My first , asking for help, as I always find some answer somewhere. Bought 07 mini s new, now has 69,700 miles. Have been fighting P115c , replaced air filter, hose to turbo, valve cover and mas air flow, code went away and was replaced by p1497. I then replaced noise maker assy with single hose. I have no loss of power, runs great, only fault is it is a little hard to start. Please, need help !
If you have checked all the hoses then you may need to have a smoke test done to find the leak. 07 S has the N14 motor. Have you had it walnut blasted or checked for carbon build up? If not with those miles its time to have it checked.
The dealer smoke tested and replaced hose to turbo and replaced valve cover, code came back on before getting home. They thought leak could be downstream, thus the noise delete hose. That's when I replaced maf sensor and the p115c code went away.
Welcome to M/A! As a Gen 1 owner, I cannot be of help, but, as you can see, others with later generations have much more help to suggest you try. Walnut blasting is a common and a frequently done suggestion.
Because the N14 engine is a direct injection engine there is no gas to wash over the intake valves to keep them clean. Add to it the design of the PVC system and the valves start to get coked up with oil vapor from the crank case. One of the symptoms is hard starts after that it will start to run ruff at times. If nothing is done the valves will stick and eventually contact the piston. Then it time for a rebuild. Walnut blasting cleans all the carbon off your valves. Typical cost to have it done is about $800. Not saying this is your problem but you said it’s hard to start and it sounds like you have an air flow problem. Ether way with those miles I would have it blasted. BMW/MINI at first had the oil change interval at 15,000 miles on the N14 but after buying engines under warranty the lowered they mileage. The long interval added to the carbon build up problem. I would not go more than 5k between changes, I do it at 3K. In 2011 they changed to the N18 engine.
Update on P1497 code-----downstream throttle air leak. Someone said downstream is between throttle body and engine. Started from there and found ribbed plastic hose from intake manifold to valve cover was cracked and was hard to find as it is enclosed in a nylon mesh. Jerry rigged hose, reset codes, and it is running fine so far. New hose is on order. Will still look into the carbon buildup at later date. Thanks for the support, Ray
Had the dreaded 1497 after an oil change, and was worried the MAF had been damaged or similar. Turned out that the oil filler cap was not quite tightened down! Easy fix for once