the whole thing feels like overkill. Is it just a matter of replacing the gaskets?

 

The housing and pulley are metal. The gasket and impeller are not.

Additionally, the "gasket" is a bead of Loctite 5970. TIS instructions direct the technician, if in a remove-reinstall context, to inspect the bead, and if it is flattened or otherwise in disrepair, to remove the bead and apply a new one of Loctite 5970. If you buy a new Genuine MINI water pump, the bead is evident (I have an unused Genuine MINI pump -- long story -- and just inspected the whole thing again).

Given that the impeller on the Genuine MINI part is plastic, an obvious upgrade is to a model with a metal impeller. I did that upgrade on my F56S, replacing the original with a Meyle HD. Details here if you're bored. It was a wonky bit of exercise but informative.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the value of having a metal impeller?

My main goal is just to stop the coolant leak. So does this just mean that I have to tell my mechanic to renew the loctite bead without actually replacing any parts in so far as my goal is to stop the coolant leak?

 

Plastic impellers break because heat makes the plastic brittle over time, not to mention the other raw physical wear and tear.

When they break, they take other things with them. Sometimes gaskets, sometimes more than gaskets. Sometimes pieces of internal engine components. You get the idea.

Presuming that it is in fact failure of that seal that is the source of your leak, that would do the trick. But given that the pump contains a spinning pulley on the outside connected to a submerged-in-coolant spinning impeller on the inside, and that there are bearings/whatnot between the two that can also fail (and leak), I don't know that I would be approaching it with "just re-bead the seal, please."

Unfortunately, on the S and JCW models (meaning: 4-cylinder engine) work space is ridiculously tight to get the water pump out at all, which you have to do to get to the seal in question. There is no "do it in-place." That in turn levers owners into the "are there other things we should do while in this spot, because we're paying an arm and a leg for labor just to get in there in the first place." That takes you to the question of whether you might want to replace the pump outright with age/wear in mind, whether you put another Genuine BMW/MINI in or a Meyle HD or whatever else you might like.

There is also the question of whether they're going to get laying that bead of Loctite 5970 laid down properly. Too much and you're going to get leaks. Too little and you're going to get leaks. Put coolant in and start it running too soon and you're going to get leaks. The prospect of messing with that spooked the BMW/MINI specialty shop I was working with pretty good. And when the owner and I got together for me to look at it in person, I understood why and backed his recommendation not to start playing Loctite 5970 games.

That said, it's your car, and how you decide to handle it is obviously your call. But all those inconvenient considerations are the reason why it's a more complex discussion in general than it seems like it should have to be.

 

I guess in theory the plastic impeller could disintegrate and cause issues. But is this a common/known problem? I understand that the oil filter housing plastic is known to fail, is the plastic impeller a known problem too. I would have imagined we would have heard about more issues from it, particularly from earlier 2014-2015 Minis.

 

Definitely more of a long view question.

One part "how long do you intend to keep your MINI."
One part "BMW's choice in plastic [and rubber] materials under the hood is historically poor, ask R series MINI users (among other BMW owners)."

For me, it was a sensible upgrade given that the Meyle HD pump was comparably priced -- strangely so in fact -- compared to the Genuine BMW/MINI part. Again, though, that's a long-view question. I don't think we've hit the place -- yet -- with the F series MINIs where we are going to see how the water pumps fail generically. That time will come, but hasn't landed in real terms so far (so far as I know anyway).

 

Follow-up question for you, is it easier to replace the waterpump & housing while doing the oil filter housing replacement or are they unrelated? Trying to figure out the optimal way to arrange this to minimize hours billed by my mechanic.

 

As both components are on the front side of the engine block, there are many common tasks for both repairs (e.g. service mode, intake plumbing).

Cheers,

Charlie