Hi all,

I am experiencing a very strange (and annoying/worrying!) problem with my R56 Cooper S.
To date I havent had any issues with the car and everything has been running fine with quite an increase in power from my modifications...
However...

There are a couple of things which could be the potential cause of this, I'll list everything I can think of... but any help would really be appreciated!!

The car flies till just under 5000rpm, when suddenly it just stops revving. The revs slow down so much, I timed it to get from 5000rpm - 5500rpm in 2nd gear and it took 5.5seconds at WOT (5.5 seconds to gain 500rpm....)
No matter what gear or what speed, at 5000rpm the car refuses to rev any more..

Now, my exhaust is blowing like mad. From the turbo. The connection between my downpipe and my turbo flange has never been perfect, but it is really really blowing. The exhaust "burble" which we Euro spec guys get is no longer coming from my exhaust, but is coming from the engine bay itself. Obviously without being able to see under the heatshield I dont know what is going on, but I think the downpipe has either become partially or entirely disconnected from the turbo. The turbo is covered in black soot, it stinks horrendously of petrol in the car, and everything is very, VERY hot under the bonnet...
But my question is would this cause the car to stop revving at 5000rpm?

Other recent things which it could be related to:

1) Heatwave - it is currently the hottest its been all year in UK
2) Low quality fuel, I am only running 95 octane fuel whereas I normally run 99 Octane
3) Its due a service (ironically i am booked in this week)

I cant think of anything else it could be.

Any one who could offer me their opinion or advice, it would be greatly appreciated. I am not going to drive the car hard at all now until it is fixed.

Thanks for any help

 

even if you dont have any CEL on the car. If you have a reader see if there is one stored that is not showing.

 

Possible diagnosis-

Went to Mini today who checked it and they think that the primary lambda sensor is getting very f*cked up signals from the blowing exhaust (he also confirmed a 1inch gap between turbo and downpipe!!) and has thrown the car into a very very rich running mixture..... and the ECU is cutting power at 5000rpm