Alright everyone,
I first want to extend another thank you for all the information you have given me. I went into the dealer to speak with the mechanic and he informed me that rust on the inside of the turbo was causing the waste gate to get hung up. I guess I just have to eat this completely unavoidable issue at 70,000 miles on a California car. Does Mini really create such low quality items that components you cannot clean rust to an non-operational state? Does anyone think I can have any leg to stand on with Mini paying for this replacement?

 

Make sure you get all of your paperwork from all of the completed work.

My dealer agrees with me that they did not replace the waste gate. It's not an available part for them.

Also see if you can get your old turbo. It's worth eating the core charge just to get it rebuilt.

 

They haven't replaced the turbo. I told them to put the car back together and let me limp it home. So it turns out the service adviser had no clue what she was talking about. They replaced the diverter valve. I wonder wonder wonder if they had tried to change the waste gate actuator. It seems like there would have to be HEAVY corrosion for that my waste gate not to operate. I am going to get my hands dirty this weekend. If I can do it on my 62 Dart I can do it on that car.

 

Keep us posted. Problems like this remind me why I wouldn't have bought my 07 used if it didn't come with a 5 year/ 50k mile warranty...
Good luck

 

My old turbo is at G-Pop Shop right now being rebuilt. One item they noted being wrong was the waste gate. It was deformed/worn to the point that, due to exhaust gas leak by, it would not boost quick enough for the ECU which put the car in "safe mode" (half engine light).

The rebuild cost for the turbo, including repair of the waste gate, is $475.00. A standard rebuild costs $350.00. For an additional $125.00 I'm opting to have much better thrust and journel bearings installed along with a few other tweaks to make it much tougher overall.

If you have any question feel free to PM me. Good luck!!

 

Well, I am getting the car back today and will start working on it this weekend. I really still do not think that they are diagnosing it correctly. I still believe that the brake failure could be related going back to the vacuum pump. If not than I will just replace the exhaust housing on the turbo for 150 bucks. Why would mini tell me that this part has to be replaced with the cat converter? Anybody know where I can get a bit of DIY for this procedure?

 

Ok everyone, I am back home with my Cooper. I have the service report and want to share their findings.

"customer state reduce power and CEL light is on verified CEL. Connected battery charger to carry out test module. Removed intake hose to inspect turbo turbines. Found turbines visually ok. Proceeded to check vacuum to wastegate actuator from vacuum pump. Found vacuum supply at 27". Checked vacuum to wastegate. Found approx 15". Per test module within specs. Smoked entire turbo cooling duct with smoke machine for possible leak. No leak found. Proceeded to check operation of wastegate with hand vacuum pump. With engine cold found that wastegate initially did not move with 15" applied. after approx 1 second of vacuum application. Wastegate snapped rather than slow smooth operation. Visually inspected wastegate linkage. Found that wastegate linkage on turbo side has signs of rust from possible road salt. Car appears to be from east coast. To confirm findings would like to recommend extend extended road test and swap out vacuum actuator for wastegate. Customer authorized road test. Swapped out vacuum switch and performed extended road test. During road test noticed vehicle had no boost, intermittently. Short tested vehicle after extended road test. Found same faults returned. Rechecked all vacuum supply to wastegate and actuator. Found all vacuum supply ok. Checked operation of wastegate when engine warm, found that operation, found that intermittently when engine warm wastegate binds. Recommend turbo. wastegate not available as a seperate component. Recommend turbo oil supply line as well due to signs of leaking. Customer requested replacement of cat and vacuum pump."

Well that was their write up. I am unsure of where they collected the information regarding my request. I asked them that if they were sure it was the wastegate if they could just replace the exhaust side of the turbo which I was told cannot be done. I am furious over how they have handled this and as stated in their words, they did not troubleshoot the actuator. It was recommended but they ended up changing the vacuum switch. I want to further make this more infuriating. My car has had a consistent cold start knock for the past two weeks. I informed them of this and asked them to check into it. The service adviser called me and told me that all of my timing chain measurements were within tolerance. This is what the tech had written regarding the cold start knock..."customer states engine rattles on cold start and slightly on acceleration. Verified customers complaint. Found rattle is coming from exhaust heat shields and or exhaust system due to rust. Will require additional diag time."

My timing chain assembly and tensioner were replaced 1 year and 10 months ago. They never measured anything. When they gave my car back to me in the lot I got my friendly cold start knock and asked the lady what the FU** she thought that was.....This is Mini of San Francisco if you all want to know. They also stated a leaking valve cover....that if they looked at my service records at all would have realized would be covered under warranty due to the timing chain replacement.

 

In order to work on the turbo you will need to put the car in service mode. If you don't know how to do this, search for service mode.

You can order the exhaust housing only. You can also get a new actuator just in case. I bought all my parts from JMTurboCoopers.com. (NAM vendor).

You will also need a CAT to Turbo gasket. You can get this from same vendor.

I found that to get the turbo off the car, I had to remove the exhaust manifold from the engine. This is because there are 4 studs/nuts that mount the turbo to the manifold. Unless there is a special tool for this, they face the wrong way (toward the block) so in order to get to them you take off the manifold. Since I removed the manifold and I was ordering parts, I got all new studs and nuts and a new exhaust manifold gasket/heatshield (its one piece). You need copper thread paste for these connections as they are high heat. There is also a gasket ring that mounts between the exhaust housing on the turbo and the exhaust manifold. You need a new one.

Get a Bentley manual. Your torque settings are listed there as well as how to take things apart.

When I did mine, I found that I could not get the turbo to separate from the exhaust housing side while the rest of the turbo was on the car. That meant I had to remove the oil feed/return lines and coolant feed/return lines. You should replace the crush washers for these lines. My oil lines had only bout 1000 miles on them, so if yours are original you might want to replace them. The oil line banjo joint will leak at some point. Period.

In order to break the seal from heat on the exhaust housing I had to hit it. HARD. Used a 3 lb sledge and a 1lb cold chisel. (Per vendor). I mean it takes some force to get these to separate.

I can understand why dealers don't repair turbos. Too much labor. It is a pain in the rear. Much easier for the shop to charge parts and labor for a replacement. In the end, I replaced the entire turbo. Once I got my old one apart, it was toast. So I had to order a entire turbo and wait for shipping. Later I found the intercooler and Catalytic converter were oil clogged so I replaced them also.

On the point about your cold start rattle: Make another appointment and have them measure the slack and document what it is. They have a tool for this. No excuse for them not to do it when you asked. You have a 2 year warranty on the tensioner/chain work from last time so you have some time to get that looked at.

 

I would suggest you try Mini of Marin over SFMini. I have found Marin to be more effective at repairs and more willing to do them in the first place.

2010 R57S Chili Red w/ Blackout

 

I got my rebuilt turbo back from G-Pop Shop and it looks brand new and perfect. I added one additional steps to the turbo repair process. Before reassembly, I had to turbo sent off to Diversified Cryogenics to have it cryogenically treated to harden the turbo without making it brittle. This should solve any warping or wear issues with the turbo. Diversified cryogenics is the same place where I had my brake rotors cold tempered. In these two cases science can be your friend. Cryogenics make your MINI tougher.

 

So all things considered, what did the total cost of the DIY job come to? Not forgetting you probably got more of a quality build by making it DIY!