I am picking up a thermometer on Wednesday to check pre and post cat temps. I am thinking I will have to remove the turbo heat shield to do this. Any other or better ways to check the cat?
Put your finger between his back legs and tell him to cough. Take the heat shield off of the turbo and Catalytic converter and check the temperature with an Infrared thermometer, before the catalytic converter and after. Harbor Freight makes a laser pointer I.R. thermometer, that you can accurately spot the temperature source with.
Since the Bentley manual doesn't give operating parameters is there somebody here with an r56 that can add their OBD live data numbers so I can compare mine?
Just had an extra thought. I have a NM air charge pipe but no upgraded discharge pipe or anythnig else. Could this cause the P129E code and low mileage?
I didn't get to it today. I am going to try first thing in the morning. @Sully if you can maybe you should check too.
New information. After 15 minute idle warm up temp pre cat was 350F and post cat was 300F. So the catalytic converter is shot. Now to find out why! Also got my NT520 Pro scan tool today so more information to come once I figure out how to use it.
Nothing new on my end so far as I'm down and out from surgery, but I called my mechanic to troubleshoot with him and got quite a few answers differing from my belief. First, he said that the temperature post catalytic converter should be lower than the input, which disagrees with everything I have seen online. Second is that a timing chain issue would only cause misfires and not low mileage. Then he said that the pre-cat O2 bouncing around 0.0v at idle is correct but the post-cat sensor should stay steady around 0.5v and not 0.8v like I have(Post cat drops to zero for a few seconds when I take my foot of the gas-Not sure if this is normal or not). His thought was I am not getting the car warm enough to get accurate O2 readings(Could be possible as most my trips are less than 30 minutes in city traffic and it is bloody cold in Chicago). Finally we agreed that a P129E code is most likely a vacuum leak so my little Mini with go in for a smoke test on monday. I received an N14 timing kit today so when I'm up to it I am going to check the tensioner as I'm still hung up on the timing chain(My car missed the Mini timing chain replacement lawsuit by a month so not sure if the chain has ever been replaced).
Dealer should be able to read your key and tell you if the work was done. Mine was done before the lawsuit. Dealer tech saw that I still had the original tensioner so he measured the slack in the chain. It was way off, but never jumped timing. Replaced it at 110K miles, no charge. If I had replaced the tensioner like I was planning to do, I would have been on the hook for the timing chain cassette.
Alrighty. Did a smoke test today and no leaks, so my issue has to 100% be the timing chain. I will go to Detroit Thursday or Friday and get Detroit Tuned to install their new timing chain for me. Will report back after this. As an extra, I get tons of foam in my oil cap from what must be due to a combination of air getting in due to mis-timing and this bloddy Chicago cold(negatives today in March!) What does the board recommend for engine oil? Should I go lower than 5w due to the cold? I use LiquiMoly 5w-40 now.
and that is a big fat negative to the timing chain. The five hour drive at 3am to Detroit and then back in the evening did not fix my issues. Detroit Tuned was awesome but no luck clearing my P129E code. At least now I have a timing chain that will last awhile and not have to worry about it. Driving back did bring up some interesting stats though: The P129E only comes on when starting the car. If it is cleared I can drive hours without it popping up, but the next time I start the car there it is. MAF reads 0.00 at idle and 0.03 at highway speeds and coolant temperature is around 150-160F after hours of highway driving. Tomorrow I will check the diverter valve but after that I'm at a loss. Shouldn't air be flowing through the MAF sensor even at idle? And low coolant temperature is nice, but does it indicate an issue? The thermostat was replaced 6 months ago.
The wastegate!!! That might explain everything. Getting 17mpg in city driving but 33mpg on the highway. The air sensors being off and everything else. Now to test the bloody thing. I was I had the $1,000 back from the un-needed timing chain to possibly pay for a new turbo as I'm pretty sure the wastegate itself cannot be fixed or replaced. But first to make sure it is the problem.
I believe my R58 runs a little hotter. I will check in the morning. Also I would think air would be going through the MAF at idle. Did DT have any ideas.?
The DT mechanic is the one that came up with the wastegate idea. When he told me I thought he meant the diverter valve and couldn't understand how that could be the issue. But now that I've researched what the wastegate really is I can see it being stuck in the open position causing the issues I am having, though I do not see how it would effect coolant temperature. But everything else could be explained by it.