The Beauty of An Oil Catch Can For Your 2002 – 2006 MINI Cooper

If you own a 2002 – 2006 Mini Cooper S you are probably well aware that it is prone to excessive oil vapor buildup within the intake system. The existence of the problem can be confirmed by removing the rubber boot attached to the intercooler. Spray a little cleaning fluid into the tube (removed from the car at this point) and you will notice a large amount of oil in the run-off.
While the buildup of oil won’t hurt anything, it will affect the performance of the car. As the layers of oil build up they start affecting the efficiency of the intercooler. The intercooler becomes less effective at removing the heat from the intake charge and the end result is a loss of power and gas mileage. In addition, the oil will eventually gum up the various sensors found in the intake system, leading to even more problems and reduced performance in the future.
To eliminate the oil fouling problem, a solution can be found in an aftermarket oil catch can. The best oil catch can currently being produced is made by M7 Tuning. Their catch can is made from billet aluminum and is available in a black powder coated finish or in the natural machined aluminum finish with a protective clear coat to help keep it look great. It is equipped with an oil drain plug which also incorporates a magnet to remove any metal particles that may make it into the system. Their catch can use a sight tube so you can easily verify the amount of oil in the can and drain accordingly.
Their kit comes complete with all required hoes, brackets and fittings specifically tailored for the R53 installation. The hoses are oil and heat resistant, unlike silicone hoses, will not discolor from oil that passes through them. Also available on the website is a detail installation manual with plenty of pictures to make this an easy do-it-yourself project. To find out more about the Oil Catch Can system visit them at www.m7tuning.com.

 

How much oil can a catch can catch if a catch can can catch oil? That is the real question. LOL

 

do you have any other photos of the install other than whats on the site. I'd like to see how the engine compartment is going to look with even more hoses installed and if I can tuck them or something.

 

best spot for it is probably in the cowl where the abs unit is in. your trying to condense the oil and water into the can to take it out of the system. if you have it somewhere hot it cant do that. the OCC will still be slightly effective if has baffles or a screen in it but not as effective if it were in a cool spot

 

he is the M7 installed in my 04 MCS


don't think it clutters up the engine at all

 

Ok, thats a better shot than the "artsy" shot M7 has on their website.

Looks like I will add this catch can to my Christmas list

 

+1
Mounting it in a hot spot will do very little!
Just be sure to regularly empty the can.....
M7 products has always looked nice.

 

It's not an M7 OCC (hey, for what little I paid used for it, it works), but does serve to illustrate the mounting location that will likely lead to more oil being removed from the PCV airflow....



I used a 1" sheetmetal punch and some nice grommets to keep from chafing holes in the hoses where they pass through the plastic into the cooler area below the cowl.

Looking at the pic, man, I gotta get some nicer-looking, more oil-resistant hoses one of these days. Yuk!

HTH!

C ya,
Dutch

 

Here's my homemade version for less than $10...a short piece of PVC, two end caps glued on, a couple of barbed fittings and a radiator petcock at the bottom for a drain. Post #4 here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...er-normal.html

 

Now lets see how much you have removed from it. I can see a R56 catching a lot, but the R53 not so much.