Hello everyone,
I have recently registered to this site since it seems to be one of the best for Mini's.

I have a 2009 Clubman with 83K with the N12 engine, built in Turkey. The car was shipped to Maine from California after it suffered a catastrophic head failure by original owner.I found that the head gasket had failed and several valve seats partially back out. Got a new head, changed out timing chain, guides, Vanos gears (and all the bolts), and on & on.There is very little on the engine or the chassis that has not been replaced including the stereo because of pixelation loss. ( Pretty pathetic for a car with so little mileage). I am not impressed with this car and it has yet to earn my respect !

After regular inconsistent and misleading trouble codes, car freaking out and going into limp mode practically every time I took it out, I ignored the super expensive scanner that seem more inclined to get me to buy more absurdly expensive parts, tested and changed out the engine bay fuse and relay control.It seems to have settled down now and not getting that silly code, "DME voltage". Voltage what? Low, high, missing? "Valvetronic motor sluggish"? Why, it's new ? Still not convinced I have chased out the gremlins. Believe me, I have studied and ripped into this car like no other car I have ever owned and rather disappointed with it.

So, now I have a weird code that regularly pops up.

Anyone know what " E18F.most ring value does not match", means ? I keep getting this and have been unable to find a clear answer.

Another one that pops up with the E18F code is the Air, Mass Flow plausibility" warning. Is that the MAF sensor or the MAP?

Hope someone can help.

Thanks, Jamie

 

After some deep digging on the web, I figured out what the MOST Bus system is all about. I am pretty surprised that no one jumped in to help me out on this forum. What gives?

 

glad you figured it out. With the holiday and Facebook being around, traffic is a bit slower around here.

 

Thanks Jason, I appreciate your response. Having a hell of a time with this Clubman over the past several months. Learning to expect some error to pop up every time I go for a ride. I am hoping that replacing the engine bay fuse & relay control has eliminated the past continuous failings. Lost track of how many times this car has left me somewhere with a no start or crazy jumping idle. At one point, I threw my hands in the air after it would not start and sent it to the so called experts. What a freaking mistake ! They replaced my perfectly good Valvetronic motor with a new one, relearned the codes and called it good.I felt that it was all BS and told them so.I, drove it the 20 miles home thinking that MAYBE it was good now and I was being a jerk. NOT! Next morning, went to town and then would not start again after I shut it down. Valvetronic motor stuck in stop position. I have learned to travel with a box of tools and my stupidly expensive code scanner. Reset Valvetronic motor, ran the re-learn and off I go for another 30 or so miles until it freaks out again. The experts charged me $1300 bucks and won't stand by their mistake though they guaranteed 2 years of warranty service for that. They say because I did so much work to the car, they can't take responsibility for any failures. What a crock of ****! Thats low road capitalism in the finest sense. There are zero mini dealers in my state and maybe two shops that specialize the Mini's. One of them soaked me so I'd rather slit my wrists than take it to any of those thieves!

I'll be honest, I am a good mechanic but a bit behind on all the computer management systems.I like the whole idea of having a system that points to the problem but am quite stunned out how vague the scanner can be sometimes. I found the live data part of my scanner to be helpful but when you have an erratic voltage problem running through the control box, you would have to see it happen, when it happens and all this car needed was to have a momentary voltage drop to freak the car out so it was painfully difficult to pin it all down. That "DME voltage " code was incredibly vague and occasionally, I would get a battery signal popping up on the tach.Again, pretty vague since it's the same signal for a bad battery. ( Which I replaced) Another misleading bit of info is that my Clubman does not have the battery sensor to register. Some do some don't depending on time of build for that year. I found that a bit curious.This was when I slowly started to suspect that maybe the engine fuse box might be at fault.
If I wiggled the engine management relay very slightly, it would make the idle jump all around. Aha ! Sure enough, weird voltage drops and loss all through the control box. Gonna try to completely rove housing and have a good hard look at the board and see what's going on in there. Apparently, the Mini's have lots of water intrusion problems into their wiring looms that seep down into the connector points and screw everything up. ( The German pond scenario as referred to a Mini garage tech video).

Thanks again!

 

Unfortunately, I can't help with any of your issues. Yet I'm intrigued to hear about this "built in Turkey" Mini. I suspect you meant "sold in Turkey" but even so it managed to find its way to the States!
Care to share some with us?

 

George, Yep, manufacture origin says Turkey. Was a bit surprised myself. Got me to wondering which way it journeyed to California? I'm guessing across the Atlantic but could have gone to somewhere in Asia and then across the Pacific?
JS

 

No Mini has ever been produced or assembled in Turkey. MINI (or BMW for that matter) has no plants there, nor are/were any of their models ever produced under commission there.

 

If it looks like a Turkey, acts like a Turkey, sounds and smells like a Turkey..... then it probably is a Turkey.

What it's NOT is a MINI COOPER "made in Turkey !"

 

Once again, as is so typical on these forums, a thread gets started in a plea for help and finds a way down a unproductive rabbit hole. Since you are the self described expert in Mini's, maybe you can tell me how to fix the E18F Most code error and whether my air flow code error is caused by the MAF sensor, MAP sensor or perhaps a failing throttle body? That's why I registered to this site.
I'll have to have another look at where this POS was built but for sure, most of this car was assembled from parts manufactured in countries with cheap slave labor, like China. As are most cars now.

