DINAN Elite thoughts
 

So I'm thinking about installing the Dinan Elite again. I still have 2 years and 29k miles under warranty, so Dinan Elite is what I'm leaning toward.

The question is do I have the MINI dealer install it for an additional $200 rather than doing it myself? I'm thinking that in the long-run, and for the peace of mind that the dealer installed it, they are familiar with it, and possibly it will be less hassle in case of CELs, etc. than me dealing directly with Dinan, Vendor, and MINI?

I was going through the same thing you were going through a couple weeks ago. Got my Elite back in October 2018 and didn't get it installed until a couple weeks ago. Could have easily installed it my self but paid a premier Dinan shop $250 to have it put on just for the warranty. My Dinan approved Mini dealership wanted over $500 for the install. Shop that installed it let me know that if there is any issues with the Dinan unit to let them know and they will take care of the back and forth with Dinan if necessary. If I had to do it again, I would have got the Elite installed sooner.

$200 is overpriced, but for a MINI dealer probably not a total wacked out number. It is a 1/2 hour job at most. Pretty simple even for an inexperience old dude.

I could totally do this myself. I just don't want to be dealing with Dinan and Mini should any issues arise. I want to take it to one place and have them deal with Dinan and resolve those issues.

I pulled the trigger and now have a Dinan Elite. Unfortunately I had stop and go traffic all the way home. It does seem like there's more pep in Normal mode, and a whole lot more in Sport mode. Can't wait to test it out more this weekend!

Does anyone know if I need to register it (with Dinan) myself if the dealer installed it? I forgot to ask the dealer.

Just fill out the included form and mail it in

Don't rely on dealer to register it.. Can't hurt by doing twice.

Enjoy the added boost!

They failed to give me the form, so I'll have to get 'er done another way.

http://files.dinancars.com/webresour...a78307d2b0.pdf

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I'd like to hear more reviews. I've considered this as I feel the car is grossly under powered however I've gotten mixed reviews on there being any real world improvements in performance.

I will definitely report back as I get acquainted with it this weekend.

Just to follow up on my experience so far. I haven't really used Green mode much yet, but have been running around town in Normal with the Dinan Elite. Normal now feels like it is somewhere between stock Normal and stock Sport. There are places where I felt like Normal was not quite as punchy as it should be and Sport was needed but was somewhat overkill. Now with the Dinan, Normal feels like it is more than adequate with power to spare.

I haven't had much chance to really step on it in Sport with the Dinan installed yet. The little bit that I have used it, it seemed like it was similar to the New Normal...New Sport is definitely more powerful. Need more time to light that up and will follow up with my observations.

I hope this makes sense.

So this morning's commute was awesome! Had a few moments where I switched into and out of Normal and Sport. I want to call Dinan Normal "Normal +" and Dinan Sport "Sport +".

Granted this is all 'butt dyno,' however, I feel that with the Dinan Elite, the car feels like a new car with more power which arrives faster (more immediately) than stock. It is a noticeable difference. Today, I went to pass a truck pulling a Bobcat. I was in Normal+, then switched to Sport+ and barely stepped on the gas and gently put back into my seat as I felt the car quickly pull past the truck at the blink of an eye. Way faster than before and seemingly effortless for the car now. Now I wonder what it will do if I *really* step on it!?

I would like to have run a real dyno before and after to get some science and numbers behind what I'm saying, but I am glad I took the plunge. I *almost* wish I did it earlier. After almost two years of driving it around in stock form, then adding the Dinan later makes it a nice noticeable upgrade I might not have appreciated as much had I installed it earlier.

@MrFunk - I'm not sure if that is what you were looking for as far as a review goes, but I tried to capture my new-to-me observations before I get 'used to' the new performance. I do feel as though the Dinan has filled the 'power gaps' I felt were there but was willing to overlook. Now, I feel like there's power there with plenty of headroom (for me). All I have to do now is stomp on it.

Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to write a couple reviews!! Sounds like you've noticed an improvement which is great.

No problem. I appreciate everyone getting me to this point.

The Elite is OK, but be careful, there is a known issue where the ECU will start to throw a P12A9 code that will revert the map to the stock tables and adjustments. The worse part is that clearing the code is temporary as it will just come back.

Also, I cannot imagine paying for the install??! It is a couple of plugs, routing wiring and mounting an ECU with industrial velcro. The only thing to be careful about is that the ecu is completely asleep.

I've had my Elite in my car for the past 6 months without any issues. However recently I started throwing codes (Boost Pressure Sensor: Pressure too high). I thought the first one was probably just a glitch and cleared it, but 2 days later it came back. Reset the code again and two days later it returned again. I unplugged the box and plugged in the bypass to see if it would be okay without the piggy-back, and still threw a code after a few days. In order to troubleshoot I removed the entire device including the wire harness and so far have been code free for over a week.

I'm going to reinstall it this weekend to see if the codes come back and if so I guess I'll contact Dinan to see what my options are. I do want to get it worked out because it is a noticeable difference with it installed.

Anyway, I hope this helps with anyone's evaluation and if anyone has any insight into fixing the P12A9 codes I would appreciate the info.

So I same code pop up when the temp dropped below 40 degrees. I sent the dinan kit back under warrantee, but there is a very good chance that my intake caused the codes (according to dinan and the dealer). Overall, no out of pocket expenses, everything works great now (minus the intake). I had the issue in Oct-Nov timeframe on my 2018 F60 JCW, and I live in NY. Haven't had a issue since!

If anyone was concerned about installing it themselves, just do it. You can't mess it up. The dealer will still honor the warrantee. just follow the instructions like a grown up.

What intake did you have, and do you still have it installed or did you revert back to stock?

Correct, the harness has to come out. The bypass plug will not solve the codes.

It is unlikely the intake is causing the sensor to fault. The Elite module essentially fools the ecu to use boost maps for a higher elevation. My guess is the car's ecu correction algorithm is not happy with the artificial parameters.

I had the cravenspeed intake. I had installed both while it was warm, and had no issues for a month or so, then the temp dropped and started dropping over boost pressure codes. uninstalled the dinan and returned it. During that time, the temp was fluctuating between 40-50 degrees. The code came back everytime the temp dropped below 40 degrees. uninstalled the intake, and code has never come back. Installed a new dinan elite, haven't had any issues since.

The Dealer has told me that they have seen some JCW's throw codes when it gets cold out. The cars that don't, have dyno tunes. I do have to say, the customer service from Cravenspeed and Dinan were amazing. Cravenspeed really has a good handle on their customer service.

what do you think?

After installing the new Dinan, I'm assuming you didn't reinstall the intake and everything is fine?

Going on the above assumption, my thought - just thinking here - is that (based on your description of the temps when the problem was happening) - perhaps the combination of Dinan, with the intake with theoretically more volume of air (CFM) is fine for temps above 40F. Below 40F, the air is cooler (denser). So perhaps the increased boost created by the Dinan tricking the ECU plus the colder/denser air from the intake somehow pushes into a range that the ECU doesn't like and thus throws an over-boost code. This tells me the Dinan for some reason didn't take this condition into consideration and adjust accordingly.

A good test (though you might not want to bother with doing) would be to put the intake back in with the new Dinan when the temps drop back down to 40F and see if the problem comes back. If it does, take it about and revert back to stock...do the codes come back?

I'm definitely not looking forward to this happening to me down the line.

Mpg
 

I am curious, what does the Dinan Elite do u to gas mpg? I haven’t been able to locate anything on that.

Was planning on resetting my mpg to see what it shows. After a while, I can post up again.