Hi, new to the forum and here because my daughters Mini is having some issues. First, let me apologize for not having checked everything and having all the answers I should. Work schedule has been rough lately and now I'm working on her car after work.
I drove her car last weekend and it felt like it was losing power. It would die at stop lights unless I kept my foot on the gas. got it home and decided to start with a tune up. No codes are present. After two days of trying to find the right plugs (O'reilly's and AutoZone) I went to change them. Cylinders one and two had oil on them and in the spark plug hole. Ok, bad valve cover gasket. Three days later I got the right valve cover gasket. Put it all together Tuesday. Wednesday she calls and the car is running rough and dying again. Again, no codes but the engine (half power light I think ) is on. I pull the plugs again, Cylinder one and two plugs are fouled. No oil on them, but fouled. I've spent the day at work going over way too many scenarios in my head and things to check/change. So before I start digging in further, do you have any advice to start with? Thanks for the help!

 

how many miles? did swap coils and noticed if the codes moved with it?

 

It's got about 140k Never got any codes.

 

did you swap coils though? while the car is running, unplug one coil at a time and notate which one does NOT produce a shake in the engine...those cylinder are misfiring. now that we know which is which, swap a good one with bad and see check if the misfire is still present on the same cyl or if it followed the coil. if it followed the coil, then the coil is bad. if it did not, then you have other issues like fuel injector, timing, or low compression.

 

Ah. No I didn't. I will start with that tonight. Thank you.

 

I was just expecting it to throw a code

 

Tried each coil. The engine runs with a mild miss probably because the new plugs are still new. But when I unplugged each coil, it was a noticeable difference in the way it ran. So I don't believe it's a coil or firing issue. Here are the plugs. They don't even have 10 miles on them.

 

Ok, so coils check...spark plugs check...next is timing. Take the cover off again and verify timing and shape of the guide rails and chain. It also can be unmeter air and even a MAF sensor. But go through the list to confirm.

 

Thanks. I remember checking the condition of the chain and guides and they were tight. I'll recheck it and go from there.

 

Check the timing too...if all good, check compression.

 

Compression is what i'm afraid of

 

Fear not...take it one step at a time....i used to not even own an engine hoist...now, I'm fishing for broken minis to repair.

 

Timing was a bit difficult to check because I didn't want to tear the front into the motor part and turn the crank. I did get the valve cover off and the chain is tight and the tensioners look good. I can see somewhat down in there with a flashlight and everything looks good. I cleaned up the plugs put them back in, put it all together and the car starts easily and ran strong but it was surging. I got some starting fluid and sprayed it around different places. When I got around the air cleaner box the engine bogged down. You mentioned the MAF sensor. Shouldn't the computer give me a code?

 

Before some codes are displayed, they are marked pending by the ECU and depending on priority/severity they CEL comes one after X amount of starts. This might be the case.

You could disconnect the MAF and notice and difference. Was the area your talking about to the left of the engine?

 

I did disconnect the MAF sensor and the engine bogged down so I'm assuming it is doing it's job. When I sprayed the starting fluid it was on the driver's side of the air box.

 

Well, after a week of having the car at the shop, I picked it up from the mechanic/parts changer. The only thing he could tell me was when he unplugged the mass airflow sensor that it ran better the opposite of what it was doing on me.

 

Here's how it runs. At 800 rpm, it will stay idling. It runs smooth for a little while then starts to run bad. It has a massive missfire every so often. If I get in the car and give it gas up to 2000 rpm, it runs like a top. I sprayed some brake cleaner (didn't have starting fluid) and couldn't find an air leak. Is it possible to have gotten bad gas? I would think it would run bad at 2000 rpm as well though. I did change the MAF, figured I've already got it so might as well.

 

 

That was supposed to be a video but I'm not sure it's going to take

 

make a youtube video. and post the link.

 

For those who are following, after $1500, two mechanics, and a wet floor board the car is running. First mechanic couldn't figure anything out. Didn't see any codes. I didn't either. He didn't charge me anything but I had to pay a wrecker fee. Second mechanic said there were two misfire codes and it needed a fuel filter and a valve cover. So $520 for two coils and a fuel filter. Found a used valve cover for $215 and it runs great now. Except the mechanic left it outside in the rain with a window down and the floor board has water. Still have the engine light on by the speedometer. Gotta try and pull a code for that now.