No, I didn’t even try, since I was going to be replacing the oil filter housing gaskets too, I figured I’d need the room, so I did the whole service position thing.....what a pain, but I’m glad I did, I can see a guy getting pretty quick with the service position after doing it a couple of times.

Well it’s all back together, and seems to be working, lol.
Execpt for a small issue, When I reconnected the battery after working on it, I’m getting a passenger restraint/airbag malfunction light!
The batter sparked a tiny bit when I reconnected it, I’m wondering if maybe I just blew a fuse, but for the life of me, I cannot find the fuse!!
Does anybody know where I need to look for it? I could really use some help with locating it. I really don’t want to take it in to a shop.
Im also considering ordering the Schwaben scan tool from ECS to clear it if nothing else works.
Any ideas??

Edit: I’ve included photos of both the pass side fuse panel cover and the one from the engine compartment, am I missing something? Thanks!, but unfortunately on mine, that appears to be related to the ABS system. And there is NOT any with a similar picture on the related diagram. Darn, thought I had it for a minute.

Well, other than the seatbelt tension gremlin, thins seem to be mostly ok...except for a couple of things that I need some advice on.
first it pretty loud, I’m assuming that it’s the catless downpipe, but it definitely has a whistlely type of noise on spool up, and you can really hear when it dumps boost....almost as loud as an atmospheric BOV! Hoping that’s pretty normal?
the other thing is that under certain acceleration (around 1/4 constant throttle) it surges....you can hear it dump boost cyclically and when it does power drops a bit then comes back with a surge when then venting stops. This happens in a single gear, it’s not the car shifting and rpms dropping. It will do it worst so far in second gear (auto trans-manually shifting to hold gear) but will do it in others as well. But not if I’m easy or really heavy on the gas.If I punch it, it just goes! Even gave me some torque steer for the first time ever!!...any help here would be great.
I sent an email to Arric at JMTC to ask about it along with video so he can hear it. But until he gets back to me.......?
Does the ECU take a bit to “learn” the new turbo? It seems to be a bit better today than it was yesterday.?? Is the DV or boost controller the culprit? It is not the HPFP because this was not an issue before the turbo swap.
I just don’t know. I’m not sure how to imbed the videos here, I’ll try, but if someone wants to see and hear them they are only a few seconds long. PM me and we’ll figure out a way to send them to you.

I think (I really hope) I’ve got it, well not the restraint thing, I’m waiting on my Schwaben scanner from ECS, it will be here Wednesday and is supposed to be able to reset it.
As to my other issue with the surging, after a couple of emails back and forth with Arric and a reminder to watch the video on wastegate adjustment, I’m pretty sure I’m making way too much boost right now and it’s the ECU trying to dump it before hitting limp mode at the boost cut-off. I used Dash Commander tonight for the boost gauge, and under 1/4 to 1/3 throttle acceleration I hit 17 PSI between 3000 & 3500 RPM. And was easily hitting 12 PSI at 2500. It goes from nothing to BOOST! Fast! I’m sure I was hitting the safety cut-off when it went into limp mode on me while testing it the other day, I also had some misfire at higher RPM yesterday (which it turns out is also an issue when running too much boost) and a code for excess boost (something like that). Go Figure! I’m an idiot! So tomorrow I will adjust the wastegate to lower the boost and hopefully not be Grumpy for a while :-)

Welll, after a few things I was really struggling to figure out. Except for the airbag light, the car is FIXED! I had a couple of issues that I emailed back and forth with Arric at JMTC and after a few phone calls back and forth, he was totally able to pinpoint my issues and thanks to him, Duncan is running and driving like never before! I HAVE BOOST!!! It’s amazing! Lol.
The car is running fantastic and feels powerful and fast, and I LOVE it! Thanks to everyone here for the advice, help, and crossed fingers during the whole debacle that was dealing with MINI USA & BMW NA. I appreciate it all, and could not have completed the project without your contributions!

