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Stock Problems/IssuesDiscussions related to warranty related issues and repairs, or other problems with the OEM parts and software for MINI Clubman (R55), Cooper and Cooper S(R56), and Cabrio (R57).
It’s due for it regardless so I have a filter coming tomorrow. But figured even it it wasn’t due for it, it’s probably a good idea to change the oil after doing this, in case it pulled any crap in there.
Because it most certainly did run pretty rough for 20 or 30 seconds, like the Vanos-BMW.com said it might, before smoothing out. Since I have some sitting here anyway, I’m going to change my spark plugs as well. Just to be on the good side of things.
And I’ll get working on a little write-up this week after I do my oil change. It won’t take very long, it was really easy to do.
Update:
Just wanted to post a quick “how it’s going “ update. So far everything looks and feels great. No unwanted or unexpected issues. I’ve been driving the hell out of it, and it seems good to go!
Unfortunately, my oil filter got held up and won’t be here for a few more days, but aside from that, its been a surprisingly simple fix with immediately noticeable improvement.
I’m not quite sure how or where to put a write up when it’s done, so that people can find it easily, so any suggestions are more than welcome!
My buddy wants me to go look at his now, lol! He just bought a CMS.
I can’t say for sure, as I am not the original owner, but I went through my records and don’t see that it was ever done. Luckily I was given the full service history and receipts.
since I don’t see it, I’m going to say it’s probably the original. So there’s a little over 120K miles on it.
I have seen it reported in threads here that some have gone out as soon as 20K!
I can’t say for sure, as I am not the original owner, but I went through my records and don’t see that it was ever done. Luckily I was given the full service history and receipts.
since I don’t see it, I’m going to say it’s probably the original. So there’s a little over 120K miles on it.
I have seen it reported in threads here that some have gone out as soon as 20K!
Good enough for me, thanks. I have ~85k miles on mine, and I want to make sure I keep an eye on it.
Good enough for me, thanks. I have ~85k miles on mine, and I want to make sure I keep an eye on it.
It’s certainly worth keeping an eye on! I didn’t get the often mentioned valve cover whistle until 5 minutes before I did the job, lol. But I first noticed that it didn’t feel quite right, in a way I can’t express very well, but it felt.....off....and then when it started giving me just 2 or 3 seconds of rough idle, right as soon as the rpms drop on start up. I’m getting older (mid 40’s) so I’ve had vacuum leaks before in cars, that’s what it felt like to me, I was pretty positive it wasn’t the HPFP, which can also cause cold start issues. Then I saw a bit of oil residue on top of the spark plug cover (with the Mini logo) in that corner, and that’s when I found that I could hear the vacuum leak coming from there.
I never got a code for it at all, and from my research, it seems sort of hit or miss as far as getting a code or not for it.
oh, and I started to notice a tiny bit of boost leak too, it was like it felt like it would dump a few psi just before the diverter would open. Which really threw me off for a bit, because I was leaning towards it being the diverter being forced open just a bit prematurely because of the increased boost from my tune, but even with a DV+ installed with both springs, it kept doing it, so I knew I had to look elsewhere. Your fuel mileage could be another indicator. Like I mentioned before, I assumed it was my driving style, but afterwards I’ve picked up about 6mpg.
Good luck, and feel free to hit me up anytime if I can help.
It’s certainly worth keeping an eye on! I didn’t get the often mentioned valve cover whistle until 5 minutes before I did the job, lol. But I first noticed that it didn’t feel quite right, in a way I can’t express very well, but it felt.....off....and then when it started giving me just 2 or 3 seconds of rough idle, right as soon as the rpms drop on start up. I’m getting older (mid 40’s) so I’ve had vacuum leaks before in cars, that’s what it felt like to me, I was pretty positive it wasn’t the HPFP, which can also cause cold start issues. Then I saw a bit of oil residue on top of the spark plug cover (with the Mini logo) in that corner, and that’s when I found that I could hear the vacuum leak coming from there.
