I have a 2007 R56 w/57,000 miles. I purchased in May and up until recently it has seemed mechanically fine.

I removed the air box with the air filter and put in an open K&N air filter.

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I removed the intake muffler/delete pipe which ever it's called and replaced it with a straight aluminum pipe. I removed the hood scoop cover so all air flows to CIA. I also replaced/upgraded the intercooler.

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Doing all of this changed the entire sound of the car when I drive it. No check engine lights were thrown at all from any of this. It is interesting to hear how the turbo works differently in different gears and speeds. In low gears it seems very high powered and you can hear the turbo pushing the air through the motor until the release and that ever so beautiful diverter recirculates the rest with the blissfull HISSSSS. When you get to the higher gears, the turbo sounds are much lower toned and are much louder especially at low RPM's and putting your foot on the gas. You can hear the motor catch up with the turbo sounds.

Now the problem. My car is starting to do this thing where I will be going along driving as normal, then during normal acceleration, it will like do a hiccup thing then loose power. The turbo sound is almost completely gone. When I let off the gas you can barely hear the blow off but it is there. The car will stay in this condition for sometimes 5 minutes and other times for like 20 minutes. Then all of a sudden while driving, the turbo just kinda "kicks" back in. Full power seems to come back along with all the beautiful sounds along with it.

I did get a check engine light 1 time but before I had a change to get it read, it went away and the car was normal again.

This used to happen once a week. Now it is almost happening daily and sometimes multiple times a day. When it happens, it is like driving a regular Cooper w/o the turbo.

My gas mileage really hasn't fluctuated much. It will go down a little when this happens because I kinda milk the throttle until power comes back causing lower mileage.

I have read about oil lines leaking and I haven't seen any oil around my turbo at all.

Could this be a computer problem turning the turbo off? Maybe a diverter valve sticking? Failing turbo?

Has anyone gone through anything that sounds like this and can help? I do not want to take this to the dealer just for them to tell me I need a new $1500 turbo. If I do that's fine, but I want it to be the problem, not just a lazy fix.

 

Why do you say that it might be failing. What are the symptoms you are experiencing?

 

Sounds like a leaky dirverter valve, aka blow off valve. If u would like to verify the turbo, pull off the intake side of the turbo and GENTLY see if there is any shaft play. This sounds like a dirverter valve though. Good luck

 

What I would do:

Scan for codes at local auto parts store (if you haven't already)

Check diaphragm on diverter valve for rips.


Are there any loud metallic noises when this is happening? Is there any smoke coming out of the exhaust?

 

Could be a wastegate issue if it's not the valve. Wastegate on these cars is internal so it would be a rebuild or replacement of the turbo.

 

I ordered a plug for the car so i can scan the codes myself. Should be here tomorrow i hope. When i get it i will post up any codes that it has. I do not have any check engine lights on right now.

No noises are added. When the loss of power happens it just sounds like the turbo is running at like 10%. Just barely hear the blow off is it.

No smoke either. Temperature seems fine. Everything seems to stay the same. It is like driving a non S cooper. Basically a 1.6l engine with no Turbo. It accelerates ok just weak. Top speed doesn't seem to change..

 

The intake side is the one the air filter is attached to right? It connects to the center of the turbo.

 

I was thinking about a stuck or leaking diverter. Since i can hear the turbo sounds so well, wouldn't i hear the leak?

 

Think about what you recently did to the car and work backwards.

 

Check all clamps on the intake, muffler delete, and intercooler. It's possible that one of the ends has slipped off, and it's not making a complete connection all the time (meaning it could be slipping off during some times, but closed enough to restore power and not throw a code).

 

UPDATE - So I finally got my ODBII bluetooth connector. I ran a check on all CEL's and the only thing that comes up is a P115D. Not much on the web regarding that one other than a few different chats in NAM about it. Not much help.

So, what have I noticed. I watch this thing as I drive and I noticed a few things. First, the boost pressure makes no sense to me at all! When I first start the car, at an idle the boost pressure is about -16 psi. When I drive it goes up, and when I REALLY drive it will hit a high of about 15.6 psi. To me, this looks like an almost 30 lb swing in pressure. I am not sure how it can be negative idling, but I am not a mechanic so it is what it is.

Now, I also noticed when driving, after the car has driven 5 miles or so, if I am driving aggressively, when the diverter valve blows, the boost drops to -23 psi briefly. Again this has me baffled even more since at an idle is around -16. When accelerating, power really doesn't FEEL strong until about 5 to 7 psi. I can hear the turbo spin up around -5 but I really don't feel it until 5.

How this relates to my problem - I was driving a few days ago and my problem happened again only this time I had my ODB connection on and was monitoring everything. So during acceleration the boost goes from -16 ish to 0 then stops! I could have my foot on the floor and the motor will still accelerate, but the boost pressure stays right around 0 to 1 psi. If I let off the gas it will blow off and go back to -16, but get back on it, and again it stays around 0 to 1. As the problem works itself out within a few miles, it will start to climb and the boost finally returns to normal around 15 to 16 psi. Again, there is no smoke, no CEL, no noises, no oil leaking, nothing out of the ordinary. Other than the loss of power, and the boost reading 0, you can't tell a difference. Keep in mind, when this happens, the boost is rising from -16 to 0 and stopping. So it looks like it is adding 16 psi, but until it goes positive, nothing is felt.

