...And I was wondering if anyone had any experience with any of the standard fixes (time sert, helicoil, etc). I have a decent amount of experience in doing basic maintenance and I'm still trying to determine whether this is a fix that I should attempt myself or if I want to just have my R53 towed in to the local Indy shop.

Any advice?

 

We had that happen. Depends on how much damage it did on the way out. Brought ours to the dealer, and they were able to put it back in with out having to do any of the fixes like having it rethreaded with an insert. For me it was better to have a shop look at it.

 

I've installed a TimeSert about 3 years ago, if not more, on cylinder 1, still holding. I don't trust helicoils, I prefer the sleeve style of the time serts. It's taking a decent amount of aluminium out when you're using the tap, so if you do it yourself, you want to put grease on the tap so it catches as much as possible.

I've done it in 4 or 5 steps as I was cleaning and regreasing the tap as I go, until I was done. Then just for safety, I duct taped a small plastic tube to my shopvac and tried to get anything that fell inside.

 

I put a helicoil in my motorcycle a few years ago and so far it's held fine. I took the head off to install it so I wouldn't get any metal shavings in the cylinder. That might not be practical on a mini.

 

Timesert is the way to go if you need it, but agree with the comment above that you may get lucky - MINI's are known to have the spark plugs vibrate out, so the threads may be salvageable.

 

I did a TimeSert on the #2 cylinder of my R53 a few months ago.. still holding strong. I don't trust helicoils as well.

Another level of precaution I did was use a strip of panty hose and stuff it into the cylinder before you start cutting new threads. Then when you are done pull it out and almost all if not all of the shaving that wasn't caught by grease on the cutter are snagged on the panty hose. I also got some vinyl tubing and taped it to a vacuum hose so I could use that just to make sure I got all the pieces in the cylinder.

Good luck. TimeSert is the way to go and doesn't take long. I would let the red loctite set overnight before driving it.

 

TimeSerts are authorized by Honda for repair (with Honda part #'s), even for head bolts. TimeSert is the way to go.

 

I agree. I fixed one with a BackTap a bunch of years ago. Only the last few threads were damaged and the BackTap cleaned it up nicely and it is still holding as far as I can tell.

If that doesn't work, TIME-SERT® is the way to go. Slow and easy and you don't have to remove the head to get it repaired.

Good luck.

///Rich

 

I decided to go with the time-sert and I installed it last night and put new plugs and wires in. The car sounds and drives fine, but I have a CEL for a misfire in Cylinder 1 (the one that blew out). I'm planning on taking it in to my mechanic after the holiday weekend.

 

CEL's don't usually turn off right away. It takes something like 40
On/Off cycles with no conditions that caused it to reset automatically, or you have to manually clear a DTC via a scanner. If it comes back on afterwards, that's when you would need worry.

 

Yep, just to support what has been said: Time-Sert and not Helicoil. The Helicoil works until you need to remove the plug, and then it comes out with the plug...

 

I think if you disconnect your battery and let it sit for a few minutes it should clear the code.

 

Negative. The code will remain active until it is cleared or a certain number of drive cycles have occurred without the error. Even when the light extinguishes, the code is stored in memory.

 

CEL is gone! I cleared it with Torque Pro. I'm gonna keep an eye on it for the next week or two but I think it may be good to go. Thanks for all the advice!

 

That's an old OBD0 and OBD1 method.