 

Chill Jamie, there's no bad intentions. You can't expect wrong information posted (unintentionally I'm sure) not to be corrected. The next one coming along may pick it up and believe it.

You may want to search for the error code in the "Hatch Talk" and "Stock Problems/Issues" subforums, as there's more people lurking around there than here. If you can't find anything, fell free to re-post under "Stock Problems/Issues". There's plenty of very (!) knowledgable and experienced users, if they're not all caught up in life, one will surely respond.

 

E18F is a generic BMW "hard code" you won't be able to clear with indication of no fault ( must be cleared by dealer ). When fault codes are pulled at the dealer, the BMW computer pulls up a flow chart to follow to run down any possible causes. I don't have access to that computer, sorry.

Here's a list of Engine Fault Codes for a MINI for our MINI's which you can see and clear ( most times ). I find it odd you are not seeing any of these codes if you believe there are issues with valvetrain or MAP. ? Dont you ? Maybe back track the work done, connectors and all. Timing chain replacement not for a novice. BMW blocks needed for cam lock, proper placement of timing gear, combined with new stretch bolts ( never re-use TC Bolts ) and torged to proper spec or they WILL back out.

Suggestion, you may recruit more help and sympathy sans comments like: " this POS, manufactured in countries with cheap slave labor, like China, Pretty pathetic for a car...." I get the fustration but not productive if looking for help while in same breath insulting the brand. What manufactuer of automobiles are your forte' ? I only ask because while some "believe" these earlier MINI's are BMW, I can assure they are not ! They're a British manufactured car made in Oxford England, and with all that comes the same "issues" of a car made in the UK.....Anyone who has owned/worked on a; Jaguar, TVR, early Land Rover, and alike knows what I'm talking about.....

GL!

 

Advice acknowledged and appreciated. I'm a hard core British car & Motorcycle enthusiast.

I have owned, restored and sold a few British Leyland's. I still own my (Self ) restored, museum quality,1975 Norton Commando MkIII.

JS

 

I can’t really help on this one, but I’m interested to hear what the problem ends up being caused by. Hang in there, I’m sure someone will come along that knows something about this one.
Keep posting and let us know what you find out

 

Thanks MrGrumpy, Yep, I will follow up once I solve the problem with the Air mass flow Plausibility error that pops up now. The E18F code error is part of the entertainment loop, probably created when I had to replace the stereo. The "MOST ring " system ( media orientated system transport ) is the daisy chain "ring" configuration to make sure the phone, stereo, navigation system, if you happen to have that, correctly communicates accordingly with a master platform, probably the stereo. Happy to discover that it does not compromise the engine management system. At least that's what I have concluded thus far.

JS

 

Eurothrasher, Thanks for your advice. Yes, I have all the code definitions from various sources including the Bentley manual and several other manuals. My scanner is ok. Wish it could be more specific at times.
As far as the engine mechanical work goes, I do all my own work, have all the special Mini Cooper tools, all the proper torque wrenches and the info for proper specs. I replaced all the head bolts, Vanos gear bolts, crank bolt and on and on. I pulled the oil pan and pump to inspect and clean. I had to spend a ton of time cleaning as much of the internals as best I could since everything was contaminated with antifreeze and oil. The only internals I did not replace was the crankshaft, crankshaft bearings and pistons. I am simply astounded at the prices for a set of pistons & rings! Replaced the water pump with a top notch stainless impeller water pump, cross over pipe and continued on with a new thermostat housing and control. Spent quite a bit of time flushing the heater core to reduce the further contaminants remaining in the loop. Used the BMW recommended engine oil flush with initial start up and have changed out lube oil three times since in the attempt to remove that mix of coolant and contaminated oil from the internal system. Lots of filters have passed through the filter housing since. Oil is now clear on the dipstick. Changed out coolant twice now and that is now the proper BMW Blue!

The Head and timing chain (with all new guides, drive gear and tensioner) are new. The engine runs excellent and is extremely quiet. Car is very responsive and tight now but still not sure what to expect after changing out the engine bay fuse & relay control. So far, it is behaving other than that random air flow plausibility error. The car has never been driven on our nasty calcium chloride covered roads which is used for snow removal, so have only been able to take out for a few runs since. I really prefer not to get that crap imbedded in the underbody. Terribly corrosive stuff.

It's been hovering around 20- 30 F here for weeks now so not really wanting to dive back into the Maf issue. I did pull the MAF and cleaned it with MAF cleaner but I think something might be up with the throttle body since I had a "throttle body potentiometer plausibility warning pop up twice some months back when the car was acting crazy.

I restored a 1970 TR-6 back in the 80s/ 90s. I owned that awesome car for 10 years which took me 3 years to bring back to a museum quality restoration. Had to sell it to finish my 1720's farm house restoration and it pained me to watch it drive away. I'll take an old British sports car any day over these Modern Mini's. Sorry but the new BWM/Mini's are, to Me, unreasonably prone for premature failure. Having gone deep into the engine of this modern car, I have to say that I am still not impressed with the engineering. Way to many critical parts made from injection molded plastic and that goofy serpentine belt friction contraption makes me really question the intelligence of it all.
Sorry but not a fan and looking forward to getting this car right and putting up on the action block. Never again !

Thanks again and best of luck with your Mini.

JS

 

Looks like I'm being shut down now so signing out.