AS everyone knows the N14 engine has a problem with carbon/coking on the intake valves. This is caused by the PVC system. It has two vents on the valve cover, one on the driver side going to the turbo and one on the passenger side going to the intake manifold. Some people plug the vent going to the intake but then all the crankcase pressure is going to the turbo, also this causes the engin to leak oil because it is not venting well. Ask me how I know. Some people run two catch cans. The Helmet has one catch can going to the turbo , the other vent was blocked off. I had to remove the block because it was causing oil leaks, I plan on adding Meth but that is down the road. Short turn I may run a second catch can. So I noticed on @BlwnAway build it looks like he is venting to the atmosphere, you can correct me if I am wrong. In the old days we vented to the atmosphere all the time. Some say you you should not do this. If I vent them both to atmosphere it will solve the carbon problem. I can run both the PVC pipes to catch can then filters. I don’t have to go through inspection. Can anyone think of a reason this will not work. @Tigger2011 what did you do on your R58.
I have been running my MINI with a single oil catch can on the turbocharger side of the head cover and the rear PCV line blocked off, with no problems, for eight years. You may have had a defective head cover with a bad check valve to the PCV line to the turbocharger. With a blocked off PCV line to the throttle body and the other PCV to the turbocharger not opening, it would cause crankcase pressure to build and leak oil out of the crankshaft seals.
I have the one can going to the turbo side and the other side stock. the occ has been on the car for close to six years and has never had more that a 1/8" of fluid in it and it is installed properly.
If it has just started leaking oil I'd suspect something else. Like the valve cover PVC combo. I'm sure that catch can has been on there for a long time & it didn't cause leaks before this. I'm no expert so please take any advice I may give with a large grain of salt.
Little late to respond. The wife and I are enjoying our anniversary at Disney. I would agree that venting to atmosphere is not the best option. Having the crankcase in vacuum has been demonstrated conclusively to increase horsepower. There’s a reason top fuelers run 15 inches of vacuum via dedicated pumps. At high rpm / high boost, blow-by of the rings is just a fact of life. Without a negative pressure the rings can start to float. When that happens they do not seat properly, reducing performance and further increasing blow-by. I’m currently running the PCV system for Vlad as follows: Passenger side port (dirty side) is capped. Driver’s side (clean side) goes into a single in, dual out RX can. One OCC “out” has a one way check valve and goes to the intake manifold. That valve is closed when in boost, open in vacuum. The other OCC “out” also has a one way check and goes to the forward side of the turbo. That one is open in boost, closed in vacuum. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
@DneprDave @Crashton Maybe I have a bad valve cover. Sense I uncapped the dirty side My oil leaks have stoped. The dirty side has been caped sense I got the car. When I did the first oil change is when I notices the engine was very oily. It was when I changed the timing chain I thought maybe the cap was causing the problem. So I removed the cap and cleaned the engine. When I did the last oil change it was still nice and clean. I will check the valve cover. @Tigger2011 Wow answering a post durning anniversary festivities! Thats beyond the call of duty! I watched this video My head hurts... I am thinking perhaps I should rip the motor out of the R53 and install it in the R58. At least I would get that Supercharger wine back. I have a NM engineering CC on the car now. I could rout the dirty side to it and put the clean side back stock. Or do you think the Rx system would be better. It looks better. Who sales the RX can?
You keep saying you want to sell your R53 but always make reference to the rock solid supercharged first generation engine.
I was never too fond of the way RX handled the clean side. Just seemed like a bit of an afterthought and not that effective. My current setup is the second iteration. The first connected both the clean and dirty sides before going into the center of the RX. Given the way the diaphragm closes off the passenger side when boost pressure is present it just seemed simpler to connect to the drivers side and let the external check valves perform the function that the valve cover used to. Plus it’s a lot easier to clean or replace one of those valves as opposed to replacing a valve cover. Now that I think about it you could actually do something very similar with your setup. Blank off the passenger side, run the drivers side into the NM can. Then tee the output side of the can with one line going to the intake and the other going to the pre-turbo side using one way check valves in each line after the tee. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
They changed the head and head cover on the N18 engine. Instead of a PCV line from the head cover to the throttle body, as on the N14, the N18 engine has internal passages from the head cover to the intake ports, machined into the head. that and the dual Vanos timing greatly reduces carbon build up on the N18 intake valves.