I see, thanks! I've ordered the tensioner and it should be here this week so we shall see if that fixes it (fingers crossed it does). Something I did not mention was that the rattle occurs on warm start initially and goes away when revving. But after this if the car returns to idle the rattle does not return. This leads be to believe it is related to oil pressure since if the chain was stretched the noise would return once the car returned to idle, right?

The rattle also seems to be occuring now at cold start for half a second and disappears on its own (I'm guessing as oil pressure builds).

 

We changed out the timing chain tensioner yesterday. It wasn't too bad and took about an hour for us from jacking the car up to getting it back on the ground again. Here you can see the old tensioner seemed to be getting stuck when we compressed it in and was catching at that point. (you can see the darker portion of the tensioner where it was getting stuck).



On first start-up after installing the new tensioner there was an expected rattling as the tensioner extended. I don't want to speak too soon but so far on cold starts and a couple warm starts today there were no rattles.
I also found someone selling a set of CravenSpeed strut tower defenders so we picked those up today as well. The seller sold the car before he had a chance to put them on so he just wanted to get rid of them.

 

So the car threw an EML and check engine light for a P1498 which I understand is "unmetered air after compressor". After letting the car sit until about noon the same day (outside temperature increased as well) both lights went out on startup. The car runs great and seems to be making full power. I understand the duct between the supercharger and the throttle body tends to crack over time but mine was changed out about a month ago from the previous owner (found record for that). Anywhere else I should check (I checked both intercooler boots as well)? The codes haven't come back yet but I suspect they may as the weather cools down near fall. I went to the local junkyard over the weekend since they had an R53 and found the supercharger duct laying in the car (someone already pulled the motor). I got it for $8 which seems like a bargain considering they are ~$160 new.

The junkyard duct:


I also installed the CravenSpeed strut tower defenders:


I also realized I never really posted a nice picture of the interior:


After a wash and fresh wax:

 

Love the blue interior!

Looking to swap the dash and possibly the door panels on mine to blue.

Car is looking good!

 

Thanks! I love it too! My daily commutes have been much more fun since I got the Mini.

 

My brother had an ECS Tuning order for his E36 M3 and needed to get the free shipping limit so he ordered a radio **** for me:


So I have put about ~650 miles on this oil change so far and have had to add about half a quart of oil to bring the level back to full (I left it at full when I changed it). I'm looking into changing the PCV valve since I have no record of it being changed. The car has no major visible oil leaks as well, so hopefully the PCV fixes it.

 

Great looking R53!
The color is perfect!
But I am biased!



The front looks dull, as it has the ding protection plastic coating.

 

Looks great!

 

I changed the PCV valve today and rotated the tires front to back to even out the wear. The old PCV wasn't bad (still clicked) but it's good piece of mind now. Also, its been about 800 miles since I topped the oil off last and I have no consumption so far, so I'm thinking I didn't get the oil all the way full when I changed it a few weeks ago. At this point I'll probably go with a 3k mile oil change interval.

I also did waxed the car with Meguiars Ultimate and sealed with Turtle Wax Seal n Shine. Hopefully the sealer will keep the wax on the car longer. I noticed that since the Mini is so low it seems to go through wax fairly quickly so I want to keep the paint protected as best as I can.

Poking around the engine bay I noticed that both intercooler boots were torn (can't believe I didn't notice that earlier ) so I'll probably go pick up a set of silicone boots from Way Motor Works soon. Hopefully this is causing the cold start EML for an air leak after the compressor.

I also noticed that both of my key fobs started unlocking/locking so hopefully they keep doing that

 

So I removed the M7 foam filter (it came off in multiple pieces :( ). Here are a few pics from the process. I accidentally ordered the wrong K&N filter so still waiting for the new one to come in. ''






While waiting for the new filter I decided to pull the intercooler as well and clean it out and replace the boots with DDMWorks silicone boots. I just used brake cleaner to clean out the intercooler, lots of oil colored liquid came out of it definitely needed to be cleaned.

The intercooler:








Still need to clean the intercooler fins but I can do that later. Can't wait to see if there is a difference in more boost with the new boots. The old boots were clearly torn and weeping oil all over the intake. Before I didn't really see above 10psi which seems low given the 15% pulley and the fairly fresh supercharger rebuild.

 

Which K&N filter did you order to make it fit with the M7 intake tube?

