Today was the 2nd time I've been to my dealer for my Service Engine SOon light being on. THe cause.... my ALTA Intake being loose. The first time, they tightened it up and everything was fine. That was about 2 months ago. After filling up gas this past Sunday, the light came on. I went to AutoZone and had them read the ECU and it came up with code P2096 - Fuel Trim Bank System 1 Too Lean. I told that to the service tech and he advised me to come in this Thursday morning. After the tech looked through the car and drove it around he told me he reset everything back to zero. He mentioned that the oil on the filter was making it slide back. When he first opened the bonnet, he pushed on the filter and he said it just fell back. After tightening the filter and the other hoses he told me that someones people over oil the filter and the oil clogs the sensors. I have yet to clean my filter since it's only been on for about 5k miles. He just told me before I left to beat on the car a little...don't over rev but just beat on it alittle to get the oil out of the system.

My question is, is this a normal problem with the ALTA Intake? or am I the only one receiving this problem?! I mean whats the deal? I havn't seen anyone post this problem on here before. All and all it just took about 2 hours out of my day to get all this worked out. I'm glad the Service Engine Soon light is off............................................... .............For now.


PS I also informed him that I was planning on getting the reduction pulley 15% installed by HELIX and the one tech that worked on my car mentioned that he's been having problems with people and there superchargers with the reduction pulley. I think I've seen one or two threads with problems with the 15% pulley. The tech is surely making me think twice about my mods now

 

normal failure mode for Alta CAI is a dripping oil mess and also cone filter falling off the heat sheild.

have not read about it sending DTC's.

 

Interesting ---

I have had mine on for two and a half years, 22k miles and have not experienced the problem you are having.
As you mention, I have not heard of a problem with the Alta CAI.

Not sure what to tell you......
Did you buy the filter new ????
My greatest fear has always been the breakdown of the foam itself...

Not a solution, just my two cents.

----------------
04 MCS EB/W "I12B BIG"

 

yea i bought the alta cai bring new.

 

If you bought the Alta Silcon hose then that might be the problem. My silcon piping had to be cut at an angle so it would sit flat on to the throttle body. If you don't do this then the tubing will start to ride up no matter how tight it is screwed on.
M

 

This could be one of those odd occurances. I've had my Alta CAI on my car for 20K miles (installed @ 100miles) and haven't had a problem with it.

 

No problems here either after 16 months and 30,000 miles.

 

I think your dealer is taking an easy way out. There is probably another problem somewhere.

 

Since you had just filled up, are you positive that the gas cap was properly screwed in? That can throw a CEL (though usually P0440 or evaporative emissions-related). I'm just wondering if your dealer may be too quick to be blaming your aftermarket mod.

After oiling, it's a good idea to clean the rubber portion of the Alta filter with say, a brake cleaner, to prevent slippage.

I've been guilty of over-oiling the Alta filter before - in fact, the oil puddled in the intake box and dripped out through the drain hole in the bottom. Didn't throw any CELs, though...

IMHO, too many dealerships try to scare their service customers. They would rather you come in and not know anything about your car. One little issue that grates on me is that on my last service visit to my dealer, they made the word "aftermarket" a dirty word, ie., they would tell me, "Your aftermarket components prevent us from properly diagnosing this problem," and "These aftermarket components need to be removed prior to service." The problem was that I KNEW the aftermarket components in question were nowhere near where they needed to access, but they insisted that the aftermarket components needed to be removed (which they were willing to do at $9 off the labour rate of $159/hr, but even then, the amount of time they wanted to allot for the job was 2-3 times the amount of time I would be able to do it in my own garage with simple hand tools). The final straw was when they informed me that a technician found that my BBKs were installed backwards, and offered to fix it at their reasonable rate. I'm not saying that I expect dealerships to take responsibility for the aftermarket components that I've installed, but in this case, I knew and they knew that the mods was nowhere near the affected area - they're just trying to play it safe, as dealerships are wont to do, and prematurely placing blame on your mods.

There's really no way to change the situation with the dealers, but you need to develop a good relationship with a local MINI shop instead of relying on dealers for diagnosis and advice, especially if you're planning to mod. It seems that you're lucky enough to have a particularly knowledgeable shop, Helix 13, nearby. Those guys will be more than happy to help you, as opposed to your dealer. The choice is ultimately yours: do you want a stock MINI that your dealer will service without giving you headaches, or are you willing to sacrifice some of that comfort and boost your performance with aftermarket mods? Of course, there's the JCW route, which combines the benefits of both options with a nice price premium. Can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

mdsbrain said it with much fewer words than I did.

 

Yes, but you used real life examples to back up your point

 

Silicone or Stock hose? how well does it fit around the TB? Coul any air be getting in there? How secure is the connection to the smaller outlet on the hose?

New and 5k on the clock since install before there is an issue its not the oil causing the problems, if it was within a week of install you may have case to say that but not now.

As far as the pulley, well the only issues I've heard of with the pulley were results of bad installs, do it right and there is rarely an issue with a 15, get into 17 and 19 you run the chance of over heating with extended boost.

 

I'm using the silicone hose that was included with the filter. As for how well it fits around the TB, I'm not sure. I did not do the install. I am not too auto-savy so I fear of doing mods myself.

 

I've had the Alta CAI and hose for more than 10k miles without problems. I do check everything is in place every so often, but have never found anything out of place. I've also cleaned it and re-oiled it twice during the same period, again no problems. Spray a bit of the Uni filter cleaner/solvent spray on the inside rubber of the filter and clean it up. Same for the outside metal box connection. Be sure they are both clean before re-installing.

I also agree with motor-on about the pulley. Every horror story about the 15% pulley install I've ever heard about was due to hack jobs while trying to save a couple of pennies. Spend the $, get the pulley done with somenone with plenty of MINI experience and you shouldn't have to worry about it.

 

I got the P2096 error last week. Thanks to this thread and some others here in the forum, I realized I probably had overoiled my filter two weeks ago. I had used the K&N oil on my Alta CAI filter on a poor suggestion on this site and from a clerk at Autozone.

So after I got the P2096 error, I researched more about the oil here and on the mini2 web site and I figured not only had I probably overoiled the filter (I found the puddle of oil when I took the filter back off) but the K&N oil is too thin. I cleaned the filter and reoiled it again this time with the UNI product (found at a motorcycle shop) and after three ignition starts the very next day, on the 4th start (yippee!) the Service Engine Soon light went off and has stayed off for at least 20 starts since.

Have to say I'm pretty proud of myself being I'm a girl who doesn't know much about anything under the hood of a car - but I'm learning!