1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Engine Died - Now it won't start!

Having just installed a new motor I can say that your injectors should keep firing as you crank. I had to crank the motor with the plugs out before first start up to prime the oil and ensure that the bearings were lubricated. I forgot to pull the fuel pump fuse and as I was cranking I could see fuel misting out of the holes and hear the injectors spraying. Did you check this ground wire to make sure both sides are connected?

 

I've seen Minis that would not start on a jump battery when the car battery was dead, I agree - get a new battery on principle, but I doubt that's the problem here.

However, take a close look at your crank pulley and make sure the rubber center hasn't come undone too....cause for a dead battery, tho you would get other warnings, like low power, no A/C, overheating and the alt light on if its bad enough.

 

Pop over to the plant in Oxford, cam in hand, ask nicely for a new one. :ihih:

 

turned over and removed a couple of the plugs straight away - they were wet with fuel

This would seem to indicate you have either no spark or no compression.

I'm always fascinated by how many parts people replace before they actually test anything.

Start with the basics - see if you have compression.

If good, move on to spark - pull a plug lead and ground it to the head someplace where you can see the spark and have someone crank it over. (If you need to - stick a phillips in the plug end and hold it near a ground)

If that's good, then move on to fuel.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

No compression.......who suggested that was the problem?????

I think it done blowed up.

 

I never would have guessed a snapped camshaft, I believe you might not have any other issues resulting from the split-up, the valves probably just closed up quick like. That cam definitely has a serious casting flaw!

 

Not something you see every day, that's for sure. I believe I would be having a talk with whoever supplied that camshaft!

 

Best possible outcome from a worst case scenario!

You'll have it up and running again in no time - good job.....

 

If it's a reputable shop they should be happy to supply you with a new replacement camshaft since the casting flaw is easy to see and since I'm assuming they installed the camshaft they should install it as well. I'm sure the shop will be happy for the simply fact that your motor wasn't damaged by their rebuild work. I would also contact the manufacture and let them know about the casting flaw, that way if there are other's like you out there that start splitting cams in half at least they will know.

Let us know what happens.

 

Boy.......hard to diagnose w/o a fault code. Strange it didn't throw a code.

 

Welcome, thanks for joining Motoring Alliance, the FUN and Friendly MINI Community.

I'm just going to toss this out there since the injectors fire off once. Fuel Filter, they are not as lifetime as MINI says they are. My thought is enough fuel can get into the pump through the filter to inject once, then it has to sit and slowly refill the area around the pump.

Just tossing that out there, I'd follow Minidave's suggestions first. he's much more well versed at this than myself.

 

Welcome to M/A! You can always find people here who are willing to help solve MINI problems.

 

If your plugs are soaked then that is one problem that needs corrected.

Unfortunately I am not near s Bentley manual to look this up but if I am wrong, someone will be along to correct me.

There is a process to clear a flooded motor. You will have to do some searching but it is some thing like cranking with no pedal, cranking with pedal, and/or maybe pulling the fuse to the fuel pump so you can crank the motor and get that fuel out of the spark plugs.

 

He put new plugs in, those were the ones that got immediately fouled, he either has no spark or low/no compression - my guess at least til he reports back. He said he checked spark, but unless he stuck something in the end of the plug connector, it won't reach all the way to the tip to give him a good indication of whether it's firing....the connection is too far recessed in the insulator.

 

The fact that his car was running fine & stopped at a light while running makes me think no spark. If it was bad compression it would be a worsening condition not a stop running at the light. Could be wrong often am.

Welcome to M/A Mike

 

Bad compression will usually show up as misfire codes, ask me how I know :frown2:. Make sure you check that ground wire on the passenger side motor mount and to crank without the injectors firing you need to remove the fuel pump fuse.