By the way, those are not super important, they are for the egr pre- heater thingy..... lots of guys get new intakes without them. NM Engineering sells some resistors to delete them.

 

Just saw this, you are welcome, No eta right now. When we do carry it we will let you know.

 

Thanks ECS, I reached out a while back in an email, when it was mentioned that you guys carried them. I wanted to link to it in this post, so folks didn’t have to go the Russian route like I did, lol.
If you want to link to the N14 version you do have, please do so, it will help anyone with that motor. And in the future if you do source some caps and diaphragm kits, please allow us to link them, for convenience for us, and business for you!
thanks guys, you are always a great source for me for parts and info!

 

Received new valve and cap for the n18 installed it today. Son says car drove fine slowly, but stumbled a bit on highway. Cap was not fully secured in one corner. I was sure I had done it right, hopefully it is a good fit. Hasn't been back out to test it yet.

ANY thoughts on how to keep cover from popping up at one corner?

 

Update - the cover from Russia is not a good fitting item. Went back to original cover it seems better for now.

 

That site has a cover now? Link?

 

Cover over the diaphragm, not the Valve cover. https://vanos-bmw.com/product/breath...it-n16-n18-bmw

It doesn't fit so I'd pass unless you plan to glue it down or silicone around the opening.

 

Thanks. I ordered the diaphragm from them, but not the cap. Mine was still in serviceable condition, so it was reused.

 

I was not aware that there is a replacement cap available. There is for the N14, but I was not aware of one for the N18.... must be a recent addition. Good to know it doesn’t fit. I just replaced the diaphragm and reused the cap. As long as it snaps back on you are fine. Otherwise I would suggest trying to find one on a scrapped car.
Good luck

 

Old cap worked fine, just snapped in. Russian cap seemed to hold, didn't snap in and popped up in a corner after a few minutes of driving. Радость = Happiness. It works so son will stop bothering me about that and on to the leaky thermostat that doesn't seem to leak.

 

Russian merchant never responded to the ill fitting cap, oh well maybe the next person will save the cash and not buy it.

Fix seems to have done the job. Thanks again Grumpy - you are owed some beer, coffee?

Leaky coolant, thermostat. As the coolant overflow tank has held it's level for a few weeks, I can only assume that MINI Portland just made up some BS work trying to scam my kid out of his money. Criminal, really!

 

Glad that it is helping and saving some $ for some of us! That’s awesome!
I don’t really drink much anymore, but hell yes on the coffee, ha ha.
Communication with them is not great, you are absolutely right about that! I ordered right from their website, but they are on eBay as well, so maybe it’s different going that route, I have no idea.
That sounds pretty typical for a dealership unfortunately. I’ve had them recommending things I didn’t need quite a bit. The worst is when they tell you something needs replaced for some dumb reason, which showed me that they just recommend things sometimes without even checking to see if what they are recommending to be replaced........ is a brand new part that had just been replaced. The reason it really upsets me is because someone like my wife or mom who doesn’t have a clue, will then be like “well that’s really expensive, but it sounds like it’s really important, and could be dangerous if it isn’t fixed right away.
Sorry for the rant! I just despise dishonest business practices.
Glad this thread is getting some mileage!
Motor on!

 

Good find for those of us with N18 engines. Founds this on AliExpress for a fraction of the cost elsewhere. Look what I found on AliExpress
http://s.aliexpress.com/MvMrU3ie
Seems the word is getting around of the high failure rate. May also be other Mini engines covered so do a search on Ali-E.

 

That’s a good find! And it has a new cap too! That’s hell of a deal, I paid double that from Russia! Thanks for putting the link here for everyone.

 

Good find - bad timing (on my part). I just ordered from the Russian site this morning. I guess I'll be really careful removing the cap.

 

It’s really not that bad. I was really paranoid about breaking it, but if you take your time removing it, you will be fine. At worst if a clip or two does break, you can use JB plasti-weld to glue it back on.

 

Yeah, went the Russian route at first but the plastic cap blew of on the highway. Ended up getting a whole new valve cover after that. It might be a good idea to buy this Ali-E kit for backup and keep it in the glove box. These diaphragms seem to fail without much warning.

 

Based on Minnie's experience, I ordered the diaphragm only. I'll probably order a kit from the source you linked as well so that I'll have a spare cap just in case. The price is right so why not.

Edit: I just ordered the kit from AliExpress. Will update when it arrives.

 

Although mine is still holding just fine running 22psi boost. No vacuum leak there and not a spot of oil residue around it. That being said, for the price, it’s totally worth it to buy just to have a spare sitting around. I will probably do that. Like mentioned, the diaphragm is likely to eventually fail again.

 

In addition to the Russian diaphragm, I ordered he AliExpress diaphragm with cover. It arrived today. The diaphragm seems inferior to the one from Russia. I don't yet know how well the cover will fit but I am dubious (perhaps unfairly but the diaphragm makes me wonder). I hope that I'm able to remove the original cover without incident and don't have to rely on the one from AliExpress.

 

I just ordered the N12 membrane repair from ECS. Thank you, El Grumpus, for the writeup - I will be careful when it gets here!

 

Glad to help

 

Arrived today and I installed. Broke 2 clips removing the old cover , broke another on the new cover - fortunately the broken clip on the new cover corresponded to the location where the valve cover top covers it and fits/holds into the new cover groove, so hopefully secure - took her for a short spin - it didn't blow off and idle/acceleration time noticeably improved.

They should just write in the instructions "break two retaining clips upon removal, figure something out." If this doesn't stay secure I'll glue it with JB Weld Plastic or buy another - 30.00 cheaper than a new valve cover.

Thanks again for the writeup - I didn't feel like a total knuckle dragger when I broke the clips.

 

If it doesn’t stay, just put a little bit of epoxy on it.

 

Have you try to use W40 before prying the old cover assembly and installing the new one? If the sitting around these covers become so filthy with leak debris with time, they should not be that hard to come off....... or even a heat gun to pop them out.