Had a little issue this past weekend with good ol LORDVDR. Was driving up a hill and all of a sudden I heard a "put put put put" sound coming out of the engine. My fear immediately went to with a misfire or possibly bad fuel injectors.

Following day drove it into MINI of Manhattan. They took a look and realized what the issue was. Turns out the intake sleeve at the point of connection at the turbo became completely loose and unmetered airflow was hitting the engine. (Which caused engine to freak out.)

Resolution is that the team ordered a new sleeve and will be installing it today. Quick fix and thank goodness it wasn't anything super serious.

 

Yea, glad it was just that. The factory rubber N14 intake boot/ pipe tend to loosen up a little also if they cracked/split at the turbo inlet.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ed-thanks.html

 

They swapped it out and I have a new N18 Intake Sleeve on now. Purrs like a kitten now.

Thanks for the link to the item. You da man Mike! Now...if you had a JCW Shift Light for sale...now THAT would make my year.

 

I thought all A/T would come with shift lights at least on the shift ****. They may be standard on 2013-15 models LOL.

I have the M/T and don't care much if it applies. I spent my money on carbon fiber JCW OEM shift **** and hand brake and very happy.

 

Welcome.

Yea, those JCW lights, I wish they would bring them back and the Gen 1 JCW auxiliary gauges in the center console and the Cooper S ones by the tach.

But things go NLA. The HIFI Retrofit kit from Alpine ( Gen 2 ) just went NLA and so did the MINI Bluetooth kit w/ USB interface ( gen 2 also ).

One of the rarest and I mean rare has to be the retrofit starter button for Gen 1 MINIs. 61130404641

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-button-2.html




http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...54#61130404641

I have looked for that for a long time, it's been NLA since I could remember. It has to be one of the rarest parts maybe next to the DPSM from gen 1.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...er-w-pics.html

Try to find a Convertible R52 that has that, even more rare. All that stuffs NLA.

 

I guess I'll have to fabricate my own parts. lol

 

Funny.

I don't need the JCW Shift Lights...just love the look of it. It's fun.

 

New Update:

So after replacing the Intake Sleeve to the car...the put put put put put sound is gone, which is great. Turns out there was another issue on top of that. The car is idling super rough, like there's a miss in the engine or something. It dawned on me that I recently swapped out the OEM spark plugs for NGK-R Laser Iridium spark plugs. I'm having the car towed to MINI and they are going to take out the new spark plugs and put OEM plugs in. We will see what that does. Maybe the NGK-R plug have a different temp that the S can't handle. Maybe there is a misfire in the plugs themselves. Who the hell knows until they open it up and take a good look.

 

Why would you not use the NGK spark plugs recommended by Manic? With a stage 2 tune you really need the colder plugs. The part number is in my signature.

 

I went with spark plugs from ECS Tuning. I just had the car towed to my job here at MINI of Manhattan and they will put OEM plugs in to see if the issue subsides. If it doesnt...we know it's not a spark plug issue. I'm hoping it is to just be done with it.

I'm really hoping it's not something more major.

(UPDATE: #1 So we opened up the intake air filter compartment...it wasn't attached! Looks like someway, somehow it fell off. #2 A giant leaf was covering the MAF. After removing that and some residual oil...the MAF sensor wasn't throwing an issue. However, when everything was put back together the hesitation was still slightly on the acceleration when you gave it gas.

We ordered a new MAF part. This should do the trick, however if it doesn't then the thermostat might be a messed up. We are zeroing in on what the real culprit is. **** happens right? Oh and all of this was covered under the warranty.)

 

Sweet Ride, add cookies and I'll join the dark side...wait I am already here bwahahahaha.

I'm local to you. You should let me drive it and ... IDK maybe I can give you a helping wrench hand

 

I'm working on creating a MINI NYC car club kind of thing. I have 2-3 people already good to go.

