I was recently talking to an old friend that used to work a bmw and he ws telling me that the ecu in bmw's would record highest rpm reached and how long it was held and top speed reached and how long it was held. he was also saying that some of the new bmws they were going to be able to tell if the air flow into the engine had ever been changed and other simple things that the ecu would be able to record and store in its self and then could be pulled back up by teh dealer on their computers. Just curious to see if any one new if that was true and if the mini's ecu is similar at all. Cause that would suc for voiding warranties.

 

Do you mean it records what the engine does? Doesn't the ECU keep you with the limits? You are still under warranty if the ECU keeps you in limits. Do you understand what I am saying?

 

>>I was recently talking to an old friend that used to work a bmw and he ws telling me that the ecu in bmw's would record highest rpm reached and how long it was held and top speed reached and how long it was held. he was also saying that some of the new bmws they were going to be able to tell if the air flow into the engine had ever been changed and other simple things that the ecu would be able to record and store in its self and then could be pulled back up by teh dealer on their computers. Just curious to see if any one new if that was true and if the mini's ecu is similar at all. Cause that would suc for voiding warranties.

sort of 'big bro is watching ya'
seriously though, I thought there is both a speed limiter (136 mph on MCS) and a rev limiter (ECU) built in. I believe both of these hold usage of the engine within permitted specs, so MINI could not use this info - even if available via the ecu - to deny a warranty claim.
Plus, RandyBMC pointed out that the MCS valvetrain is good for a rev limit of 7800 rpm, so going to 7k rpm should not be a problem. Someone also pointed out that short of modifying the engine, it's just about impossible to destroy it 'on purpose', as the ecu will not let you do that.

I really don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

No Problem. The highest RPM you ever reach should be the cap on the rev limiter, and as throttle dies when you get there you wont be there very long!