 

I got the RE-0910. I'll post some pictures soon, but it fits well. The top of it touches the intake lid when you close it, but it seems to have no effect. To get the filter in you have to remove the two bolts holding the intake to the firewall towards the power steering reservoir. Once you do that you should be able to slide the filter in nicely.

The main thing is the filter needs to have a 3" inlet diameter to fit the M7 intake. I noticed less supercharger whine, but very noticeable induction noise. I'm happy with it since the old foam filter was pretty messed up.

 

Well I put the car back together a few days ago and noticed much more power and low end punch than before so I'm guessing I gained some boost back from replacing the old cracked intercooler boots. But I still had the EML and pending P1498 when the A/C was off on a cold start.

Here are a few pictures of the new filter and old/new boots:





Here were the old intercooler boots:






And the new boots installed:



I was really hoping since I got so much power back and the old boots were so cracked that this would resolve the code since it was an obvious boost leak.. but P1498 still surfaced on cold starts with A/C off.

I was poking around and saw the fuel pressure regulator vacuum line that goes to the intake manifold was pretty badly cracked so I changed it as well, but still no change on the code/eml...
The old line:






I double checked all the vacuum lines that I could see with the intercooler off and didn't see any obvious breaks or tears. The EML and pending P1498 only comes on from a cold start with A/C off. With A/C on there is no EML and no code present at all, so I'm guessing it is such a minor vacuum leak when cold that the slight idle change with the A/C on is enough to put the vacuum readings back into spec for the computer.

I'll try to run a smoke test on the vacuum system when the engine is cold from sitting overnight to see if I can find the leak the car is complaining about. For now I've been driving with the A/C on to reduce any chance of leaning the engine out. I figure that if the car isn't complaining about it then it is probably fine

Any other common leaks to check for? I know my car has had the supercharger duct replaced twice (not sure why twice) but it is possible it wasn't done properly and not providing a good seal. Hopefully the smoke test will reveal that..

 

It could be, whether it is old or new a bad 02 sensor, a dirty throttle body (clean the butterfly and shaft with brake kleen) The blow off valve may be sticky and needs the same treatment as the throttle body butterfly. The spring and the diaphragm can also cause this. Testing that vacuum actuates the blow off valve and checking the spring, as they get weak (or break) with age (and keep it from shutting all the way down) causing it ugly P1498 code!

 

Thanks! Do I need to replace the gasket on the BPV when I remove it? Also, can I apply pressure to the BPV when it is out of the car using a compressor? If so, how much pressure should I expect the valve to open at? Or can I just zip tie the valve to be "always open" and see if the code goes away on cold start?

Thanks!

 

Alright I pulled the front end off today:





Re-did the smoke test and noticed smoke pouring out the base of the intake hose that attaches to the throttle body. We were able to pull the hose off without loosening the clamp, it was waaaay too big. Bought a set of new proper sized clamps to reinstall with.

I then pulled the throttle body and cleaned it. I didn't move the butterfly at all but wiped it down really good so it shines now:



Then I pulled the bypass valve to clean it and noticed the gasket between the BPV and the intercooler horn was completely flat and like plastic! There was no way it was making a seal that kept air from leaking in. It also looks like a previous mechanic flipped it inside out and re-used it. Hopefully obvious leak here (fingers crossed):





So I ordered a new BPV gasket from a local shop and a throttle body gasket just in case. Should be here tomorrow, so hopefully I can re-smoke test the system and check for any other leaks.

The supercharger duct looks like it is installed correctly. However, the red ports with the vacuum lines make me a bit nervous. Should they be able to move slightly if I tug on them?

Another question, would air coming in at the intake hose from the air filter to throttle body cause a vacuum leak since it is before any air metering takes place?

Anything else I should double check while it's in front end service mode?

 

First off, it looks like the crank position sensor o-ring is leaking and replace it now, while it is easy. It is on the right side near the bell housing.(10mm bolt head) (you do not need to unplug the connector)
Second: Do not apply air pressure to BOV, as it will blow the diaphragm! Test with vacuum. You can put a small hose on it and suck on it, if you do not have a vacuum pump.
It does not take much of a vacuum leak to start throwing the P1498 code and it usually happens at idle as the vacuum is most then.
I use silicone gasket sealer on the BOV o-ring. I think it helps!
The two small lines can move, but I did have a difficult one and instead of waiting for a new one, I put silicone sealer on the outside of the tubing for that also. (lines that go into the supercharger).
Spray off the throttle body and BOV with Brake kleen. The grease on them gets sticky when cold.
Things to check are the crank vibration dampener, the serpentine belt idler/tensioner bearings, belt for wear.

