I'm brand new to Minis and got my Convertible S a week ago. I was driving today and I heard a loud whining sound and then had a great loss in power. Other than the loss in power the car ran great but the check engine light is now on. If its the turbo I'm thinking it's no big deal, the car is certified so I'll just get a new one for free and have a turbo with out 30,000 miles on it. Is this a good way to think about it or am I missing something?

 

Ahhh, you have a warranty. You should be golden..

 

unless you ran it low on oil

 

Well I haven't checked it being that I've only had it for a week so I hope its good.

 

I check my oil every week. Yes, my Mini does use oil. I would take the recommendation very, very seriously and check the oil immediately!

 

Being that he's had it for a week, the dealer would have a hard time proving he ran it low on oil and they didn't sell it already low.

 

I'm not placing blame or finding fault. A suggestion was made to check the oil and his response "I hope its good". Is it really too much trouble to open bonnet and check the oil?

 

Oil is full. Thanks for the suggestion..

 

This is normal for these cars to kill turbos this early, most people trade them off because of the strange symptoms that mechanics cant diagnose (Like using 1qt of oil in 1000miles, major oil leaks, low power, burned valves, valves getting extremely oil coked in 15k miles, pre-ignition, blown head gasket, inter-cooler full of oil, car surging, or cracked pistons). All of these symptoms are caused by back pressure, if you want more information on it read the second section at the link http://www.jmturbocoopers.com/Cooper...ton-Issue.html.






That is great that the turbocharger is covered however it is not the root cause of the failure the root cause of the failure is that your catalytic converter has been contaminated by oil and has a small reduction in air flow. If you don't want this to happen again you need to have them replace the catalytic converter and than always idle your car until the EGTs get at or below 500deg f before turning it off. If not you will be changing it again according to our 30 60 90 rule. 30K miles if you drive in the city, 60k if you drive mixed city and highway, or 90k miles if you drive mostly highway.

 

WOW.
That’s a lot of info. Thanks..

 

How can we check the EGTs? Can a Scangauge read it?

 

Yes a Scangage is easiest or you can use torque or similar app.

 

Good info. How much of this applies to the n18 motor?