2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: New to forum and P1497 code...

Thanks so much for the welcome guys!

I hate to admit this but... I think I'm just going to succumb and tow this thing off to the dealer tomorrow. I hate this because its almost like admitting defeat. But, at times like this, its better to just cut your losses and let the pros have at it. I fear that I'm finally at the age where I just can't let this stuff get to me. My ego finds it hard to digest that my Doctor and my Mechanic are both younger than me. :cryin:

I've built quite a few cars in my garage over the years but this is the newest car I've had since the 1990's. Imagine my shock and horror when I had to go buy a "tool" to read error codes. WTF?! Before, if it couldn't be fixed with a wrench and elbow grease it was probably something I didn't have any business fooling with in the first place.

Why does this car feel like a computer on wheels? :frown2: I blame Bill Gates! :arf:

 

Cool... I'll go check. If it isn't this, it's going to MINI tomorrow. I've run out of curse words. :biggrin5:

 

OK gang... I just came in from tightening clamps... And, even though most of them were somewhat loose, there is no change. I still get the code. Off to MINI it goes.

 

Well guys, again, thanks for the warm welcomes.

This morning the MINI is off to the dealer. I'll let you guys know what happens. I guess it's a bit presumptuous to expect an M5 as a loaner car isn't it?

 

Well, I'm setting here waiting on MINI to call me with an update on my S. When I dropped it off, I told them some of the other concerns i.e. throttle lag and the no start I had a few days prior to the CEL coming on. They mentioned the fuel pump.

It may interest you guys to know that I was told that MINI has increased the warranty of the high pressure fuel pump to 120,000 miles. So, if that needs to be replaced, it will be done under warranty. :cornut:

Anyway, I was cleaning off my workbench and decided to dissect the old cylinder head (valve) cover. I don't know if anyone is interested or not but here's a look inside.



The upper left corner of this sealed chamber is where the crack was.


Boy, there sure is a decent amount of sludge in here.


Sorry the pic is out of focus but, this diaphragm is stuck open due to the build of of carbon and sludge.


If I had to venture a guess, a combination of a poor design, carbon build up and the malfunctioning diaphragm crated a high enough internal pressure to cause the failure. I noticed that the replacement valve cover has an externally mounted, sring loaded valve on the back. Maybe this is an attempt by MINI to solve this issue and prevent it from happening again. We'll see. :biggrin5:

 

72,300ish miles.]


We all know that the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) system gets gummy on every car. Rather than designing a system that takes a $4.00 PCV valve like pretty much every other car on the road, the engineers decided to make it an integral part of the valve cover. So now, we have to spend over $300 for a wearable item that isn't covered under the Maintenance Warranty. Hmmm...

 

No. Not that I'm aware of. I just purchased this car in December. I do know that the timing chain tensioner recall was performed in August as per the service history and all the routine maintenance on the car is documented to the letter.

For what it's worth, when I had the valve cover off, the cam gallery looked fairly clean.

Oh, and I think the bean counters need a calculator.

 

I certainly hope so. My beer fund can't stand to take too many more hits like this. At this rate I'll be back to drinking Milwaukee's Best. :biggrin5:

At the risk of sounding like a total newb... Where would one acquire said catch can?

 

That's what I've always known to be true. You waste more gas in start up than you do just letting it idle and constantly turning the engine off and on causes excessive wear. That is unless it has some sort of electric oil pump which keeps the engine primed all the time.