Hi guys,

I bought this '06 r53 with 97k in it. Drove home from New York 2 weeks ago. Did inspection 2. Drove for a week. Today, misfire cylinder 1 code $13. Did compression test, 95 psi on cylinder 1. Must be a valve. What are my options? New head? Valve job? I have a leak down tester coming tomorrow. Opinions? Is this common?

Thanks

Mike

 

Burnt Exhaust valves can be problem if proper maintenance is not followed. And with 2nd gen MINI that have direct injection carbon build up can cause this.

For the 1st Gen MINI like ours however, one can of Seafoam into a full tank of fuel every other oil change to remove deposits is a good preventative measure. It's 6 dollars from Walmart, and will clean the back of the valves off very nicely....or you can use the MINI fuel injection cleaner with Techron. Either one a good choice.

GL with the LD test !

 

So I did the leak down test. I put 90 psi to each cylinder (warm, at TDC) and got the following results. Cylinder 1 = 28 psi, Cylinder 2 = 28 psi, Cylinder 3 = 78 psi, Cylinder 4 = 76 psi. No noise in intake, or exhaust. When pressurizing cylinder 1, you can hear the air in cylinder 2 (from the spark plug hole) and when pressurizing cylinder 2, you can hear the air in cylinder 1. So it's a BAD HEAT GASKET between cylinder 1 and 2. Only symptoms are misfire, cylinder 1, and poor fuel economy. It feels fast.