I agree with this.

I think he needs to check the conditions of the engine internals as a next step. At the moment he hasn't got much to go on except some claimed power loss with no obvious cause given the lack of error codes.

Starting to point to a mechanical problem with the engine and/or turbocharger.

 

Can this all be related with a crack on the turbo inlet tube? It's on the turbo side of the tube. It's not a big crack but there has to be some air escaping from there.

 

This makes the turbo have to work harder to maintain intake pressure (psi)!

 

The big problem is that its dumping metered air...hence the black smoke.


Get that fixed asap

 

I'd have to agree, it will make you run rich, hence the black (fuel) not blue (oil) smoke.

 

thx for all the responses, i ordered the tube, it's just 80 euros, but shipping is gonna take 2 or more weeks.

i checked turbo, after removing inlet tube, there was a minor oil residue at its entrance, i believe that means no oil leaks in it?
i checked the oil again, it was its minimum, so this means whole oil change in 7500kms (i added 1 more liter last month), oh it's 5w30 btw, 0w30 is mini recommended here but my mechanic said i should stop changing my oil so often, so i'm considering going back to 0-30. they also said consumption is related with car's running rich.
car sounds rough, i believe that's because of, i can hear turbo more because of that crack.
like i said before, there is a problem with obc's fuel consumption estimation, it's probably because car runs richer 'coz of that crack right?

about that exhaust smell in cab, i think that is me, there are not strict regulations on emissions here in turkey, so that was probably coming from someone else's car (that happened 2 or maybe 3 times like i said)

oh and i also make my mechanic check my clutch, it's on 30-40k kms, he said it's healthy. he checked turbo with his fingers (while car is not running ofc ) he said "there is some gap in it"? he was like talking to himself, so i asked "what?", and he said "nothing" all of the other tests i wanted them to run (and you guys asked), they're not doing anything before changing the tube. although i don't think they have an equipment to measure turbo's pressure nor that cylinder leak tests anyways.

 

It's normal to have some oil at the turbo inlet. Comes from the PCV venting.

Normally the turbo turbine has some free play in it - although not too much - this could be what he meant by having some gap in it. This is also normal since the bearing is supported by oil film. As long as the turbo is quiet during operation, you're fine.

I think your problem/issues are related to the crack in the inlet piping.

 

hey guys, sorry for bothering again.

everyone in this country drives me crazy. mini authorised service asked 101 euro plus tax, and 15 or so days of shipping, so i bought from a not authorised dealer, (part number, 7561695), and they say they are still expecting it without giving any eta (it's already been 25 days).

is there any website, i can trust, and buy this part? can anyone point me to the right direction?

 

You already ordered the part, now you play the waiting game.

 

i took the part today, and i can safely say after attaching it, it didn't cured the problem. i might have, maybe 5 hp gain, but it might be placebo effect also, so i dunno.

it feels about turbo boost though, i.e, going with 80mph, 6th, 3k rpm, if i floor the accelerator, it feels like no boost at all, it hesitates, and also feels like misfires (it's like small skips, i dunno, it's kinda hard to explain). still, not a single code.

anyways, i am gonna take it to the authorised service. let them diagnose it at least.

thanks for all the help though.

 

hi guys, i have updates.

i'm just back from "MINI Borusan" (authorised service here), total is 3.2k liras, which is just under %10 of my car's current value.

They changed "High pressure pump". I dunno if this is HPFP, because he said "there is no known problems about this part therefore no warranty. They also changed Injectors, bearing on the top of the engine bay (he said this caused the problem about oil consumption), and they also wanted to change some of the Turbo's connection tubes (i dunno which one really, he said that's the one you cannot see, "it's not gone but, it's on its way out" he also said), i ordered that too (that's not something pricey).

Straightaway, i didn't felt any gain at all, i said again and again, there is a performance related problem about this car; but i think that's just me. He said maybe you should wait 'till that turbo tube arrives (yeah, i don't think so).

LOL, and they also changed Turbo's heat reflector (or deflector), it's more like a aluminium foil wrapped on top of the heat deflector. At least that's free, so

Another interesting point is, all of 'em knows "carbon buildup" problem. But they have nothing to clean to engine. When i asked about oil, he talked and talked about, volumetric efficiency, compression ration, vaporised gasoline bla bla, if problem still exists he said, they gonna need to open to whole engine and change piston bearings(? i dunno if that's right), and parts like that. But nothing about cleaning have been said.

And let me tell you guys something, there are maybe over 10k bmw-mini-land rover cars using them as their service occasionally (yes this particular service), i mean, if these guys don't have experience about these issues, i dunno where should (or can) i go.

Anyways thanks for all responses.

 

I am unsure if it was specific to certain countries, or all across the board, but the high pressure injection pump has a 10 year/100K mile warranty on it. It may not apply in your country, but I would imagine it would as it's the same part.

 

MINI Borusan doesn't have a clue to what the issue is, it sounds like the techs at MINI Borusan are guessing at what might be the cause. You're screwed if you can't find somebody reliable! This is Reality.

 

cel came out today too, i took her to them again, now they want to change o2 sensor.

that's what happens if you're living in an undeveloped country guys. pls, respect the country you're living in. at least there are people, who are willing to help you there; all i can find here is in internet as you can see.

i dunno i had enough, but there is nothing i can do really. i asked about carbon buildup today to the service guy, let me tell you this, they know sh*t about it. he is talking things like "there are different engines in usa, they have they kinda problems, we don't". so here is an example what i'm trying to deal with here.