I did notice something that was small and appears to be getting bigger. Under NORMAL conditions, meaning when boost and everything seems to be working fine, when I accelerate in 1st & 2nd gears and let the RPM's climb to 5000+, there is a whistle kind of sound now. Only in the high rpm's though not the whole time and it only seems to be in the first two gears. Maybe by then I am upwards of 60 mph and do not push as hard in 3rd but I am wondering if this is some sort of leak. Maybe this sound ties into the other problem. They do not seem to happen at the same time but it appears to be turbo related I think.

 

What you are reading when the gauge reads negative is vacuum. That's normal. When your car only goes to zero psi and stops sounds like a diverter valve to me. Although I am not a mechanic, just had some experience from owning turbo'd cars the last 13 years. Out of curiosity, have you had your car tuned or anything after installing all the parts. It's also a good idea to check all your connections as Agbullet25 suggested. Hope you get it sorted.

 

I was starting to feel the same way. If the diverter is going bad, would it cause the whistle I have been hearing?

To answer your question, no I haven't had it tuned at all since the work has been done. I was under the impression the car's computer tuned itself based on the various sensors it uses.

 

I don't know for sure if you HAVE to get it tuned. I do know to get the most out of parts your car should be tuned for them. Did you hook everything back up to the diverter if you disconnected them? Maybe you unhooked something accidentally when installing the muffler delete.

 

Also, I am going to go ahead and order a diverter replacement. I might as well upgrade a bit while I am at it. I know a lot of people on this site use the Alta replacement but the price has went up to $175. There is another one on waymotorworks.com that is only $64 that claims all the same promises.

Forge has another one for $290.

Any opinions?

 

I have checked and rechecked everything since the muffler delete was installed. I put it on when I did the intercooler. It seemed to make sense since the bumper was off.

When this stuff started I went back over it again thinking I missed something or forgot something. Everything looks right.

 

it may be as simple as a vacuum leak. I cleaned my valves and didnt touch any vacuum hoses and one found its way loose. Once I replaced the hose everything was fine.

 

It's definitely a vacuum leak, I manage to break my hoses every other week, by screwing around in the engine. I believe if memory serves p115d has to do with fuel trims, it pairs itself with it a vacuum leak and your whistling I'm not sure what you have as far as mods go, but if you have a forge diverter or boost gauges those would be were you would need to check the tubing for cracks. Oem diverter a as mentioned are known to go bad so it might be as simple as replacing that. then then the discharge, air charge system, oh and the rubber intake hose.


Additionally if you still get a leak sound without an cel it means there's a leak in a unmetered air system; the lines coming from The waste gate back and you'll need to take off the intake manifold.

Although unlikely, it is possible you could have leak in an unmetered vacuum section and that somehow is causing a cel as well but you would get a check engine light half yellow showing full engine power reduced and you would be hearing a hiss at high psi. Just to cover all the basis Sent from phone

 

Boost leak.. Diverter Valve... Vacuum leak.. Oil on MAF sensor...

That's where I'd start..

 

So I replaced the diverted with a new one from waymotorworks.com. there are a couple different things I noticed.

First, I have lost some torque in 1st gear. The rest seem the same.

Second, my car has a new sound. Sitting still or normal driving I get the standard blow off sound. On heavy acceleration, there is a new sound between the wind up and blow off. Sound like a stuttering snake hiss. Really hard to explain. Kinda neat, but new.

Anyway, the bad news. This didn't fix my problem. I was driving to softball today and my boost cut out just like before. So now i can rule out the diverter.

Now what? Does anyone know if this could be the computer turning it down? My car does random stuff all the time. I get random light bulb warnings even when no bulbs are out. Thursday, my trunk wouldn't stay shut. I would close it and the car would pop the trunk automatically. The only way to get it to stop was push off the parking brake. I guess because you can't open the trunk while moving. Could the computer be causing the power cut out?

I still have not thrown any new warning lights. This is so frustrating!

 

It's almost time to take it to a shop for an official diagnosis. It could be the computer. On a BMW with all the electronic crap they cram in, anything is possible lol. It does almost sound like the wastegate to me, though... :( no bueno.

 

Ahh that hissing snake sound is normal, without a cell. I spent 150 replacing vacuum lines to try and fix it but it's still there. I have a thread somewhere on that, when I took off my intake manifold I left the unmetered vacuum lines off the control the wastegate, it's possible that vacuum converter went and it isn't allowing the wastegate to open. Not sure about the random lights though that sounds like ecu problem

Sent from phone

 

I have read that when the battery starts to go (from age), that weird things happen in a MINI, like the lights you described. Is the battery original? 6 years is a good life for a battery, that may eliminate the odd problems that you are having, though it likely would not affect your main issue.

Mike

 

This is so frustrating! At the end of the day it is just a car! Why can't it have "car" problems instead of complicated crap!

Thanks guys for your input! I guess i will make an appointment with the shop. I will let you know their assessment. I am sure i will be angry! I am always angry after dealing with the dealer.

Unless......anyone in south Florida know a good shop that's fair and honest? West Palm Beach to Miami???

 

LUUKER, Don't ignore the advice about the battery above. There are many threads here about bad batteries causing strange problems.