I will be out of warranty within 2.5 years and If I finance for 5 years, I will have two more years out of warranty without a safety net. Can anyone estimate or maybe not how many turbo chargers I will go through. What is the cost to replace the turbo. I know, another negative question on the R56 but I am still trying to get a handle on the ultimate cost of this car. Did I mention I love the idea and look of this car but the owners already know that. Thanks again.

 

Ah, the never-ending quest for dependability. How many miles are you planning on putting on the MINI in that 5 years?

Since there is no history on this turbo, I doubt you will find anyone who can give you a dependable answer. Previous models had a supercharger.

 

100K in 5 years+-Robin. What are typical turbos getting in mileage and cost of a similar unit on a not so similar car.

 

I drove Audi A4 turbos for several years. During all that time while I was active in the A4 forums, I don't remember one single incidence of a failed turbo. Turbos have come a long way since those early days when turbos would prove problematical. I would expect ours to live for at least the life of the car. You can bet that those who were responsible for designing in reliability to these engines took on the turbo and related parts on as a priority project (lots of engine components are stressed more with a turbo).

 

...

 

A normal turbo-charger does not simply fail. They loose pumping efficiency over time/miles. Generally it is recommended an automobile turbo-charger be rebuilt/replaced once each 50K miles. But, the same thing is also recommended for automotive super-chargers as they also lose pumping efficiency over time. I am sure people will jump in an give testimony on how they have a bazillion miles on their super/turbo charged engine without any problems. And it is probably trune.

Today, most problems arising with turbo or super chargers are not the pumps themselves, but all the other parts of the engine which have to deal with the stresses of high boosts.

Now, in the Mini, the boost supplied by the turbo is not that high. The engine does not start as a low compression engine. The engine compression is lower than the non-turbo engine, but still high enough to give the engine good off-idle performance.

The design also helps to all but eradicate turbo lag.

About the only possible negative with this implementation is the turbo is online more often than most turbo-charged engines. And that only goes to the amount of heat the engine/cooling system must dissipate.

 

Skuzzy, April fools day was 12 days ago. You're a little late with this little joke.

 

Why do you think it is a joke? Mitsubishi, who manufacturer a huge array of turbo-chargers recommends a 50K rebuild of turbo-chargers to maintain performance. If they are lieing, then my bad for repeating their recommendation.

I have a good number of performance engine builds under my belt and have found most performance manufacturers recommendations to be pretty accurate.

Is there something you know about that you would be willing to share that counters this? More than happy to discuss it.

 

Sorry Skuzzy .. I just wonder if your information might be a little dated or maybe what you were reading had to do with turbocharger use in motorcycles or trucks.

Here's a Borg-Warner turbocharger link that, I think, pretty much tells it like it is:

http://www.turbodriven.com/en/turbof...mendations.asp

 

I think if you change your oil on a regular basis. Keep the wearing parts replaced, like hoses, etc, you ought to be able to get 100k miles out of the MINI's engine with no major rebuilding. The engine is a high compression engine, like 12/1, so it can handle fairly high boost pressures. Most older turbo engines were stock engines with a turbo fitted after the fact (though perhaps by the factory) Knowing BMW, there is no way they would have gone to a turbo unless they felt the benefits far out-weighed those of a supercharger (higher reliabilty, more power and greater fuel economy were probably on the list)

In a few years, there will probably be upgrades as well, so when you do need a new turbo (if you ever do) you'll probably be able to get the next generation version which will last even longer.

One thing I still do with my MINI (from the old days of turbo cars)... when you are ready to stop, especially after driving hard, wait 20 or 30 seconds before shutting the car down, just to give the turbo a chance to spin down and the oil to whoosh around the engine a bit more. Then hit the off button.

Most of all, have fun!

 

No, it was specific to automotive turbo-chargers. Thank you for the Borg-Warner link, but I could not find any information about maintenance recommendations, unless I am just missing it. Very possible.

I tried to find the Mitsubishi link, but I soooo suck at doing the WEB thing. I ran into it quite by accident one night recently.

The Borg-Warner link is quite right about the turbo usually lasting as long as the engine. The engine will usually blow up before the turbo will.

And the Mitsubishi link was strictly stating the turbo only needed rebuilding to maintain full performance, as a basic recommendation. It was not a death sentence claim. I figure if you lose .5 pounds of boost in 50K miles, it's not a big deal. Probably better for the engine in the long run.

I think general guidelines about rebuilding a turbo/super charger is just that. Obviously if you run the turbo at 15 pounds of boost all the time, it will wear faster. The low boost the Mini uses will probably allow the turbo to run for a longer duration and maintain its performance as well. That is just a guess/opinion on my part.

 

Having owned several blown cars over the years ('86 Volvo 740 Turbo and an '86 944 Turbo) here are my experiences...

The Volvo had approx. 110K on it and 12 years of use with the original Turbo.
We never had issues with the turbo per se.

The 944 has been chipped. The old turbo seals went at about 95K after 14+ very hard years (including quite a few track days)... about 7K mi after I bought the car for next to nothing.
I went to a slightly larger turbo when I replaced it... The PO used dino oil, which helped kill the seals (very quickly, the dino oil got sludgy due to high temps and a failed "mixer kit" that let coolant into the oil...) That spiked the oil press due to restr. flow, which blew out the old (probably failing) seals... among other things.

That being said, the 944 is now running about 17 or so PSI and should be making about 375RWHP after the few minor tweeks... (up from a stock 220 HP at the crank on 14psi)... final tuning scheduled for 4/27...

The moral of the story is:
The turbo's life will vary based on usage and care...

HTH.

 

I can only offer information based on my limited experience with turbos. I had a Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T for quite some time (around 7 years) and the car had about 175,000 miles on it when I could feel the turbo needed to be rebuilt just because the lag was just too bad. With that said - the only thing that this impacted was the pick-up of the car; you could still drive the car without a problem but would just notice it was not as fast.

Just my $.02

 

When the turbo dies, we can all have a MINI drive to the coast... And find a big snail to put on the car.