Well, I now know where it needs the love... need your help R53 experts!!! I got the car to one of the two mechanics I trust a great deal. They had it for compression testing and smoke testing. They identified dirty fuel injector seals and I authorized those to be replaced. They bench tested the injectors and they are all good. Seals made it better but still had the misfire. They isolated the misfire to only idle - it all cleans up and fires on all four with full power at speed. So they started feeling like this isn’t mechanical and is all vacuum leak. Smoke test had smoke coming from the front under the intercooler somewhere, so they started pulling it apart with the smoke running to find it. They found it - burnt valve on cylinder 2. Remediation: pull the head, take to machine shop and rebuild with new seals and gaskets. Hers where I need help - anyone done this before? My mechanic is all good with my DIY attempts and thinks that with patience, this can be done at home (with a machine shop in the mix of course). All in they think I’d be at about $3,500 for their work plus a machine shop, or I can try it and probably be into a machine shop for maybe $300 to $500. I haven’t started looking at parts I need and costs there. We have no interest in parting with the car, so I’m going to try it. If I get stuck or can’t do it, I know what it takes to pay someone else to do it. I’m all ears for advice, ideas or to be talked out of this! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well I would like to say its not hard but it really depends on your level of knowledge and skill. I have never had to do a valve job on a R53 but I have done a lot of other cars. If you take your time and make sure you get the timing right you'll be fine. Two things I would suggest. 1 Get a Bentley manual https://www.partsgeek.com/ns159tq-mini-cooper-paper-repair-manual.html?gb=pp&cid=28884375&aid=4168799307&kid=1100003047982&msclkid=168476bdd79e1dfcb49216a1622b17ff&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping(BSC)&utm_term=1100003047982&utm_content=Ad+group+#1& 2 be ready to do extra work. If you're digging this deep don't cheep out. Replace any worn parts like timing chain, guid and tensioner. You don't want to do this and then have to go back in. But I think you should go full physco! get a RMW big valve head, its under 3K http://store-revolutionmini-com.3dcartstores.com/RMW-Big-Valve-Head-wcore-charge-added_p_76.html or even better get a RMW full stroker motor its only 10K Its only money. We will be here to help if you need it. Also consider doing a build thread with pictures as you go. Here is some of the places I like getting parts. Their good people. https://www.detroittuned.com https://www.outmotoring.com for used parts https://www.allmagautoparts.com Good luck!
Haha I like the full psycho logic... my son is obsessed with the Monster Minis, he’ll probably try to work that angle! Completely agree with the “while you’re in there philosophy.” I have a lot of research and planning to do next to map it all out and decide on what all those extras should be. My mechanic basically said exactly what you did. It’s a big job but not incredibly hard, possible to DIY with patience and being organized about all my parts, documenting as I go. I will be back with a new post to start build thread when we get started. It’s super cold here for the foreseeable, I’m hoping my mechanic can tell me it’s okay to drive a bit longer before digging in. I’d love to give it a few weeks to a month for slightly milder temps out in the garage. But if that could threaten to do additional damage I’ll just suck it up and be cold. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Like Lee said get a Bentley manual. It will be money well spent. It's the MINI maintenance bible. I'm sure you can do this. As far as adding lots of power, remember your MINI has a lot of miles on it. Not sure how much power you can add before your MINI says enough. Detroit Tuned is a great place for parts & knowledge. FCP Euro is also a good place to buy parts. I wouldn't drive the car until you fix it. If it drops that burned valve you will be looking for a new engine. Pretty sure you & your son will enjoy this project. It's a great bonding opportunity.
Thanks for the encouragement, very cool. I’m excited to dig into it honestly. My son is nervous about it, but our options leave us with little to do but throw more cash at it than the value of the car, part it out and buy a used car that brings someone else’s high-mileage problems, or do as much prep as we can and go for it. He and I both have a few adventurous gear head friends, so between them and you all on this forum and YouTube (and the Bentley guide which I will probably buy) I feel optimistic. Pretty certain I won’t be throwing any power upgrades at it. High miles on the little lump as you mentioned, plus it is my son’s daily driver, not mine... can’t say I possess the world’s most conservative impulse control, but at 44 compared to his 18, I wouldn’t feel great about the extra juice being under his foot instead of mine. FCP is my go-to for everything on the mini and my 540. I’ll probably comparison shop a bit more than usual for this job though, so the kinks you’ve both shared so far are helpful. I’ve looked at Detroit Tuned pulleys before, and I’ve bought some accessories from Out Motoring in the past. I’ll be stocking up on several things this time around. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It isn't a hard job to do. This is a pretty good video of what you'll have to do to pull the head and put is back on.
