I completely understand. It's been a roller coaster ride.

If you have the energy and time while awaiting arrival of the new solenoid, it may be worthwhile testing the engine vacuum pump using the gauge on the handheld pump. This would be done by disconnecting the small turbo hose at the engine vacuum pump and then connecting the handheld pump to the free small nipple. With the engine idling, the vacuum reading should be a steady 25-30 inHg.

 

The engine vacuum pump was both recently replaced, and also I have already tested the vacuum while idling by T’ing off while doing a wastegate test at idle.

I also spent the last few hours removing the known good boost solenoid from the other MINI, putting it in mine, and testing it, same fluttering issue, but my wastegate actuating test was successful, so now I’m really lost… it’s almost like the boost solenoid is bad, and something else at the same time… I am still ordering a nice boost solenoid from ECSTuning and going to put it in, but at this point unless something else comes up the plan is to bring it to put the new boost solenoid in, probably won’t fix the issue, and then bring the car to a shop. I’m just at a loss
that 0.000001% chance struck, and it struck hard :(

 

Is it time to return to the Wagner intercooler taken from the 08 MCS? Is this the same 08 MCS that had a similar problem as your 09 MCS? A bad intercooler could cause a boost leak.

Does your car have a stock N14 ECU or is it tuned (required for cat-less exhaust system)?

 

Yes, the 08 MCS has the EXACT same problem. The Wagner intercooler/Milltek exhaust/catless downpipe was pulled from the 08 MCS, weird part about this, is we spent awhile trying to fix that 08 MCS aswell, by putting all the stock R56 parts from my car, on that 08.
The 09 MCS is tuned for cat-less exhaust. As described by tuner, the Milltek catless downpipe/milltek exhaust/upgraded intercooler/1 step colder spark plugs, are all required for this tune. Again, car ran fine for months with this exact setup, tuned and all, and nothing to do with this system was directly touched, we pulled the subframe and struts and put them back on. Whatever happened, had to have happened for the 6 months it was parked, or when we pulled those things to redo them.

With that being said, how can I "test" an intercooler? I plan to do a final GOOD smoke test when I get the boost solenoid in the car as a last ooh-rah, but other than that I am pretty sure an intercooler by design is just a fancy radiator? The car has no coolant or oil leaks at this time, have driven it as-is a couple days.

 

Can ISTA+ be used to look for shadow codes stored on the tuned DME?

 

ISTA+ can see active/inactive codes yes, but when you clear the fault memory with ISTA+ it clears both active and inactive. I think I am going to stop clearing the fault memory and instead just start filtering it. Theres really no reason to ever clear the fault memory now that you mention it... I have seen the No BSM message from Generator code appear again recently as inactive, I believe that code is thrown when you run the battery for x amount of time without running the alternator/running the engine at idle, though... Makes sense. Other than that I haven't seen any DME codes in the past few weeks and have scanned it quite often.

I did take out the headunit in preparation for an aftermarket radio, so theres a couple modules that no longer exist in the car, and therefore communication codes thrown, can't see that being even slightly related though. These cars run fine without any dash components plugged in (besides the ignition obviously).

 

The intercooler doesn't use coolant to cool turbo compressed air, so looking for a fluid leak is not something you'd expect to see from an intercooler with a boost leak. A smoke test is best for locating vacuum leaks. It may not be the best for finding boost leaks.

Also, have you considered that DME tune is actually hiding fault codes that would otherwise be extremely helpful for diagnosing the current problem?

 

Fair enough I wasn't entirely aware of the anatomy of the charged air system... Also I am aware of the possibility that the DME is blocking codes related to the problem, but I find it unlikely, the tune is only supposed to remove the CAT conversion code, which is thrown when no CAT is detected in the downpipe. It achieved this successfully. If it is true, then at that point there is no way to diagnose the issue based on the codes anyways unfortunately, without bringing it back to the tuner.

 

It's apparently not uncommon for automated tuning software to block the desired fault code(s) and also inadvertently block other fault codes. I can't say it's happening in your case, but it's a tricky business.

^Absolutely true.

 

Is there really no way to simulate the R56 under boost without being on a Dyno or going down the road? I would love to be able to sit in the engine bay while being able to replicate the fluttering... I swear it just really sucks not being able to have a close up while this is going on! Sure maybe I could rig up a camera, but everybody knows thats not the same as being there in person... Just being airbourne on the lift while shifting through gears does not replicate it, presumably because there is no load to accelerate the car forward.

 

I just came across this post that sounds extremely familiar to my issue, https://www.reddit.com/r/MINI/commen...ly_under_load/

 

Wow! That's a potentially critical find worthy of immediately pursuing.

 

Got new plugs and coils on the way. My plugs are new since it's been tuned, but the coils are in pretty rough shape.

 

lol I just feel like an idiot now… it was a bad coilpack the entire time. Problem is resolved with known good coilpacks in it lmao.

Thats why you always check the easy stuff first! Even if it seems unrelated!

I was really fooled because it would only happen JUST when the boost would normally kick in, I was so dead set on it being a vacuum or boost problem..

not sure why the boost solenoid was acting weird still, I am thinking about keeping the new good one I have on order for if mine ever does finally take a ****, but I don’t think it’s necessary to change it now if it ain’t broken..

regardless, thank you so much for all the great ideas and help for BOTH of these issues… been working on these cars for a couple years now and never been stumped this bad! Thanks

 

Congratulations and great job sticking with it! I'm really happy for you.

I suspect that the DME tune prevented the misfire detection in the cylinder with the bad coil pack.