Hello everyone, I recently went through and changed out my water pump, sc oil, serpentine belt, oil pan gasket, and valve cover gasket. I have finished all of this and am almost done re-assembling my 02 mini cooper s (109k) but the exhaust manifold gets RED hot within a few minutes of startup :/ i was doing some searching around and some people were speaking of maybe the car is running lean? I also changed the air filter to a K&N but everything is sealed up and there are no loose lines. Any help or point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

also throttle body looks is clean I made sure to wipe it while I had it out.

 

maybe reset ecu

 

nope, that didnt work.

 

Any chance you didn't get the spark plug wires back on correctly? Only logical reason for the manifold to get red hot is if fuel is burning on its way out of the head and into the manifold. Perhaps 2 plugs are crossed and one is firing on the exhaust stroke.

I'd think your engine would be running rough if this was the case but you never know.

Eric

 

Did you use new gaskets for the SC? Look around....maybe use a tube or hose held to you ear to help you listen for a leak....
I just guessing, but it sounds like you did a lot of things....so it could be the result of any one of s number of things....check....double check...

 

thanks for all your ideas and help. I went through just to double check all the vacuum lines and found that one of the plastic ones from the plastic sc intake tube had snapped right below a sensor(located on the right of the valve cover)

going to have to order a new one, i'll work something else out for the time being though. :D Thanks again everyone

 

So, since I need to do some similar work, how bad was it to do the work?

 

overall the job isnt too bad, your going to need a few things though. Torque wrench, penetrating oil(wd40 or similar), and its definately good to have the bentley manual, as well as any gaskets you need to replace(intake manifold gasket, sc output air gasket, throttle body gasket, water pump gaskets) and maybe even the serpentine belt tensioner tool unless you can get creative and compress it another way . I think overall the job could probly just take a few hours(3-6) if you dont take too many breaks. Feel free to ask any questions if you get stuck along the way.

 

If you have to deal with lubricating rusty nuts/bolts, PB Blaster is a much better penetrating oil than WD40. It has a strong smell, but it works great.

 

Did you put the car into service mode? How did you decide to change out the water pump- any problems or was this prophylactic? Did you remove the SC completely? Do you still have the tensioner tool?

 

I did not have the tensioner tool, i used a big pry bar and a pin in one of the belt tensioner holes to compress it. I did not put the car in "service mode" I just disconnected the battery for a few minutes before i begun the process. I completely removed the following.. sc, fuel rail, intake manifold, water pump, alternator, and the ac compressor(to change the oil pan gasket) along with a few other small things that just needed to be out of the way. I will be posting a tutorial later on this week that will cover all the aspects of my preventative maintenance project. The project is now complete and after clearing the check engine light(s) I have no issues and its running smoother than before with a little more kick too

@Jumpingjackflash - I agree, PB Blaster is what i actually used. Best stuff out there.

 

where do you think the "extra kick" came from?

 

Most likely from the CAI I installed at the same time, but I like to think maybe some from changing out that old dirty sc oil. Sc sounds nicer now though