Another update on my Mini.
All the parts arrived neatly through FedEx on Tuesday lunchtime. So I scheduled a visit to the Garage on Wednesday afternoon (yesterday).

Went there and sat with the mechanics, thoroughly pressure cleaned the sump, scraped off all the residual sealant, cleaned up the surfaces with 120 emery paper, added fresh sealant and had it bolted back on.

While doing this, we observed that despite my entire engine oil having been drained and changed at the end of December 2020 and despite having only driven around 4000kms since then, the said oil was already pretty black. So it is definitely going to be changed again now (just 7months down the line) along with the oil filter. Luckily I have all of these things in stock with me.

Then we installed the Crankcase Ventilation Hose with accompanying Nut, Bolt and Valve to the sump. And attached the other end of the hose to the Turbo hoses.

Then we refitted the drive shaft and all the engine and sump bedding. It was necessary to pull all this out in order to access the tight squeeze areas around the sump.

Next we pulled out the old OEM Air filter and put a new Mahle one in.

We prised open the PCV chamber on top of the valve cover and thoroughly cleaned it out. And changed the membrane, the spring and the cover itself and pressed it back in. Frankly the PCV membrane was dirty and oily and it was not very soft and responsive as a membrane should be. So its a good thing we changed that.

The next steps will be on Friday after the sump sealant has had time to sit and set.
We will be replacing the oil filter and the engine oil completely with lovely fresh BMW LL01FE (recommended) oil. While the capacity is 4.3 Litres, I believe since the sump was completely removed and cleaned, this time it will take more oil - perhaps 4.5-4.6 litres. Anyway we will see all that tomorrow…

After doing this we intend to get the car started and check for any codes by running the scanner. We think there will be some residual codes. We intend to erase these and then test drive the car for some number of kms giving it the right levels of workout, acceleration, working through the gears with the paddle shifters and so on.

Let’s observe what happens…Fingers Crossed.





Crankcase ventilation Hose and Nut from Pelican Parts!

The most important piece in the puzzle…

Nice fresh new Air Filter from ECS tuning

All the parts neatly assembled. 5 litres of BMW recommended LL01FE Engine Oil. From BMW India.

Nice new Mahle Air Filter from ECS Tuning

Car sitting on the post lift.

What lies beneath the sump cover

Sump - sealant application

Sump fixed up

OEM factory fit PCV Valve cover

Dirty PCV valve inside

Dirty PCV valve membrane

Dirty PCV valve membrane and spring

Fresh ocv valve membrane and spring from ECS Tuning

New PCV valve cover from ECS Tuning

Car now awaits oil filling and new filter on Friday (tomorrow)…

 

Right so here is the further update on my Cooper S.
I went to the garage this morning and we did the following things immediately.
1. removed the old oil filter and installed a brand new one. (Any way the oil was completely drained)
2. Poured 4 full litres of that lovely BMW LL 01 FE oil into the oil tank. And then the dipstick showed that it was full.
3. We re checked all the hoses and connections.
4. We turned on the ignition and checked for all fault codes and did a general erase.
5. Took the car slowly out for a drive. On the highway we stepped on the gas for a bit.

And then BOOM. The same original half check engine light came on saying emissions and engine power loss and all the rest of it.

So we went back to the garage very slowly and scanned the car for error codes. The error codes that came up were the same combustion misfire and several cylinders and injection shutdown and error cylinder 2 misfiring.
So we let it cool a bit.

And turned the ignition on again. And scanned it again. and this time there were no engine fault codes at all, either in the cars own system or on the OBD scanner. This was definitely weird.

So we started the car again and took it for a short spin and upon accelerating briefly there was an immediate jerking and stuttering and misfiring and we quickly went back to the garage and scanned it another time.
This time the same errors came up showing Cylinder 2 misfire. Combustion error and all.

So I then called a couple of my friends to check what this could be and one of them came up with the bright idea of switching over the ignition coils and spark plugs to see what would happen.