Now about that airbag issue! I now have my Schwaben scan tool, but cannot clear the fault, which is leading me to believe that it must still be active. I’m getting the code 93C8 related to the drivers side airbag control (I think). Does anybody know anything about this? Where is it located? And could I have done something to it when I put the front end into the service position? I’ve also discovered that my battery appears to be not long for this world, I’ve heard that a dying battery can cause strange faults and codes, I really hope that’s what this is, but I doubt they are related unfortunately, but who knows?
thanks
the Grump

Well now that the car is running awesomely, I tried to focus on this airbag sensor issue. I decided that the first thing to do is work backwards to see if it was something that I did. I found out that there are airbag sensors on the frame rails under the headlights.....well the headlights came out while I did the turbo, so I pulled the drivers side headlight back out and started poking around in there......Lo and behold! I found a loose plug hanging there, five minutes to discover and plug in... problem solved!!!! Airbag system light is gone! I’m such an idiot! I was almost at the point of taking it to the dealership to fix...... I can’t believe it was so simple! Mike is not Grumpy today!!

tell me about it!
ive been pretty unimpressed with Seattle MINI so far, Northwest MINI in Tacoma on the other hand, have been very helpful, too bad that over a 3 hour drive for me to go there

Can’t tell if that’s a joke or if your just being a ****, but I haven’t posted because the last one says it all....it’s alive.....hence fixed and running well.

I apologize for coming out like an a##hole. Tone is somewhat tough to convey and interpret correctly all of the time. And it can lead to someone misunderstanding a post. I guess I’m the ****, I reread , and realized I probably took your remark completely wrong.
I had stopped posting in this thread because, happily, Duncan is finally fixed, and other than enjoying how quick it feels now, I have finally been able to focus on cosmetics instead of mechanical or ECU issues.
So I have made a few posts in the “what did you do to your Countryman today?” thread. I have been busy blacking out the chrome and wheels. And since it doesn’t have anything to do with the turbo, I didn’t want to ramble on about the cosmetic changes I’m making.
At the moment (knock on wood) the only mechanical thing to do related to the turbo swap, is an exhaust leak because the one piece gasket/clamp that joins the DP to the rest of the exhaust needs replacing. I didn’t realize I needed it, but can hear the exhaust leak. I looked the other day and the old gasket part (well, some of it) was still on the old DP. The rest probably just disintegrated or something. So I ordered a new one up, and it just got here today, so I plan on popping it on there tomorrow in the morning sometime.
Apologies again for my attitude. And thanks for following the thread.
I wish I could have had a better result from MINI USA. I don’t think this problem is going away any time soon, and I think they need to extend the warranty even further, because I am just one of many failed wastegates on the N18, I’m sure there’s going to be plenty more that fail in next few years. It wouldn’t affect me now, but there are others out there who cannot afford almost $4K for the OEM replacement and install fees, who are not lucky enough to have the time or ability to do the job themselves to save $. I don’t think we owners should have to pay for an engineering problem, or whatever it is that is causing all of the turbo failures. I am lucky that I’m somewhat mechanically inclined and had lots of folks here on NAM and elsewhere on the web who offered me great advice and tips, as well as great help from Arric at JMTC when things did not, at first go very smoothly. If not for the help and finally going ahead and buying a Schwaben scan tool, I might very well have broken down and taken it to the shop to figure out what ended up simply being a mechanical adjustment to the wastegate to reduce the boost level being produced.

All fixed, thanks! It ended up being the forward accelerometer on the frame, under the drivers side headlight. The Schwaben pointed me right to it! I guess I accidentally unplugged it when I was doing the turbo swap (probably during my learning how to put it in the service position). Found the plug hanging there, then located where it was supposed to go, lol. Plugged it in and all is right with the world! Lol.
now the code is cleared and I bought and registered a new battery with the scanner as well. I’d say it’s already paid for itself.

I’m not relying on anybody, they extended the warranty on the turbo but whatever, and I bought my car 2nd hand, we don’t all get the option of buying extra warranty.
most of us do name our Mini’s
The Grumpy name is an inside joke with my wife.....
who pissed in your cheerios? You come on here acting like a **** then you come back and are a **** again?
go post in another thread dude. I tried to give the benefit of doubt but you are just an *******. This was for folks who are interested and may be facing the same issue, obviously not you!
Kiss my ***