has anyone confirmed this car has anything like a turbo timer? Not looking for guesses, or marketing BS, but hard core parts that really do circulate fluids.

I hear the fan run sometimes after I stop the car, for a very short time which scares me if this is the "turbo timer" that some speak of. Running the fan <> circulating oil/water though turbo so the oil does not cook off in the housing.

I've not found any proof that it's circulating oil/water though the turbo, I dont mind sitting for a few seconds when I get somewhere to let the turbo cool down. But I'm not sure if I really need to or not

 

If you get close to the upper grill after turning off the car and after the fan has stopped you can hear the oil running through the turbo.

 

so there's an electric oil pump in these somewhere?

 

I would assume so. The R56 has ondemand oil and water pumps.

 

well the water pump uses a friction gear

the external gear pump driven by a chain delivers precisely the amount of oil required under all operating conditions.


looks like we are SOL, and whoever keeps saying these cars have a built in turbo timer is dead wrong


unless this site is way off

http://www.motoringfile.com/2004/12/...ange_in_detail

it's the only thing I've found with real details on these engines

 

If there is no turbo timer then why can you hear the oil running through the turbo when the engine is off?

 

Turbo timers run the engine... so no this doesnt. But it does run the fan and circulates either water or oil after the car is off depending on how hot it is. So, no, you are not SOL.

 

You just need to read to the bottom of your link to see what it does do. Not a turbo timer but sufficient.

 

so there's a 2nd water pump that runs after the engine is shut off

but no oil pump

I found the part number for the 2nd water pump, it's 11537563721

 

you know for a fact that it circulates oil? all my research shows it does not

this is a picture of the oil pump the car uses


no way that's runnign when the engine is not

 

He said it circulates water or oil.

 

the missinformation thrown around on here is why I started this thread, I wanted to get to the bottom of exactly WHAT it is doing, I got lots of vauge answers last time I started a turbo timer thread


I for one drive lightly the last few miles to work, and let it idle for no less than 15 seconds when I stop before I turn it off

 

Do you really think that MINI would have such a significant design flaw in their engine?

 

design flaw?

Most engines have no form of turbo timer, that's why people add them

the oil sits in the turbo and gets HOT, so hot that it starts to sludge up in the housing, leading to pre mature bearing failure, and oil failure

 

Again, do you really think that MINI engineers wouldn't have thought of this given the type of person that usually buys an MCS?
Most modern turbo's have a version of a timer, timers were, in my understanding, a necessity for early turbo's prior to more advance engine management electronics.

I definitely hear fluids circulating when I walk to the front of the car after switch off and while the hood gets hot I think that's a good thing as the hood is conducting the heat from the underside to the top where the ambient air will cool things

 

You spent too much time with the VW Crowd, these engines are eons ahead of the 1.8t engine, unless you're making 250+ whp I don't think you need to worry about sludging oil. If you use synthetic oil and change it on a regular basis you'll be fine. Most of the issues with sludging on the older VW engines were because 19 year old kids were too cheap to buy synthetic oil, and after waiting 5k miles to change traditional oil, it was sludged (Not as tolerant to temperature shifts).

I should add that most of the failures happened at 100k+ (Not a lot of people buy cars and keep them for 7-8 years).

 

"Maximum exhaust gas temperature is monitored by the electronic engine
“brain” and is limited to 950 °C (1,742 °F). To prevent excessive build-up of
heat in the oil- and water-cooled turbocharger after the engine has been
stopped, an additional electrical water pump starts automatically as soon as
the car comes to a standstill, dissipating any excess thermal energy from
the system."

This is direct from the Petrol Engines in the BMW Group/
PSA Peugeot Citroën Cooperation media release information, it is a 44 page document on the engines.

 

The extreme temperatures encountered by the oil as it passes through the turbo necessitate the need for synthetic oil, as it is much more tolerant of heat. The heat exchanger for the oil is good, but only has an effect when the oil is pumping. I have always idled my turbo cars for a little while prior to shutting them off (starting with my '87 Buick Grand National) to give the oil time to dissipate some of the heat from the turbo and allow it to cool. It is especially needed after spirited driving. I will be treating the Mini no differently when it arrives in mid October! I guess I am the turbo timer for my cars as I have trouble walking away from a running car! It would be nice to get a definative answer, but it does not seem that the oil pump is electric, so then it can not run after the engine is shut off.

 

The idea of an electrical water pump to cool the turbo has been around since 1986 in the Porsche 944t. Since then most properly designed engines (IE: not american) have employed this. It's not mis-information... just there is no point in getting worked up over the exact details. Subaru did NOT employ this method in their cars in the 80's and thus were instructed to idle the car for like 2 or more minutes every time you drove. Technically, MINI does not have to do this and would most likely be fine for 60k miles given proper use. But the intended audience for this car is so wide spread... from begineers to N... that Im sure MINI felt it would be in the best interest to add this feature.

 

I sure hope they last more than 60k miles, I'll tripple that on mine before it's sold, unless there's some stop the presses new technology that makes cars safer/faster in the next 5-6 years


I've never owned a VW, my last turbo was a mitsubishi diesel that did have to be idled a bit before you shut it down

this thread makes me trust my oil lasting to 16,000 miles even less

I just dont see how it can possibly last that long with the stresses these turbo's have

 

I meant that it WOULD probably last 60miles without any cooling. My 944 turbo with elec water pump lasted over 250k miles on all original parts. On top of that, I cooled it down for a couple of miles and had a garage fan.

 

16k mile oil change intervals are for the factory maintenance plan. Unless you drive like a grandma I wouldn't recommend waiting that long to change your oil. The oil may be fine but your filter is going to be toast before that.. I change my oil every 2000-4000 miles (Depending on how hard it's been driven and whether or not i've tracked my car). You don't have to idle modern cars, they cope fine with the heat so long as you're using a synthetic oil.