 

I see you replacing part after part with no success, it's a deep money pit!

 

If the shop would give him an accurate diagnosis, he wouldn't be.... I never understand just throwing parts at a vehicle when diagnosing parts is NOT that hard these days. I am confident that if I had dropped my car off at the dealer with the cyl 4 misfire, I'd be in his same boat. They probably would have charged me for all new plugs, then a new coil, then some insane labor to chase wires, then pull the head and get a boat load of labor for carbon cleaning, checking the valvetrain, probably even charge me for new valves or some **** before finally replacing the single bad injector that I diagnosed with less than an hour of labor involved... Some dealerships just throw parts at **** because the customer lets them take advantage or has no choice.

 

0-100kph 8.8 seconds, add some calculation error, and say it's 8.5. but that's it. i tried hot, cold, different oil, fuel, it's just not going anywhere.

my cel is on right now. they said, it's because of the post cat o2 sensor. i considered changing it but i know it's not related with anything about performance. but i have a question about it, could that mean clogged cat? i mean i'm running out of options here, turbo is working, piping is all new, got new injectors, new filters, new sparks, only old thing about it is the clutch but i don't think it has any problems.

 

You ever check the bov...blow off valve? Maybe the spring failed...leaving it open. Not a gen2 guru...but we can have similar issues with the bypass valve on the gen1...results in a car that is unboosted...
As I understand it, gen2 cars...the turbo ones have a similar item, a BOV, that limits max boost to prevent overboosting.... I would check to see if it is working right....
I DO know there are variations on the setup based upon which gen2 turbo motor you have....

 

I was about to mention the same thing, the BOV would limit the turbocharger if the valve was stuck open or closed. I'm upgrading mine to a Forge Re-circulation Valve in a few days.

 

is there an easy way for me to check this? i mean, i can hear blow-off sound after blipping the throttle. doesn't that mean it's working?

 

You still need to check it anyway, sometimes they don't close/open all the way when there at the end of there life.

 

I did have a severely blocked cat on my JCW. This resulted in a severe lack of power. Other symptoms were reduced boost (only making 8psi instead of 21psi) and repeatedly throwing a 2885 "boost pressure implausibility" code with the half yellow "full engine power not available" code.

 

nope, i thought maybe it can get clogged without a code, i only have a post-cat o2 error (well, i don't have an error code at secret menu in obc, but cel is on, without a warning though, i mean after starting the car, there is no exclamation mark, just cel in middle speedo. my service guy said that)

i'm gonna check bov, i'll keep you guys updated.

 

i'm just back from the service, again. i was pretty mad and stated that very clearly to them; they checked the car again, and they want to change 2 parts;

firstly, it's post cat lambda (o2) sensor, this is causing cel right now, i said this should not affect the overall performance, and they said, they can't say anything before changing it. so i'm going to buy it.

secondly, it's 11157605186, i believe this tube is something related with pcv, it's not pricey, so i said ok to that too.

also i checked the parts today, they recently changed. 4 injectors, hpfp and thermostat housing and some rubber material (which i believe something very close to the head gasket) has been changed (i wasn't knew what was the exact parts before, so i'm just giving a heads up)

oh, i was so mad, i forgot to ask bov. s***t i just realised :(

 

It is probably not a BOV issue if it was you would get a lot of errors and the car would go into limp mode and you wouldn't be able to get the engine speed over 1500rpms. Did you ever do a post turbo pre-catalytic converter back pressure test? I understand your frustration I hear the same frustration a lot with customers that have similar problems and are desperate for a solution. Most of the time after they replace engines (yes replacing the engine in their car multiple times) or investing up to 50% of the value of the car trying to troubleshoot this issue because they don't have a complete understanding of it.

The problem is that most mechanics don't understand or believe that back pressure can cause so many weird issues. However because back pressure pushes engine oil out of the turbo and/or increases the amount of oil fumes that need to be evacuated from the crank case. It results in liquid oil or oil fumes going into the intake system. All this oil/oil fumes in the intake will change the air to fuel ratio in the combustion chamber by adding hydrocarbons like oil in to the combustion chamber and there is no way for the engine to detect the added fuel. Especially since the O2 sensor can only detect oxygen levels and not fuel levels in the exhaust.

Adding fuel in the form of oil will result in extremely high exhaust temperatures which can cause cracks in the turbocharger exhaust housing, exhaust manifold and even burn valves. Not to mention all that extra oil in the intake system can gum up the map sensors and throttle plate adding to the amount of issues that can cause the engine to run poorly. In the days before catalytic converters you would see the tell tale signs of smoke from the exhaust but due to the efficiency of the catalytic converters these days you don't. They can even burn the oil smoke from a cracked piston for a short period of time.

Some times it takes extreme power loss, the inter-cooler filling with oil, the oil dip stick popping out of the sleeve due to excessive back pressure or every gasket on the car leaking oil that they understand the issue. The symptoms vary but all have similar problems to the ones you are having and some people end up replacing a lot of parts that had nothing to do with the issue. I have herd of some of our customers temporarily installing a test pipe to see if the symptoms go away then replacing both the turbocharger and catalytic converter (we don't advocate removing the catalytic converter for any reason). What ever you do, do not replace the turbo and catalytic converter separately if the turbo is damaged it will leak oil into the new catalytic converter and if the catalytic converter is clogged it will damage the new turbo. Anyway I hope you resolve the issue I hate to see people waste money on improper diagnostics.