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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).
Hey all, I am about to try to do the PCV repair on my N18, the diaphragm will be here today. According to the folks at Vanos-BMW.com if you break any of the clips on the little cover over it when removing it, just glueor epoxy it back on when you reassemble it. A guy I talked to did this very thing and said after about 2 weeks the glue let go and the cap shot off! Lol, i obviously want to avoid this! He ended up finding a used VC and carefully removed the cap without breaking the tabs and all is well for him now. My question to all of you out there is...... if I do accidentally break one or more of the clips I will need to glue it. The website says this will work fine, but I’ve heard a different story, lol.
So.... with me not knowing what kind of composite the VC is made from, what do you all think is the best adhesive to use there if I need to? I have thought about JBweld, epoxies and so on, but even with epoxy.which one? I’m stuck here, mired in indecision and could use some opinions here!
Thanks in Advance. I know somebody out the will have the answer
to glue the handle back onto a golf training swing thingy. Plastic onto a fiberglass rod. It is on very firmly and the force exerted is pretty intense compared to a plastic cover in the engine bay. It does bond many dissimilar plastics.
btw - the golf training device didn't make me any better than the truly awful golfer I was to begin with.
Whatever you go with, make sure its EXTRA clean and is rated for use in contact with oil. I would assume that's why the other one failed after two weeks.
Allot of "cast" plastic parts are HDPE that not too much will adhere to. I use a soldering gun and "weld" cracked/broken HDPE together. I did this about a year ago on the MINI air filter cover where one of the back clips was broken. Your standard zip tie works as the welding rod. There are youtube videos for "welding plastic."
It is what I am doing with the shifter cover after I install a short shifter.
Thank you all for the replies, that’s great info from all 3 of you, now I need to ponder it....lol
Im making a bit of a leap here, but I’m hoping that some of the other plastic parts in the engine bay are made of a similar material. So I’m thinking that maybe I’ll go pick up a couple different things to try. I have an old thermostat housing and some others parts laying around that I thought I could test them on. But I’d like to get it done today, but Also don’t want to rush it.
Thank you!
So I went out and bought a couple different things to try. I got some of the loctite mentioned above. Some JB weld that is supposed to bond to it, and a gorilla glue epoxy that I don’t have a lot of hope for, lol.
On the assumption that most of the plastic parts in there are made of similar materials (I hope) and since I have a few old parts laying around like a thermostat housing and intake muffler and various other things I have replaced. I am going to test the glues out tonight and see which one works the best. If I have a winner, I will confidently proceed to replacing that diaphragm in the morning after it warms up a bit. It’s been pretty cold up here for the last week. I’m not going outside until the ice on the windshield is melted and the sun is shining on the hood! Lol. If it’s too cold I might just have to head over to my buddies house and use his heated garage, just for the epoxy to set. I’ll have to check the working temperature on them.
Well folks, for anyone curious, we have a definitive winner in the adhesive competition!
I didn’t even try the Gorilla Glue Epoxy, since after reading closer, it won’t bond to polyethylene or polypropylene and also it’s effective temp range only went up to 180 degrees F.
The loctite has a neat way of applying it and I thought it may be the one, but this morning when I put some pressure on it, the bond let go almost immediately! Too bad, I liked it too! Lol. I’m sure it’s awesome for lots of applications, just not this one.
Aaaand that brings us to the JB Weld Plastic-Weld. It’s just like a 2 part epoxy, and boy oh boy! It works! And I mean IT WORKS! Holy cow! The sample that I tried it on is now together forever I think! I reefed on that thing until my fingers felt like they were about pull off, lol. That stuff is strong and boy does it bond!
The added bonus is that it only takes an hour to fully cure, so I’ll be driving today to test my fix instead of having to wait 24 hours.
So if anybody out there ever needs to glue something made of this dang plastic composite stuff. This is what you need!
The goods
That thing is never coming off! Hmmm, something is missing
Well after all of that I ended up not needing to use any. I got the darn thing off without breaking any clips, but I’m glad I had something at hand, just in case!
Thanks for the help!
Mr Grumpy, thank you for this test and information on the JB weld for plastic. Wow just when I need this information. I'm going to be pulling apart an n14 vavle cover to do my own rendition of a pcv system. I will NOT be venting to atmosphere but I'm hoping to never have to mess with a new cover again. If it doesn't work I will just get another. I'll be posting what I do but basically I want to try and make an oil catch can right inside the cover. Now I know what glue to use so thanks 😎
Mr Grumpy, thank you for this test and information on the JB weld for plastic. Wow just when I need this information. I'm going to be pulling apart an n14 vavle cover to do my own rendition of a pcv system. I will NOT be venting to atmosphere but I'm hoping to never have to mess with a new cover again. If it doesn't work I will just get another. I'll be posting what I do but basically I want to try and make an oil catch can right inside the cover. Now I know what glue to use so thanks 😎
Hey sure thing. I never was able to determine for sure if the valve cover is made of the same material, but I think it’s close enough that it should work fine. I’m pretty sure it’s all HDPE or whatever it’s called, lol.
That sounds like an interesting project, let me know how it goes
This is great! Thanks Grumps. Now let's see how that PCV fix goes altogether. You may just very well be "the guy who successfully fixed the N18 PCV in valvecover" now. That's a big contribution to the whole club of people who won't want to spend tons of money to replace the entire cover. Though I don't have the N18 motor, I just can't imagine owning one and having to go through this hassle. Hats off, kudos.
This is great! Thanks Grumps. Now let's see how that PCV fix goes altogether. You may just very well be "the guy who successfully fixed the N18 PCV in valvecover" now. That's a big contribution to the whole club of people who won't want to spend tons of money to replace the entire cover. Though I don't have the N18 motor, I just can't imagine owning one and having to go through this hassle. Hats off, kudos.
Thank you! I appreciate that. So far so good! The car is running smooth and strong! The engine is quieter now too. And I didn’t realize how much it had tanked, but I also picked up about 6 mpg in fuel economy! I’m quite happy with the results so far! It was definitely bad, the diaphragm has several rips and holes.
They sell the diaphragm for all Mini engines that have these too, N14, N18, and N54. Plus the non-turbo engines too.