 

Thanks for the update. Leaf on the MAF, who would guess. Check the thermostat wire connection and the clip into the top of the temp sensor. If its bad it should throw a CEL though. Also check the coils, they can go bad and throw a misfire.

 

If you are a tech at a Mini dealership, you should not worry because you have access to all the OEM info.

Was it so bad you had the car towed? Anyway, I would only install OEM parts on a Mini still under warranty.

 

Yup a leaf! Checking thermostat was going to be next item on the list. I will relay all of this to my head mechanic. Thanks Mike.

 

I'm not a tech, I'm the MINI Genius (in training)...

Oh...I have great access to OEM info and catalogs of parts. Dear god there are parts for days in this place.

It was sputtering like crazy. There was no way, no how, I was going to risk my car and more importantly...my life on the streets of Manhattan. I used my MINI Roadside Assistance.

If I can use OEM parts, I do.

 

Find me on instagram: @LORDVDR and we'll connect there. I've got a bunch of people already. Always looking for more peeps.

 

Update: Car is fixed.

New MAF, spark plugs, and coils and we are back in business. The head mechanic himself took the car out for a couple of glory laps around the block.

We are all set for the Garrett 53mm Turbo & Stage III Manic re-tune. I scheduled a drop off date this month.

 

Thanks for the update, bet it was coil or coils. But the MAFs can get buggy. Glad your back in business.

 

Between the loose intake sleeve, the intake air filter completely off, the MAF being covered by a giant oily leaf, the MAF being confused AF, spark plugs misfiring, coils screwed up, ohhhh and I was 2 quarts oil low...they said it was the perfect shitstorm.

I just took it out of mechanics area myself and parked it in the parking lot. I'm going to go easy on it for awhile to help calibrate the adaptations. We are back in business and ready for the new turbo and re-tune.

 

Were you two qts low on oil from bad turbo seals or consumption? I knew you have the n18 with the better ( non-consuming oil ) engine.

 

I have a feeling the loss of oil was from when the oil pressure sensor from the oil pressure gauge snapped about a month ago. I told the garage that did the work that they needed to put oil in. Well.....looks like they didn't. #facepalm

Probably an oversight...at my expense no less.

I'm sure the bad turbo seal didn't help either.

 

2 quarts of oil missing is certainly a big concern for an engine that runs at a so high temperature.

Why did you have another shop do the work if you car is still under warranty?

By the way, what is a Mini Genius at a Mini dealership? I am sorry for asking because I have no clue.

 

The other shop was installing aftermarket CravenSpeed Boost & Oil Pressure Gauges. Both kits didn't fit right. #facepalm moment for sure. Live and learn right?

The car is still under warranty...I'm about to purchase an extended warranty (for employee pricing which is great!)

The best way I can describe the MINI Genius is as such: I'm a liaison between service and sales. So after cars are delivered to customer, I follow up within 90 days and have them come back in for a "2nd Date" kind of like BMW's "Encore" for MINI. On the 2nd Date, I expand customer's knowledge on features and aspects about the vehicle that might have overlooked or they might have acquired questions since the delivery. We also offer a complimentary car wash and vacuum. We check all the fluids and stuff. It's kind of a pilot program at the moment, but they will be designing it for future dealerships to follow suit. Also, if customers have questions regarding bluetooth...I can help them, thus alleviating service from dealing with super quick questions that normally take away from efficiency in the Service department. Plus, I help out here and there doing things around the dealership. (get documents from BMW, research about new functionality, i'm constantly taking tests to keep up with what's happening in the MINI realm.

Hopefully, that sheds some light into the career of a MINI Genius.

 

So, it means the service advisor will be less involved with the customer to answer questions. When I have a problem, he is the guy I want to talk with.

Here in WA (mostly a 3 hours drive just to drop the car for service to Seattle Mini) you have to go through the service receptionist and if you are lucky, you can talk to a service advisor.

My understanding is Mini is adding more screening to serve the customer, right?