Little advise before I start replacing things I don't need to.

Have moderately modded 06 cooper S

performance wise, upgraded cam, 15% SC pulley, CAI, Catback exhaust. RMW tune, I was using unichip before hand and had no issues. Ever since the RMW tune I have been throwing codes and have replaced plugs basically every two months.

So basically I am thinking with the RMW tune with stock injectors I am taxing them and now running lean which is fouling up the plugs.

I am getting the same end result with cylinder 2 misfire.

so can I get some advise were I may be way off here in my thinking or should I get bigger injectors?


Thanks in advance.

 

Did you tried contacting RMW?

 

I am waiting for RMW (Jan) to respond to my email. I don't want to come across blaming his tune for my issue. Also this forum has good advise when I am in a crunch.

 

My guess would be you need larger injectors to help with the cam, to get the most out of it with the tune.. but Jan will know more once you hear from him..

 

In order to help you out, can you provide some more details on your plugs? Running lean will not foul the plugs....but running too rich will. Can you post up some pictures of the plugs?

I'm guessing your tune is too rich.......

 

Photos of all 4 plugs lined up please.

Also, what brand of plugs / part number on box, and are you re-gapping them ?

Thanks.

 

+1
Jan/RMW is ok on follow-up ...but remember his time is worth $$, it not a hobby for him, so he doesn't chat for fun...
Any changes since the tune? If so...the fix is usually a retune.
Typically custom tunes are less forgiving than stock tunes of changes...
As stated, pictures of the plugs will help, along with model , etc

 

I'm wondering the same thing, have you made any changes since the tune, even spark plug brand could effect this.
I highly doubt it's the injectors not having enough flow, if the tune was done with those injectors, they shouldn't be an issue at all, unless something else has changed.
Besides setting the plugs, we need to know what codes you are throwing.

 

Well think I found the problem. This is what I did

Plugs I pulled out were NGK BKR7EIX-11 gapped .044
Plugs I put in NGK BKR7EIX gapped .031

When taking the plugs out they were barley torqued in.

 

no changes to tune, and Jan is awesome. Asked me for the pick of the plugs as well

Still want to hear peoples feed back while waiting for Jan.

 

Damn....you burnt the ground strap off a few of those plugs! They look really rich/black....but if the ground straps are melted off, your egt's are way too hot. Either way....i would avoid running your motor too hard until you figure out what's going on.

Maybe the heat range on those plugs it too hot?

If it was me, I would just run the NGK plugs that the JCW's come with. They are the correct heat range.

 

Well I am running one range colder isn't that the recommended? I am using 15% smaller pulley. From what I read the BKR7EIX-11 gapped .044 is way to big. So I figure using the BKR7EIX and gapped .031 should be in the right direction.

 

Both the stock R53 and JCW plugs are gapped to 0.020. You very well may have been misfiring at 0.044. Why not just use the JCW plugs? Tried and true.

 

I don't think the gap size has anything to do with the fact that you are melting the ground straps off of the plugs. If you are melting the straps off, you are getting close to melting a piston. The only time I have melted the ground strap off of a plug was when I was running a lot of nitrous on a small block Chevy and the fuel pump crapped out and it went really lean.....but the plugs were bone white because it was so lean, yours are really rich looking. Strange
..

I would send the pics to Jan and see what he thinks.

 

Well one thing that I was kinda nervous about. Changing out the plugs they were barely torqued in. I could unscrew them by hand!!! Plugs were installed by mechanic last time.

 

Perhaps not directly, but combined with the insufficient torque the picture makes perfect sense to me. Insufficient tightening torque is a known cause for melted electrodes (no thermal transfer to head, plug tip overheats). Too wide a gap fouls plug (misfire).

 

That is what I was wondering! but stock gap is .020 on stock R53 is it not? The new plugs I put in are gapped smaller from the plugs I pulled out at .044, and the new plugs at .031. I am wondering if I need to go to a smaller gap closer to stock?

 

NGK's come pre-gapped, you always want to check them, but they should be between .030-.032.
And yes, the BKR7EIX are what you should be running with your mods.

 

ditto.

 

**Also**
Did a little quick research, since NGK's come pre-gapped, the -11's are "technically" the wrong plug, because they do come pre-gapped at .043.
As mentioned earlier, this and a loose plug could absolutely be the problem, esp. if the plugs were changed after the tune or brand new and partially tightened during the tune, something like that wouldn't be that evident during tuning.
(Hmmm, I wonder if the -11 after the plug number means + .011 gap.... No, that would make too much sense)

 

Any indication you were getting fuel/gas blow by past that plug ( besides the obvious ) ? That will cause melting of the strap.

You said all plugs were loose but this is only one showing a high degress of excessive heat. I am wondering if there is a secondary issue, specifically how well the injector for that cylinder is pulsing....

Also, where are you getting your gap info from. .020 is way too tight, and increasing to .044 is done if one has installed a high performance coil pack such as one by MSD.

 

I'm just looking at the NGK specs for stock replacements. R53 and JCW versions both show 0.020.

I didn't see a coil pack mentioned in the OP upgrades list, is there one?

 

You said that you are replacing the plugs every two months.....every time you replace them, do they have the ground straps mental off?

 

I don't know where your getting that from but here's NGK's info:
https://www.ngk.com/product.aspx?zpid=9352

BKR6EIX - .031
BKR6EIX-11 - .043
BKR7EIX - .031
BKR7EIX-11 .043
BKR8EIX - .031
BKR9EIX - .031

The 8's & 9's are what I use for my applications.

 

Try running the oem NGK JCW plugs.....BKR7EQUP. These are what the majority of R53 owners are running then they are running smaller than stock pulleys.