Found that video shortly before you shared, it’s my go-to for now. I’m planning my attack. So far I’m planning to replace the timing chain, guides and tensioner while I’m in there, along with the chain cover gaskets of course. I’ve also found a head gasket kit at FCP for $144. Appears to include head gasket, supercharger duct gasket, valve cover gasket, plus many other rings and seals, a couple of flanges and o-rings and 16 small plug-looking things. For some reason the product page doesn’t list the individual parts in the kit but it looks like a good place to start. https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mini-cooper-cylinder-head-gasket-set-elring-11120147561 for a photo of the stuff. What else would anyone recommend I do while I have the engine in this state and with 152,000 miles on the clock? I’ll have the luxury of taking my time, especially while the head is at the machine shop for the valve job (so far I have one estimate at $375 and another at $850... wider discrepancy than I expected). Pulley makes sense, I should add that. What other seals and gaskets am I not thinking about? Should I do engine mounts (pretty sure they are original, I don’t recall ever needing them to be replaced). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would change the oil filter housing casket, the crank seal. Maybe take a good look at the oil pan gasket and any other oil leaks you may have. If you get a supercharger pulley you will need a shorter belt. Replace the idler pulley and tensioner while your at it. I would replace all of those even it you don’t do the pulley. I believe the oil pressure sensor on the front of the motor is known to leak. I would pull it and use red RTV to seal it.
As was previously stated a new crank damper and since we are spending your money an ATI damper would be a superb replacement.
Spend away!!! I don’t plan to be this deep into the engine for a long time, if ever... want to take advantage and do it right. We enjoy the car and love the idea of giving it a major refresh like this. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Those 16 plug looking things are new valve seal, you'll want to get those to your machine shop if they are reinstalling the valves and springs. Careful this is a slippery slope. There are lots of maintenance jobs that are just a little more work to get done. This is also one of those jobs where one thing will lead to another either by choice or encountered problems. If you're following the mod mini video you won't be putting the car into service mode and you won't need all the gaskets in that kit because your not pulling the supercharger to service this, but you could. You also won't have access to the crank sensor and dipstick tube that like to leak oil, but if you're doing the supercharger then this is a great opportunity and then you might want to look at the water pump. The timing chain can stretch, but they rarely fail and if it hasn't been a problem you may want to leave it. Note also that as the chain stretches the sprockets also wear, and badly worn sprockets will prematurely wear a new chain if they are not replaced with it. The cam sprocket is easy to change but the one on the crank is pressed on. If you are going to do the timing chain then this is a good opportunity to change the crank damper. I recommend the PRW damper over the ATI. Lower cost, works better, and never needs to be rebuilt because there is no rubber. It is very common for the parts of the chain guides to have broken off and fallen into the oil pan. There is a screen on the oil pickup and these pieces can get stuck in the screen and restrict flow. This is a reason to pull the oil pan to clean it out and replace the gasket. Then you might find the rear seal has been leaking and your this far so time for a new clutch and rear seal. Did I mention coolant lines and the plastic couplers, thermostat and housing? You'll want to replace the thermostat and perhaps the housing. Inspect the coolant hoses and plastic couplers. Hoses get soft over time and the plastic couplers get brittle. Camshaft? Check it and the rockers for wear. Removing the head does give better access to the oil filter housing and cooler so inspect for leaks and replace the gaskets.
Every thing @myles2go said. I have to correct my earlier post. I said the oil pressure sensor leaks to put a new seal on it and use Red RTV it’s the crank position sensor as @myles2go said. Also as he said there were several hoses I had to replace on my R53.
