Damn man... What happened with the blow out? I hope this wasnt the E55! I am just envisioning your super trick HRE's hitting the pavement at 80mph

It sounds like to me you need to come up to SB and take up drinkin' with me
Call me tomorrow.... Its Saturday! We can motor in the hills in my MINI then head down to the beach house for a couple whatevers.....

BTW... I ordered my Aero grills last night... Dont tell Nikki Your going to have to help me with the install. I know you got the trick secret procedure...

Jasun

 

hey Mario,

If you would like your pistons a little faster let me know... i may have a way to pull some strings...

 

I have mine on order and will be here in 2 weeks. I guess it's all in who you know.

Bill

 

exactly... it takes less than two weeks to get them if you really want them and know the right people

 

watcha buildin' there Bill?

 

I am not paying any extra fees to get them quickly either. 11 weeks to rebuild a car is ridiculous. I would seriously question what is going on in this instance. I wonder what the price is?

 

top secret but I will let you in on this. It will need pistons for it!

Bill

 

top secret huh... ohh wow... i love these projects... let me know how the turbo car comes along...

 

Bill

 

Cool thanks Justin, I will let you know when I find out the size I need. BTW are you help Mike out with a new 07 Mini?
M

 

yup! it looks like early next week we might put something together.

 

Yeah, Are you? Mike wants to know. He keeps bugging me.

 

lol... i believed i helped you handle your 04... and now i get the pleasure of ordering you a new 07!!!!!

no twin charge for you! Mike is running straight turbo right out of the box! hows that for most mods on the first day of ownership... lol...

 

I'm new to what seems like a very old thread here, but I've recently discovered I'm losing compression in my pistons too. #4 is at 85lbs, and the rest are all lower than normal (around 170lbs). It's been driving similar to Mario's - grumbling and even stalling at idle, but fine at speed, if a little gutless.

I've got a 2003, not S, no mods (how boring, huh?). It's got 70k miles, but this seems like a strange problem to be having at this mileage with all normal servicing and 91 gas being used throughout its life.

The mini dealer (SF) is treating me very well. So far they've taken the head off and determined the problem is burnt out exhaust valves in the head. 8 of those need replacing, as well as the seats. They've said they can rebuild the head for $3500, or replace it for $5000. They are also waiting to hear from mini's area manager to see if they will help me out with the repair at all, since I'm no longer under a warranty.

Anyone have any idea how this might have happened? How your everyday, joe-schmoe owner could avoid this? Or is this possibly some manufacturing error that led to this? I haven't found any other threads on compression problems in minis, so this seems to be an isolated incident.

Any advice/wisdom is greatly appreciated.

 

That's a lot of green for the repair. Classic Auto quoted me a rebuilt S head for a bit over $2k. Install should be about a grand. So there's a $2K premium on that.

The head can be repaired for a lot less, or for less than they are quoting but more than a repair you could upgrade to a ported/polished head and get some real performance gains.

Matt

 

+1 on what the Doc said.
I think the dealer price list on the head is in the $2500 realm, and you can get a good performance head from $1200-$2500 depending on which one.
--Dan

 

Why cant he get a secondhand S head and put it on his Cooper?

p.s. Mario, sorry about your car, that SUCKS.

I dont know if I would say it's nobodys fault tho.... I would say it's EVERYBODYS fault.

 

All the better reason to stick with one tuner if you're going to take your car to that far.

 

Mario how is the project coming along? What are you going to do regarding ECU tuning this time around?

 

It's the gas. High EGT is the cause. Once the exhaust valve starts to degrade they go in a hurry. The cure is better gas or additives. Not knowing what's avilable in your area, RON or if 93 is available, so I can't say what exactly could be added. While everything is apart make sure to check the injectors are working to spec (bad gas can cause injector issues that will directly effect EGT)

You could buy a better aftremarket head for a lot less & make power at the same time. Unfortunately it sounds like the dealer is already through the door.

 

Thanks. I've been using 91, which is the best gas readily available in my area (so far as I know - Bay Area), and is what's recommended by the dealer. It's odd that Mini wouldn't tell you you need fuel additives if you, in fact, do to keep your valves from burning up. I'll definitely ask for a check of the fuel injectors, just in case. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Well, I just got some great news today. MINI is going to spring for rebuilding the head. Amazing. I'm 100% out of warranty, but they agree this is something that shouldn't be happening at my mileage. Go MINI. I still don't know exactly how to avoid this problem in the future, but I'll explore that, and also take a look at the fuel injector, just in case.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Mario, best of luck with yours.

-taffy

 

Way to go

No you don't need to use an additive with every tank of gas. 91 is all there is???? SOCAL gas is bad enough.

 

So I don't know that you have to do anything. Just luck of the draw. I used Witch Hunter Performance (www.witchhunter.com, I think) for cleaning injectors. Fast turn around, $60 for cleaning and flow testing. I'm sure there are local options as well.

Congrats on the free head work!

Matt

 

Thanks Taffy and great job on the free head.