While changing fuel injectors today to fine tune the M7/ Venom nitrous system I noticed a good bit of engine oil buildup in the intercooler. The rubber boots had a bit of buildup but what really amazed me was the amount coating the inside of the intercooler itself. I washed it out with acetone and after several fill and empties the acetone was finally coming out clear. I would have to think that having that thick of a coat of oil in the air passages within the intercooler has to hurt its performance. I have 20 k miles on the car and I am sure that this is long term buildup. Maby this is something we should all take a look at when you have the intercooler off ?

 

Hence all of the discussion about the oil catch cans on "performance" forum... :smile:

 

>>Hence all of the discussion about the oil catch cans on "performance" forum... :smile:
...and changing oil more than every 10 to 15000 miles.

 

Check your email for our offer of help. If you prefer, you can call us at 866-ASK MINI and please mention Reference # 1-122312618 so that we can help you more efficiently.

 

^^^ I was DEFINITELY not expecting THAT!

 

That just proves the fact that MINI USA monitors this sight to see what we all are doing with our cars. Hope it's just to take care of problems but I would venture to guess they have other reasons also.

 

If I was a car manufactuer I'd hire people to sit and watch all these forums like a hawk. You figure if you can monitor the mods certain people do to their cars and somehow link who they are to the dealer they frequent then when homeboy goes and blows his motor up running a 19% pulley with a 2 Stage nitrous setup and then decided to return the car to stock and go play dumb to the dealer with "I don't know what happened, I was driving down the road and heard a clunk" they can print out the posts on the forum if he has made any regarding his mods and they'd have him caught red handed.

EDIT: This has nothing to do with maxmini or his mods or whatever is going on with his car, I am strictly making an observation as I have seen this happen on a WRX forum where the dealer was monitoring the forum and when a customer who had posted the night before about getting carried away with the boost and destroying a motor came in the next morning they were waiting for him.

 

They'd be crazy NOT to watch this site for not only 'bad publicity' items such as warranty issues and broken-down cars, but to see to what ends the owners are taking their cars to. It's a wealth of info all in one place that any company would kill for.

I just had to laugh to myself imagining the phone call being played out... "Hi, MINI USA? I am such-and-such, I have a problem with my car, blah blah blah, I was given this reference number, can you help me?" "We certainly can. We are seeing this problem with other cars with similar nitrous setups. Bring the car in to your dealer and we will fit it with an oil catch can, and while we are at it we will tune your ECU to better utilize the bigger injectors, upgrade your fuel pump and regulator, add a plasma booster, port your head and intake manifold, install a higher-lift cam and larger valves and put in a low restriction header and cat assembly. We will also throw in a MINI FINI cupholder as a gift to help offset the inconvenience you had."

 

>>.....I have seen this happen on a WRX forum where the dealer was monitoring the forum and when a customer who had posted the night before about getting carried away with the boost and destroying a motor came in the next morning they were waiting for him.>>

this infamous wrx motor case involved not the dealer, but someone else, reading the forum and alerting the dealer about the guy who was about to bring his blown motor to the dealer after removing all the mods. there was great uproar about ethics and being a snitch, etc. etc. i'll see if i can find the link.

flyboy2160

 

MINI "Big Brother" just sounds funny

 

I'm very curious to find out what MINI had to say about that nitrous setup, but even more curious to know about the oil in the intercooler. Is it normal? (with a stock car)

 

Any car engine, especially one with a turbo/supercharger has varying degrees of intake tract oiling.

The reason is actually quite simple. The engine has a PCV valve as well as a breather. The PCV valve as we all know works with intake manifold vacuum to positively ventilate crankcase vapors and pollutants. Simple, effective system. The breather is there to allow atmospheric-pressure air into the crankcase to make up for the volume of air and gasses taken out by the PCV system. The PCV valve on the MCS engine is plumbed into the intake manifold, so anything being picked up by it, including oil which has been aerosolized by the spinning engine internals, gets shuffled more or less right to the combustion chambers and is burned and exhausted, cleaned up by the catalysts and dumped into the atmosphere once again.

