Hi Guys! I have a N14 powered Mini.
I have solved a few problems since I got it. The car had an intake air leak (it was stuttering very bad) from the PCV so I blocked that off. Now the car runs fine, sounds fine, but always at the same exact 2000-2500 rpm it hesitates like it looses boost.
The worst time it does that, when you are accelerating lightly in 2nd gear, it feels pretty strong, and at 2000 RPM the car becomes N/A . I have not found any boost leaks so far. The vacuum solenoid for the wastegate works, I checked it by removing
the line and holding in the end of the tube to check if it was sucking air and it was.
As for the wastegate actuator I don't know yet, I haven't checked if it was moving or not.
I have monitored live data, and nothing seemed off. Actually one thing I couldn't figure out was the solenoid valves' percentage. The blow off valve showed 100% after every shift (as it should, i heard it because i have a forge bov installed). But the wastegate solenoid was showing 94% on idle, and the lowest I could get it was 23%.
Shouldn't it be at 0% while accelerating?

 

Never block of the PCV. That pressure will need to relieve itself somewhere, like causing seals to leak.

You clean the throttle body ever? Maybe its failing? Its electronic after all.

How many miles on it?

 

The pressure is relieved in the engine bay. I've drilled a hole into the oil fill cap, attached a breather onto it and clamped a mini air filter on it's end. The car has 73k miles, never really been apart. I will try to check live data of the throttle body tomorrow while accelerating.

 

in the engine bay...ha...ok.

Can you include a picture of that set up. This is interesting.

 

Actually it's a 207. Sorry I said Mini. I'm helpless . The middle filter was an experiment, I thought that it didn't have enough air coming in because of the PCV "delete".

 

POS motor in a 207...I'm so sorry.

This stuttering didnt by chance start after you installed these PCV air filters?

 

The valve cover is shot, if the breather weren't on the oil fill cap, it would whistle like hell when the pcv is attached. I "deleted" the PCV because it had intake air leak codes 24/7. It was way worse than now. I checked the wastegate actuator, and it was moving when I started her up, but I'm not sure if it closes or opens right when it's under load.
By the way I went on a ride a few hours ago, and I disconnected that filter on the intake and blocked it off. Now the car seems better at low rpms, it wasn't losing so much power in 2nd gear. Other gears when you are accelerating a little but just a tiny little faster, it like cuts the boost on and off, but if you push it gently it doesn't really happen.
If I can't solve this problem, I might just take it apart in a few months and clean all the ports out, change the timing, and add a downpipe to it along with a remap.

 

Me thinks your stumbling is from this PCV set up. You need check valves.

Your passenger side PCV exit port is in a different spot than our motors.

 

You might be right! A few weeks ago I bought a new valve cover but it wasn't right. The camshaft sensor's hole wasn't the same size as mine so I thought I would buy a sensor for that cover and it will be solved, but the new sensor didn't have the same connectors as mine so I sent everything back. I saw a few guys running oil catch cans, I already have one on the shelf, but if the pcv is broken in the valve cover, nothing would stop it from leaking air into the intake manifold

 

By the way I had to change spark plugs right after I bought it because it was running on 3 cylinders. The spark plugs were dirty as hell. I could imagine how dirty the intake valves are. If I can't sort this thing out, I will just take it apart, clean everything up and go from there. I heard that those vacuum solenoids are only good for like 50k miles or something like that.

 

Worst OEM PCV system imaginable. So stupid.

The white hose/ filter are filtering in reverse. Oil laden crankcase air is moving into the atmosphere and filling the filter

Just install 2 cheap catchcans using 3/4 PCV hose.

 

Alright! I will try that. Thank you very much for your time and help!

 

What about the PCV intake port under the intake manifold? Did you block it? If you didnt that is unmetered/unfiltered air coming into the engine.

There are posts about the cheapo 2 catch can setup. I posted pics with some part #s.

 

I've blocked it off with a rubber plug. About the catch can, if I installed it on the passenger side one, wouldn't there be unmetered air? That was the problem before

 

ok cool you used a plug. That would have been a major problem.

The catchcans are not open to the atmosphere. They are just a crude oil filter running between the ports.

 

I will take a picture of my catch can, I don't think mine has any filters inside of it.

 

It should at least have baffles and or some stainless steel wool.

 

I will take it apart tomorrow. If there is nothing in it, is it okay if I just stuff it with stainless steel wool?

 

yup. Better than nothing.

 

Hey! I'm back. I had some more miles with the car and I noticed some stuff. The stuttering sometimes depends on the weather, if it's around 1-2 Celsius, or 32 Fahrenheit, it runs decent, but in warmer or colder it's worse. I also noticed the idling sometimes drops off for a second when it's idling for a few minutes (when it's warm). I am thinking maybe one of the coils are bad thus the spark gets "blown away", I don't know the words for that. 3 of the coils are original I think, or at least they are the same, and 1 is some other brand. But if the coils were bad, wouldn't I get at least a misfire code or a check engine light? I might replace them next week, they aren't that expensive.

 

Did you repair your PCV hose situation? That's #1! It was incorrectly routed

I don't know how many misfires trigger a check engine light but yes if one of the coils is bad.

 

I haven't yet. I will check the diameters of the pipes and then buy some tube to solve the oil catch can. Also I remembered that I haven't gapped the spark plugs, I don't know if that could be a deal breaker.

 

Bad spark plugs can stop a car from even running so yes it can be a deal breaker. Your PCV situation is also pretty dire.