I never got a code for it at all, and from my research, it seems sort of hit or miss as far as getting a code or not for it.
oh, and I started to notice a tiny bit of boost leak too, it was like it felt like it would dump a few psi just before the diverter would open. Which really threw me off for a bit, because I was leaning towards it being the diverter being forced open just a bit prematurely because of the increased boost from my tune, but even with a DV+ installed with both springs, it kept doing it, so I knew I had to look elsewhere. Your fuel mileage could be another indicator. Like I mentioned before, I assumed it was my driving style, but afterwards I’ve picked up about 6mpg.
Good luck, and feel free to hit me up anytime if I can help.
I appreciate the comments. Maybe I'll try tackling it in the spring when the weather starts to turn.
Thanks for doing all of the legwork. I'm looking forward to your writeup for when I (inevitably) need to do this.
Thank you, I’m really glad to see all of the support and encouragement I’ve gotten so far with this from the Mini community as a whole! My club (shout out to PSMINI) the different Facebook forums and especially from you guys right here on NAM!
The write up will be coming, I want to make sure it holds up for a little bit. But in the meantime if anybody needs to, pm me anytime
Edit to add a shout to Paul at Seattle Mini who talked with me about it knowing I wouldn’t be buying a VC from them!
And last and most important to Scudder44 who was the first person I found to have done this and his advice was invaluable!
Last edited by MrGrumpy; Dec 12, 2018 at 07:12 PM.
Thank you, I’m really glad to see all of the support and encouragement I’ve gotten so far with this from the Mini community as a whole! My club (shout out to PSMINI) the different Facebook forums and especially from you guys right here on NAM!
The write up will be coming, I want to make sure it holds up for a little bit. But in the meantime if anybody needs to, pm me anytime
Edit to add a shout to Paul at Seattle Mini who talked with me about it knowing I wouldn’t be buying a VC from them!
And last and most important to Scudder44 who was the first person I found to have done this and his advice was invaluable!
I replaced my diaphragm today on my 2011 countryman with 75k miles. I did wind up cracking the piece a bit by the bottom left clip. The remover I was using was plastic and I think a little too thick to fit in to pry off the cap. I would recommend a metal tool. Also, i'm in Arizona and everything is so dry, the plastics get brittle. It seemed like it would have held even with the cracked piece, but I just glued it up really good with JB weld. I figure at some point I'll change the valve cover anyway. I didn't ride it much, as I wanted the epoxy to fully cure. It did seem to ride a bit better though. I'll see if it cure the smoke after idle issue i've been having.
Definitely not a difficult job if you know your way around cars. Patience is probably real key for not cracking the cover.
ESC Tuning has the part to replace the cover for peanuts (if you are in USA). Piece of mind. My repair blew off on the motorway and that was spectacular, the expoxy had had enough :-) I bought a second hand part which has been fine.
@MrGrumpy Just wanted to say thanks for doing the write up! My car had all the symptom that were mentioned: impossible to pull oil cap, high pitch whistle, RPM flutter on cold start, but no check engine code. Didn't think there were any issues until I started hearing the high pitch whistle about a month ago. The RPM flutter was always there but it only fluctuated +/- 300 so didn't think of it too much.
Finally replaced the diaphragm over the weekend (without breaking the clip, woot!) and now everything seems to be very smooth. Looking at my old diaphragm though, really surprised the symptoms weren't worse!
@MrGrumpy Just wanted to say thanks for doing the write up! My car had all the symptom that were mentioned: impossible to pull oil cap, high pitch whistle, RPM flutter on cold start, but no check engine code. Didn't think there were any issues until I started hearing the high pitch whistle about a month ago. The RPM flutter was always there but it only fluctuated +/- 300 so didn't think of it too much.
Finally replaced the diaphragm over the weekend (without breaking the clip, woot!) and now everything seems to be very smooth. Looking at my old diaphragm though, really surprised the symptoms weren't worse!
ESC Tuning has the part to replace the cover for peanuts (if you are in USA). Piece of mind. My repair blew off on the motorway and that was spectacular, the expoxy had had enough :-) I bought a second hand part which has been fine.
