Hi all and thanks for having me here Please excuse the length of the post just trying to give as mush info as possible.

My daughters Mini is poorly and poor old dad is supposed to be the go to dad to fix it Dad did not get to see/look/drive the Mini before daughter purchased it. The car has covered 98,000 miles.

Daughter purchased the Mini a couple of months back (private sale) first few weeks all good then the thermostat split in half!

Mini towed home, replaced thermostat, started engine up, made some curious noises, removed exhaust catalytic heatshield to find turbo to cat gasket burnt out and only 1 stud holding the cat on. Also had what sounded like a vacuum pipe leak, at tick over sprayed carb cleaner along inlet manifold to cylinder head revs went up and down. Removed inlet manifold to find 2 of the rubber inlet manifold to head gasket split, it looked like someone had put silicone sealant in there to try and fix the problems.

So new gaskets seals etc all fitted car started up and ran sweet, daughter very happy

All good for a couple of weeks Then one morning on start up from cold the engine was spluttering and coughing, RPM varied between 300 up to 1500 and the exhaust was very smoky (grey smoke).

This went on for about 30 seconds then it seemed to clear it self and then ran fine for the rest of the day. Over the next few days the spluttering and coughing rough running got worse and worse.
Used a code reader and Snap On diagnostic kit no engine fault codes stored so a little stumped at this. Dad replaced the plugs, air filter, fuel filter, oil filter, engine oil and Vanos solenoid.

Still the same at start up spluttering and coughing, RPM varied between 300 up to 1500 and the exhaust was very smoky (grey smoke). Still no fault codes stored.

So reaching out anyone got any ideas please help?? Dad is totally confused and daughter crying