I have the 2007 MCS with 41K miles. Today at about 70 mph on the freeway the CEL came on and the car started to misfire. I managed to get home but it still misfires and it seems to run on 3 cylinders and CEL stays on. The car has the K&N intake on it which I installed about 5k miles ago. I wondering what could be the problem.
I have to add that about a week ago the car when started in the morning wouldn't idle and it took me to rev it up to get the idle to stay about 3 times. This happened for about 4-5 times. I added Techron and ran full tank of gas with it. It seemed to clear the problem for a week until today.

Any opinions?

I know the symptoms of the HPFP should show up in the mornings. Is this more of a carbon build up issue?

Anyway your valuable opinions are appreciated.

 

Take it (or tow it) to an autozone (or dealership if you're still under warranty) and have them see what codes are being thrown.

 

K&N air filter would not cause a misfire.

Start with the basics.

Replace Plugs and retorque new set.
Inspect Plug wires
Coil pack
Coil harness

 

Thanks for the good advice.

 

where is the ciol pack and coil harness located on the r56? i have a 08 s and am having similar problems

 

On top of each spark plug.

 

now i feel retarded....thanks! my aftermarket intake has all that covered up

 

Today I got my car back. It turns out the piston #3 was broken. The valves and the head were fine and the dealer replaced the piston, cleaned carbon build up from the valves and the car runs just like it was new, nice, smooth and fast.
But my confidence is lost. The dealer doesn't know what caused the piston to break. All they said that they've seen it happen 3 times and it is very rare when it breaks.
Alexander Mini did very nice clean job. The car now has 41K miles and I am trying to decide weather to get extended 100K miles warranty or sell the car at 49K.
Any opinions?

 

i trailered mine 3 hours to the dealership yesterday. A broken piston? I wonder what will be wrong with mine. how long did the repair take?

I say jump on the extended warranty while you can and enjoy the car.

 

There is always going to be a small failure rate for any given engine part. My brother is getting a new engine installed in his '87 Chevy G10 van. The mechanic said the crank broke.

 

87 van and a 3 yr old MINI. Bit of a stretch

Sorry kopov didnt see you had 07. They have an individual coil pack for each cylinder, like a Toyota.

Wonder if the carbon build up started it ? IMO, Seafoam should be done on these 2nd Gen Turbos probably every 15K miles.....again just my opinion based upon what I have been seeing last 8 months with these cars. Mountainview MINI uses Seafoam for their customers and I would surmize as time goes on, you will see more and more dealerships following suit.

 

He also did not mention that his car was tuned...

Sorry kopov if you didn't want to mention it, but I feel that could have played a significant role here. It would be extremely rare for a piston to break with ~40k miles...

 

A slight clarification... the van was on it's 2nd engine, and it had ~80K miles when the crank broke.

 

It could have been a manufacturing defect in the piston, the dealer did say it was rare.

The only things I've ever seen that destroyed pistons is lack of lubrication, lean mixture and excessive detonation (pinging)

Dave

 

So you got your car into the shop around 6/6 or 6/7 and they replaced a piston and have it back to you in 1 week??? Pretty impressive...

Pretty rare to see a broken piston unless it were being subjected to the conditions Dave eluded to... Especially at highway speeds @ around 3000rpm...

 

The car was flatbeded on Monday and I got it back yesterday, Thursday. Prior to the broken piston event I did heard the usual clicking noise which I could refer to detonation. I've heard it many times before. The clicking noise would be heard from somewhere under the hood, the car would drop the boost but after that everything would be normal.
Is there any way I can determine if the car runs too lean? I want to know how I can prevent this from happenning again.

 

Best thing is to monitor the AFR's on a dyno graph, and you can get a good idea.

For everyday driving around, you can use a Scan Gauge to tell you the AFR's or you can buy a wideband AFR gauge. The AFR's that you told me over PM sounded safe, but without seeing the whole curve plotted, its hard to say.

Just out of curiosity, how many miles did you have the tune for, how many miles was it pinging for and how often, and what was your driving style like?

 

I had pinging for at least 5K miles I think since I installed the K&N Intake. My driving style-I never drive in D (auto trans.), only in manual mode shifting with paddles and the shifter somewhere between 3-4K rpm. My gas mileage varies around 26 mpg, so this should give you an idea about my driving style.

 

Just called the dealership and my mini had a blown head gasket it is fully covered by warranty though! I cant wait to get back to motoring!!

 

I just flatbedded my 07 MCSa with 63k to the dealer and learned today that she has a broken piston #3. Fortunately I DID get the extended warranty and hopefully they will take care of it. They are sending an adjuster out tomorrow...
I've had the pinging for probably 5k as well. Misfire codes apeared probably 2k ago.

kopov - did you every develop any theories as to what happened?

 

Yes I did, I think detonation (pinging) destroyed the piston. I also think that faulty high pressure fuel pump may have contributed to it by supplying less gas leading to more lean condition. It all started with the pump acting up in the mornings then increased detonation and finally to broken piston.
The high pressure pump has been replaced about 1k miles ago and all is good for now, at least there is no more detonation.
I hope the dealer will replace the piston at no charge since you still have warranty.

 

Just got the word that they are dropping another engine in the car... pieces in the oil pan... oh my...
Once they get that back together I'm hoping we can figure out what went wrong...

 

wow keep us updated!

 

sounds like "bad gas". yup, that's probably it.

 

You mean fast-gas regular will do that!

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt(now there's an idea), got the lecture when she was just a babe (76 not good enough)... they can't use that one again.

Hmmm maybe the SA's could just wear the shirt... save time and explaination... and now for the graphic...