So we pulled out the coils from cylinder 2 and cylinder 3 and the spark plugs as well. And we switched them around. And erased all the error codes and went for another drive.

Again upon accelerating the car started stuttering and vibrating and the same half check engine light came on showing increased emissions and so on. So we pulled off the road and scanned the car again with the OBD scanner. And this time, the error codes came up showing Cylinder 3 misfire. Combustion error. Etc.

So with all this R&D so far, we have narrowed things down quite a bit and believe that one Ignition Coil is damaged and this is probably because of sheer age - the car is 9 years old after all.

I have decided to change out all 4 of these and upgrade to the Iridium Spark Plugs too which I bought last week.

So I went right back to check with BMW India about availability and it appears that these coils are indeed available in India at around 95 USD equivalent per piece and it will take 12 working days to arrive at their service centre.

Then I checked with ECS Tuning in USA and the product is priced at approx 40 USD each and I can even get nice Bavarian MotorSports High Performance Coils. And some di electric grease and the ignition coil puller too. So I ve gone ahead and ordered the whole stack. With Fedex International Priority Shipping it is very possible these products will come along mid next week or so.

I do hope this set of steps helps to solve the problem…

Fingers Crossed till the Parts Arrive and get fitted into my Poor Mini Cooper S. It’s been down and out for a long time, I cant wait for it to become alright and to drive it again. I really hope this time, we get it back on the road in fine fettle.

More later once the Coils arrive….


8 months oils oil filter and O ring

See the nice new ventilation hose

New oil filter

Nice fresh BMW LL01 FE Oil

Fresh golden oil

The car ready for test drive



Boom. The engine error upon acceleration

The error code 1

Error code 2

Error code 3

Error code 4

Error code 5

When parked after the first test drive

Funny that there was no error code

After switching around the Ignition Coils and Spark Plugs

After Switching the ignition coils and spark plugs

After Switching the ignition coils and spark plugs

After switching the ignition coils and spark plugs

After switching the ignition coils and spark plugs

So there I go again. Ordered the parts from ECS Tuning USA…..

 

So now here is an update as on Monday 26 July and Tuesday 27 July (today).
All the parts I had ordered arrived at home through Fedex. It’s a good thing that USA is one day behind India. I had ordered the parts on Friday lunchtime India time and they reached my house Monday lunchtime India time which I think is just fantastic.
So I have planned to spend tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon with the mechanics at the garage and swap out all my present OEM Ignition Coils for these high performance ones. And even though I had just last week, changed all my OEM spark plugs to another set of OEM spark plugs, I am going to remove those and replace them with these Iridium Performance Spark Plugs now.
I ve also bought the correct Ignition Coil Puller Tool. And a tube of di-electric grease as well.
I ll do the swap changes by the book and make the mechanics follow my instructions all of which are derived from YouTube and the Haynes Manual which I have.
So here are the pictures of the new parts.
Will post more after installation and with this, I do hope the car comes back to normal.
Fingers Crossed.


Ignition coil puller tool from ECS Tuning

New High Performance Ignition Coils from ECS Tuning

New High Performance Iridium Spark Plugs from ECS Tuning

Loctite Dielectric grease from ECS Tuning.

The set of 4 Ignition coils and 4 spark plugs and the puller tool

Set of 4 coils and spark plugs and puller tool

 