The problem arises when you go beyond part throttle and the engine vacuum no longer is there, and in the cases of turbo/supercharged engines, you have a positive pressure situation. All engines have a certain degree of blow-by. This blow-by is no longer able to make it's way through the PCV system because there is no more manifold vacuum and the valve is closed (and closed against boost pressure) This blowby pressure exits via the breather, taking with it the aerosolized oil. Since this is a pollutant, it must be routed to the intake tract where it joins incoming air being taken to the cylinders. The oil 'condenses' from the breather stream and coats the inside of the intaqke tract. In a naturally aspirated engine, there is not much to the intake tract, but the intercooled MCS has the supercharger, intercooler and all the ducting along the way. In the case of the intercooler, it works as an intercooler because of it's large internal and external surface area. This gives the oil a much better chance of settling out of the intake air stream and coating the inside of it.

You can eliminate the oil from the intake stream by simply disconnecting the breather (not the PCV valve) from the intake system and giving it free air. The problem is that you are now venting the blow-by gasses into the atmosphere. This is an emissions control violation, plus you will be smelling the blow-by gasses in and around your car as well and having the oily mist settling all around the open breather. Take off your oil cap and give it a sniff as a sample of the smell. Nasty.

An oil catch-can sits between the breather coming from the engine and the intake tract. It works by providing an area for the oily mist to settle out of the blow-by gasses. The bigger you can make the can, as well as provide internal baffling to make the a separation between the inlet and outlet, the better it works. A valve is often added to the bottom of the can to drain out the condensed oil.

I have found that a small industrial compressed air filter makes a perfect catch can.

 

Sooooooooooooo..............is the addition of an oil catch can O.K. or will this void the warrenty of Biblical proportions? I am VERY interested in the use of a compressor air filter set up. Can you post pics or part identifications? Thanks...... :smile:

 

Here is the very same filter I used as a 'catch can' on a turbo Dodge Daytona. For that application, it worked perfectly. I have this same filter being used as a proper air filter/water separator on my glass bead cabinet (which I also got from TiP Tools). Filter Specs

This is what it looks like:

I used hose barb fittings that went from 1/2" NPT to 3/8" hose, these came from Home Depot. I fabricated a bracket to hold it in place out of scrap pieces of aluminum.

 

Wow.....Thanks Greatbear........I appreciate the link and the pics!!!!!!

 

<<< I would have to think that having that thick of a coat of oil in the air passages within the intercooler has to hurt its performance. I have 20 k miles on the car and I am sure that this is long term buildup. Maby this is something we should all take a look at when you have the intercooler off ?


I've beeen reading with great interest all the threads dealing with oil in the intercooler. For non-racing folk who use their MINIs for just daily transportation and/or for fun rides and rallys, does anyone have a good idea yet of whether there is a long term harm to this oil buildup? And if so, should the intercooler be taken off and cleaned periodically if there is? And if so, how often?

Minihune, other experts . . . your opinions please !

Thanks !
Joe

 

Good question Joe, I was wondering the same thing myself. Looked at the intercooler last nite and if doesn't seem to be a big deal to remove it. I would like to hear from others who have removed their intercooler to know if there are any tips they could offer. Finally, If I were to create my own catch can, where and to what hoses should I tap into?

 

Well, I just checked the How To section under changing the Pulley and, it showed the removal of the intercooler. I can see thats an easy job. Still would like some feedback as to how often one should remove and clean out the inside of the intercoller if you don't have an oil catch can. Also what lines should I tap into if creating my own "can".

 

Thanks Greatbear! That was very helpful. I would like to add as far as the amount of atomized oil that accumulates in the intercooler, I am guessing there is a limit to how much accumulates because of the angle of the intercooler. There looks like there is a point when it reaches this max limit, the excess will exit the cooler to the throttle valve. Any thoughts? As for the catch can, look for the PCV line that exits the valve cover then eventually connects to the high vacuum area of the intake. I am not looking at it now, but if you follow the lines you will see the entire PCV system. From the valve cover it runs parallel under the intercooler. There is another line I noticed that comes up from the crankcase in the front center (grey) but I'm not sure if that is part of the crancase ventilation.