 

Thanks for the heads up! I'll grab some more detailed pictures of the crank sensor area tomorrow, but it was replaced about 30k miles ago but if it's leaking I'll definitely change it now!

I sprayed the throttle body and BOV and got them very clean so hopefully that is good!

I'll take a look at the tensioner. Luckily my crank pulley was changed with an ATI unit and it looks good still. The belt looks fairly fresh, it's a NAPA 060535 which seems like it would be too small for my 15% pulley but it fits nicely.

And my P1498 was happening at cold idle on warm up so hopefully the BPV gasket and the intake hose were the problem.

Pics of the belt:



Thanks for the input!

 

Sounds like you have a good plan!

 

Yep, thanks! Decided to go ahead and go into front end service mode to double check everything! Sure am glad I did!

Will also smoke test it all again once I get the throttle body and BPV bolted back up with new gaskets.

Is it necessary to replace the metal intercooler horn gaskets? Mod Mini on YouTube says it's likely not, but wanted to check.

 

Then I put the BPV and throttle body back in with new gaskets. Then smoke tested the system again and found the 3 month old supercharger duct was leaking at the plastic weld near the throttle body! Now this is before the line for the MAP sensor so I wonder if this would cause a P1498 since it sucks in air before it gets metered?

Here is a video of the leak:

So we thought that since this is a brand new duct, we didn't have much to lose by trying to seal it with RTV. Our first attempt that also leaked:


After it leaked again, we scraped off some RTV and added a bunch more. It may have not dried enough before we tested it again, so we are letting it sit overnight this time. Second attempt:


Considering how fragile these ducts are, and the fact that brand new MINI pipes seem to be leaking I think I may be doing this job again in the future. I would love a metal/silicone pipe with fewer welds instead of this hard plastic. Luckily there were no other leaks in the system or even the duct so that's good. We'll re-smoke test tomorrow.

Here is a picture of under the crank sensor area. There is just a bunch of accumulated dirt in the area, but no oil.

 

Okay, pressure tested again this morning with soapy water and found no leaks! Going to start putting everything back together now...

I had the MFE off in about 2 hours from jacking the car up, so hopefully install doesn't take much longer with bleeding the coolant.

 

Nice thread!

 

Thanks!

Alright last week I got the car all buttoned up. We had a little hiccup when bleeding the coolant (had car on, bleeder screw open and opened expansion tank cap and had coolant pour out of the tank..). But after filling it back up with fresh 50/50 BMW Blue coolant all was well with the car making good heat and keeping temperature. We did also find out that my low speed fan resistor is blown (confirmed by doing a continuity test against ground) so have a new resistor from Amazon on order.

Some pics of the process:





The first owner of the car named it Stitch. Over the years other mechanics had added their own names to the bumper. I removed the other names and added the Stitch name back as it's only fitting

I also spent some time cleaning up more of the intercooler. Here is a nice 50% done picture.

Finally all put back together.

And the engine bay all shined up and the intercooler cleaned up!

The car drives great and seems to pull very strong, so that is great! I've done two cold morning starts with the A/C off and had no EML light or pending code so maybe the issue was the BPV o-ring/gasket. Time will tell as the weather cools some more.

In other news I took apart my rear view mirror to clean the keyless entry receiver. Here is the thread with details on that in case anyone is interested: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...diagnosis.html
End result is I now have functioning keyless entry once again!

I plan to do the quick fan resistor fix tomorrow and see if I can get my low speed fan working again!

 

Well with school starting back up for the fall semester I didn't have a chance to update the thread but I did a few things to the car before the semester started.

Wired up a new resistor for the first stage fan speed from Amazon. I mounted it to the transmission mount and used some thermal paste to help dissipate heat:





Next I cleaned up the engine bay some more and added the proper M7 sticker back to the airbox and added a little S badge on the intercooler cover!


The first owner of the car gave me the original bike rack he ordered with the car, so I put it to use to take my bicycle back to campus:



Finally, loaded up the car with stuff (with rear seats folded down it fits a bunch of stuff!)



Also added a garage door front bumper lip, makes the front look a bit more aggressive!




A few things left to do:
Trace down front end suspension clunk
Change engine mounts
Transmission fluid