So here is my update of today 28 July 2021.
As planned this afternoon I went across in a taxi to the Workshop and carried with me all the parts that I had recently bought so as to fix them on the car.
The first thing we did was check the oil and realised it can handle a small 200-300ml top up. So we did that.
Then we pulled out the Ignition coils and the spark plugs.
Quickly primed the new coils spark plug boots and connectors with the dielectric grease and installed the spark plugs first and then installed the fresh new coils.
Shut the plastic cover plate and checked all the wires etc once more, since the car had been lying idle since Friday.
Then we switched the ignition on and scanned the car completely for all error codes. We saw the same codes which we had observed on Friday. So we cleared the codes completely and eased the car out.
Filled up some nice premium petrol and went for a 20 km drive, at varying speeds, accelerating several times to allow the turbo to kick in and the boost etc. The car performed as well as it always had, prior to these recent developments. Clearly the engine was breathing well and there were no check engine lights coming on and there was no stuttering or retardation or hesitation at all. Acceleration was smooth and the car actually felt like it had had a pretty good clean up inside the engine. All well so far.
So we came back to the garage and I asked them to scan it again just to see if any errors appeared. We scanned it thoroughly and saw two error codes; 2F7C Super Knocking Injection Switch off. And 2F76 Super knocking Cylinder 1 Injection switch off. This began to worry me so I checked with a number of friends including the Engineering Consultant. I was concerned about timing chain and tensioner and/ or Knock sensor etc. However, one of my friends and the consultant, both suggested to clear the error codes and test drive it again, citing that it could be because the error codes may have been stored in the memory and hence appearing. Also it could be some oil left over in the chamber or it could be that we needed to simply add some fuel octane booster and injection cleaner to the tank.
So anyway, we cleared the two codes and took the car again for a 20Km drive and accelerated and worked through the gears and enjoyed the sound and the speed and the acceleration and the turbo kick and all.
Came back a second time to the workshop and scanned the car once more.
This time, we didnt see any error codes popping up.
So, I had the car cleaned thoroughly and washed and drove it home.
No problem so far.
I will be driving it locally for errands and all over the next few days. The car will be in convalescence at home and under observation for now.
Fingers Crossed!


Fixed the nice new Iridium Spark Plugs and Ignition Coils

Nice clean engine bay after checking all the connectors and all.

Gave it a quick clean and took it for Test drive No 1 today

Error code 1 After Test Drive No 1 today

Error code No 2 After Test Drive No 1 today

After clearing these Error codes and performing Test Drive No 2, there were no further Error Codes found.

The car is now ready to drive away…

The present odo reading on the way back home…

 

Some Further Plans for the Cooper S. I will try to achieve all this in the next few months.

I intend to buy a complete Timing Chain and Guides and tensioner kit and have it changed.
I also intend to buy this Oil Catch Can and install it, so that the oily vapours do not go and coat the intake valves and foul up the PCV system.

Ive attached pictures of the parts I intend to buy for these two jobs above…

These steps may not be strictly necessary right now because as can be seen, the car has just about done 47000kms, but I would like to keep this car and run it and enjoy it for some more years and anyway I vastly prefer performing preventive maintenance.

 

I’m reading a number of conflicting notes on the recommended oil change intervals for the R56 Mini Cooper S.
Some say 10000km, 15000km and some even say every 6 months irrespective of the kms driven.
Anyway, today I have bought 4-5 litres of the BMW LL 01 FE oil and will keep it in stock at home.
I always feel reassured when I have enough engine oil in stock at home for my Mini.
will keep checking the car for oil levels and top up as required. And will change out the oil next by Jan/Feb 2022…
Maybe I will do two oil changes every year. Once in Jan and Once in July.
Just to be on the safe side.

But any recommendations from experts out here, will be more than welcome.

 

The Cooper so far has been driving quite nicely after coming out of the workshop. I am going to keep driving it around the city for some time and after a bit, I will take it out on the highway. It seems to be accelerating better and it certainly seems to be breathing better after all this recent treatment. Let’s hope it sustains its wonderful character into the future.
It is indeed a great car to have, though quite effort intensive and expensive in the maintenance department (at least in India…)


Around the city 1

Around the city 2

Around the City 3

Around the City 4

Around the city 5

 

Nice!

Oil Should be done at 5000-7500 miles

I would not wait till 15,000 miles or the updated OBC 10,000 miles.