The 2009 is a gen2 MINI, with the "prince"engine, direct injected...the intake valves do not get sprayed with gas+detergents. If the S of your model had a turbo for ther year of your car, it is a gen2!!
Gen1 MINI's 2002-2006 hardtops, and 7+8 cabrios (I think) have the Tritec motor...standard fuel injection. If the "S" of the model year of your car has the SC, it is a gen1. With standard fuel injection, fuel+detergents are sprayed into the intake (not the cylinders like in a DI motor), meaing that the valves are cleaned, in part, by the fuel!

IMO the catch can would be a great plus for any DI injected motor...but IT requires diligent maintenance...forgetting to do it...letting it freeze, etc, and POW!! You can grenade a motor! IF you get one..it saves time in de-carboninzing the valves, but will cost you time with a weekly maintenance requirement, maybe more in the winter in a cold area!!
On a gen1, it helps, a bit, but it also does not prevent anything major like on a gen2...so the cost benefit is not so great....(from a preventive maintenance standpoint), but a cleaner IC never hurt anybody!!

On any car where the oil may not achieve full temperature, due to short drives in cold weather, or if you have an aftermarket oil cooler, the OC can may be a wise investment, since it will reduce moisture in the crankcase IF you remember to maintain it!! On a DI car, the dividends are a bit better..since it MAY save you some $$ once the car is out of warranty...heck Sea-Foam is good, but, it is simpler to drain an OC can!!

 

is DI.... the N/A engine has conventional FI.

Anyway, have fun with whatever you do...

Matt

 

Hey Doc, you make some very good points that I agree with. I think you may be becoming the voice of reason here.

 

Used to be when Crashton and I agreed, it was a sign of the apocolyps! Now it's the voice of sanity? My how times change.....

Matt

 

My doctor has me on a bunch of new meds.

 

Yup, DrObnxs is correct. I checked the manual and the 2009 Cooper Clubman (not S) has the multiport fuel injection engine. So my can of SeaFoam is going in the gas tank with a fill-up of 94 octane. That should do for now.

Thanks again all.

 

Jumping in late on the thread...

I had an OCC on all last summer. It seemed to be catching 95% water and 5% other gunk. I emptied it regularly. I didn't notice any performance change, but did notice a drop in gas mileage and had several occasions where it looked as if I was burning oil (although, I think it's a bad O2 sensor causing that problem right now). I also noticed that I used more oil. It's a reman engine with 25k on it...so oil usage should not be an issue yet...something I didn't think should occur.

It's winter now in Vermont. The first bout of weather below 10 degrees and the OCC froze up. Add that to the fact that I have the PCV delete in place on the intake side, and needless to say the car didn't like it when I started it. I can only guess that blocking off both PCV routes is a bad thing.

I removed the OCC for the winter. It seemed like the main thing it was grabbing was water, and water in the intake is ok with me (maybe that actually helps to boil some of the gunk off). The risk just seemed too high after a frozen night here of having a solid OCC or a frozen hose or whatever.

I'm thinking of putting a OCC on both PCV lines in the summer. We'll see.