This is brilliant stuff, thanks for the rundown. I’m on the right track - you’re pretty much describing my plans. I did since figure out that the kit includes the valve seals and I’ve sorted it out with the shop I’m going to use that I’ll supply those. I’ve decided that I will in fact put the car in front end service mode. I plan to replace the crankshaft position sensor o-ring and it will be easier to get to that way. I don’t want to pull the supercharger if I can help it. I just had it out in May of 2020 and filled it with fresh oil, replacing the green gasket and the block gasket at that time. I’m going to put on a 15% reduction pulley to replace the still-original. Thanks for the recommendation on the PRW damper over the ATI. I have been uncertain on that front so far but PRW will be my solution. I’m going to replace the idler tensioner and pulley too. And of course the belt even though I just put it on last May but I don’t think I should reuse that with all the new pulleys. I hear you on timing chain. Now I’m not sure. I planned on replacing the chain, both guides and the tensioner. But you make a good point. Thing is the car has always - and I mean from when it was only about two years old - had an on-again-off-again rattle on cold startups that has always sounded like the chain flapping into the guides. The one time the oil pan was off, years ago, my mechanic didn’t see any guide bits in there. My BMW had this rattle too and I replaced the tensioner and that solved it. Possibly that’s all that’s going on with the Mini but at that point I can’t help but think I should pull all of it and start with new parts. They all have 152,000 miles on them. And I would learn how to time an engine to somewhat become prepared for the inevitable timing job on my 540 in the future. I also already plan to replace the oil pan gasket and the oil filter housing gasket. The car will be laid up for at least a week or two, easily two full weekends but probably three. Machine shops in my area are slammed right now. Best choice is a guy with a three week lead time. He thinks he’ll be more caught up by the time I get my head to him but still, i don’t expect it back to me with a day or anything. So I’ll be able to take my time, being patient and tackling one of these jobs at a time with no rush or time pressure. Given that scenario, I want to take full a day and do as much of the hard-to-reach jobs as I can while it’s so thoroughly dismantled. I’ll probably start my build thread here soon and in my first post I’ll include a link to the spreadsheet I’m building of all my parts and prices and sources for ordering. I don’t plan on ordering everything until later this week/next week. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I did the timing chain because new guides and tensioner only temporarily fixed the chain noise. I did not replace the old sprockets and everything has been fine. Timing this engine is easy when your are putting on a new timing chain, just line up the marks on the chain with the ones on the sprockets and your done. The cam timing tool makes this really easy because it puts the crank and cam in the correct position when disassembling and the cam in the right spot when reassembling. Note: All the pistons will be centered in the cylinders at this position and the mark on the crank sprocket will point towards the front of the car. Make sure it is this way when reinstalling the head.
Super helpful, thanks. I haven’t yet started my timing research so this is a good start to visualize it. So far I’ve understood the timing chain remaining under tension and marking it as seen in the Mod Mini video for the cylinder head, but since I’ll actually be removing it I need to learn those additional steps. My brand new Bentley manual arrived today so that and YouTube are my best friends for the foreseeable future. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
New to the forum, but I've been digging through the Bentley Manual to track down the cause of my DTC P0456 and found that on page 13-77 in the Diagnostic section they discuss the Purge valve. Essentially, the ECM has two tests it performs on the solenoid purge valve. If it fails the first (basically a rich/lean test) it tries a second (confirmes a swing in RPM). If it fails the second, then it throws its own code (Codes P0441, P0443, P0444, and P0445 all are related to the solenoid purge valve). So, if you are getting an evaporative emissions leak code all by itself, then the purge solenoid valve is likely not the culprit. Thought this might help others that are also tracking these trouble codes down. Also, on page 160-15, they describe the LDP/DMTL (leak diagnostic pump) system, which is located behind the right rear wheel housing liner (you have to remove the wheel and the liner). The charcoal filter and the pump and some related hoses are located here and may be worth inspecting. Link: Here's some additional/interesting info on LDP/DMTL systems (they have specific discussions on BMW's method). Codes related to the LDP/DMPL are P1436 (software), P1437 (software), P1442 (low voltage), P1443 (high voltage), P1475 (reed switch + solenoid), P1476 (line clamped), and P1477 (reed switch). Oh, and almost forgot to describe my journey through this. My '02 R53 was throwing the P0456 code and it was NOT clearing; It would immediately reappear. I replaced my gas cap gasket ($9 on amazon), it was cracked. This, however, did not change a thing. I did some looking around because the someone suggested to look at the vacuum lines around the airbox and sure enough I found cracks on a vacuum spur connection in the main intake "snorkel". I just want to pass smog for now, so I put some silicone sealant around it and replaced the band clamp and it changed from an active code to a pending code - which, as long as it holds on for the next 50-100 miles, will allow me to pass. I didn't chase down the end of this vacuum tube, when looking around some say it's a crankcase vent (looking at installation instructions for the K&N Typhoon 69-2021TP cold air intake), but it sure looks like it runs in the direction of the solenoid purge valve. I wonder if a leak in vacuum here causes the sensor to think there's a small leak. Edit: I should note that the diagnostic test suggested does involve removing one end of the tube between the solenoid purge valve and the charcoal filter and performing a vacuum test and a smoke test. The vacuum test (should be 0.00" of vacuum) and the smoke test are both performed from the purge valve side of the tube. Edit 2: the spur on the "snorkel" does go to the crank case vent. The other end of the tube leaving the top of the purge solenoid valve goes to a brass nipple on the throttle body.
@casper911ca wow! Thanks that will help someone. Welcome to MA! Let me guess 911 your other car? Ca California where the EPA is very easy going on inspections
Thanks for the welcome. The screen name is from like.... 25+ years ago? Been using it ever since. I don't own a 911, but at the time the 993 911 was my kid dream car (I was so sad when they went water-cooled). And yes, California emissions. But who doesn't enjoy a good challenge!