Howdy,

I am new to the Mini world!!
So far, this car has been a blast.

I recently got my hands on a 2006 MCS convertible, 58k miles. Bought it with a new set of wheels and a new clutch.

Shortly after owning, she threw an error code, P2096. I took her into the dealership to take of the passenger air bag sensor recall and to have them look at the error code issue. They verified the O2 sensor to be in good working order, then performed a smoke test. The smoke test identified a leak at the 1st O2 sensor bung weld.

The dealership wants to replace the entire header/cat to fix this. That's an expensive fix!!

Here are my questions:
1) is it bad to drive with this minor leak?
--- the check engine light is cleared now and I know it will continue to return. I have a OBDII reader and would check the car weekly to make sure no other errors were thrown (if I continue to drive the car without a fix)
2) Is it simple to have the bung weld fixed/re-welded?
3) Can I fix it myself with something like JB weld or some other high heat material?
4) I was looking into a catted aftermarket full exhaust, like Milltek. I know this is more costly, but for better parts and maybe some performance gain, I can justify it in my head.
--- If replacing the headers, would I need a tune? No other modifications have been done to the car, currently. well, I'm assuming, since it was a used car and I don't know if a pulley modification was done. It was not advertised as so....
--- The lead tech at the dealership assured me no tune was required if replacing the header with aftermarket... is this true?


Well, thanks, and hopefully someone can shine some light on my questions here!!

Andrew

 

Might not hurt to take it to a muffler or MINI indy shop and see if they can just re-weld the bung. If you're wanting to just upgrade, this might be a good time! Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think with the catless exhausts is when you run into an issue with codes being thrown for the sensor. If you plan to go with a cat set up, you might be fine. A tune is a good mod though so definitely consider it.

 

We would just put a quick weld on it and go. You don't need to replace the header for a small leak. That's unusual for it to leak there. Is it an aftermarket header?

 

I am not sure if the header is aftermarket or not. The dealer didn't say anything about that when they looked at it, and I have not looked under the car yet to see if it is in one piece or two. I know it does still have a cat, so I'm assuming it's a stock header.

 

try a decent muffler shop

unless there is an access issue, it should be a quick job to hit the spot with a MIG gun . . .

 

+1 on a muffler shop to re-weld otherwise its a new exhaust or upgrade like Milltek.