Could you post a link? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but I don’t see it for the N18 on the ECS site.
@MrGrumpy Just wanted to say thanks for doing the write up! My car had all the symptom that were mentioned: impossible to pull oil cap, high pitch whistle, RPM flutter on cold start, but no check engine code. Didn't think there were any issues until I started hearing the high pitch whistle about a month ago. The RPM flutter was always there but it only fluctuated +/- 300 so didn't think of it too much.
Finally replaced the diaphragm over the weekend (without breaking the clip, woot!) and now everything seems to be very smooth. Looking at my old diaphragm though, really surprised the symptoms weren't worse!
Anyway, thanks again for the write up!
Those are some nice tears in that thing! Just like me, when you look at it, there isn’t any doubt at all. “Yup......it’s torn” lol. It’s so easy, once you have taken off the cap and realize the way the clips work. Although having a new cap for it, like the ECS version is supposed to have, would have given me a lot more initial confidence, since I was so worried about breaking the clips.
I was originally going to do a whole write up, and I still can if someone wants it, but it’s so simple, that the thread itself should be sufficient. You got yours off with it, so .......?
Good luck with it, and I will take a look and see if I can come up with a link to the one ECS is now offering. If I find it, I’ll put it up here for you.
My replacement diaphragm is still working perfectly! No more idle stutter on cold start, normal amount of suction on the oil cap. Not even a speck of residue around the diaphragm cap, and so on.... very pleased to have saved $400 by doing it this way instead of replacing the valve cover!
Quick update:
I had been told that ECS had these now, but I checked with them, because I wanted to link to it in this post. But after emailing with them, it seems they only have the replacement for the N14 engine. The rest of us will still have to use eBay or the direct site I used.
Mike
How concerned should I be about pulling the PCV cap from the valve cover? I'd like to open it up to check out the diaphragm, but slightly concerned about breaking it and being screwed...
I've been having some part-throttle drivability concerns, and I want to rule out the PCV diaphragm.
As you can probably tell, I was pretty worried myself about screwing the cap up, or breaking a clip. But if you are careful it’s really not too bad at all.
The first thing to do is grab the left rear corner and pull up until you hear it pop free. Then I used some picks and assorted small angled prying tools (screwdriver sized) to release the other 4 clips.
And if it does break you can epoxy it back on when you’re done with some JB weld.
Feel free to hit me up if you have any other questions or anything
Thanks. I got it off. Diaphragm was all in one piece, except where I stuck my screwdriver into it Material is pretty flimsy. I may just order a replacement to have on hand. Cleaned off the diaphragm before popping the cover back on. Also cleaned a bunch of crud out from the valve cover recess.
Thanks again for this thread. Gave me the confidence to at least pull it apart to check on the condition.
MrGrumpy:
Even though my diaphragm wasn't torn when I pulled it apart, it was full of oil residue and needed to be cleaned up. Cleaning it up seemed to help with some of the part throttle drivability I've been experiencing lately. Makes me a little upset that the PCV is all integrated into the cam cover, and can't easily be cleaned or replaced.
Could you post a link? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but I don’t see it for the N18 on the ECS site.
Originally Posted by MrGrumpy
Quick update:
I had been told that ECS had these now, but I checked with them, because I wanted to link to it in this post. But after emailing with them, it seems they only have the replacement for the N14 engine. The rest of us will still have to use eBay or the direct site I used.
Mike
Its still working great too!
Hi guys,
Can anybody help provide a link or part number for ordering the cap that has the fragile clips, just as a backup before doing the repair. (I too have an N18 engine.) Also, might you be able to suggest the name of the curved tool and where to buy it or what you used that saved you from breaking the clips?
I don't think the cap is available separately from the cam cover, I haven't seen one.
I used a medium flat blade screwdriver to get my cap off. Started at the back left corner, and then the front left corner, and wiggled it off the rest of the way.
Material is pretty flimsy. I may just order a replacement to have on hand. Cleaned off the diaphragm before popping the cover back on. Also cleaned a bunch of crud out from the valve cover recess.