Changed the throttle body.....that didn't do it. The strange thing is everything I do something fuel related I use kitchen paper towels to catch the fuel and every time the fuel comes out with crap in it. I fitted a new filter so surely the filter is doing nothing. This problem started with bad fuel so maybe something is not right in the tank? Maybe the roll last year damaged something? I'm pretty confident all is well with the engine and sensors so I shall look again at the fuel tank/filter and pump. Something I noticed yesterday when I had the fuel pressure gauge hooked up is the pressure sometimes goes up and down as does the engine RPM
I'm not the sharpest tack in the box but carp coming out of gasoline lines is never ever any kinds of good.
Or get a new fuel line and gas tank? If that does not work, then, I'm sorry to say, your Mini IS damned. :frown2:
The fuel should ALWAYS be clean, coming out of the line. That problem be as simple as bad or improperly fitted O-ring on the fuel filter canister. I don't think that's why you're having the specific problem... But it's "a problem" Your issues remind me of a weird stumble/flat spot around 3500 RPM I chased for three years before fixing it. Ended up being a bad tune/map. I originally loaded an MTH canned tune on the car, then a couple years later had Jan tune it. Something about the combination of those tunes layered in the same ECU maps broke. Was effectively a bug in the tune. Finally got fixed when Jan completely cleared out the maps and copied in new base maps from a stock file, then reapplied his tuning. That was a really frustrating gremlin. I replaced both MAP sensors, O2 sensor, throttle body, other stuff while chasing it.
The Damned Mini! hahaha I think over past few months I've checked and double checked everything and started to doubt every new part I've fitted. I'm pretty confident everything is as it should in the engine area. Removing the Tmap forces the ECU to do the best it can which seems to make the engine run correctly although rich. Last night I hooked up a threaded bar to the seat and the throttle pedal so I can slowly increase the RPM's idle is steady, 2000rpm steady but after 2500rpm a popping through the exhaust develops and the rpm starts going up and down. It is not possible to keep a steady 2500 then as I increase to the 3000rpm the popping continues until eventually the engine goes to 3 cylinders. Like I've mentioned several times above 4000rpm the rpm is fine while not under load. with all the crap still coming out the injectors could now be clogged up, so I'll check them again. I did think again about the ECU but after 2 checks from the so called ECU experts and the fact that the ECU runs on their R50 I don't think the ECU is at fault. I really don't want to pull the engine apart because I believe all is well there. Anyway the engine should not go bad overnight as it was perfect the day before. When I first drained the fuel back in July on the day of the rally a ton of crap came out the fuel line, so the crap is still coming out then something is still wrong in the tank. On that day I was desperate to join the rally so in the rush I could have missed something. The next focus will be the fuel tank. Thanks for your suggestions and patience.....we will find the cure!
I have a question.... HOW did they run the ECU on their R50? Did you send them keys, key cylinder, immobilizer, cluster, BCM... You can't just drop a MINI ECU in a different car and start it...
You're a better man than me Chris. By now I'd have put one between the headlights and buried the darned thing. :mad5:
Chris as you said this all started with bad gas. When I got my 88 Acura running it had sat for 5 or 6 years. I had all sorts of problems with it, for months almost a year. First one of the values keeps sticking due to old gas that had turned into varnish. I cleaned the intake several times, It did not work. Finely I took the head off and had a machine shop clean it and put a new valve in it. It still stuck. I had to take it back to the machine shop a second time before this problem was fixed. Then the Gas tank had a little rust in it. I went through several filters before I took the tank and had it cleaned. Then a fuel pump and another filter. Even the gas gage did not work it was stuck. I could not free it. So I put it back in the tank with hope it would free up after sitting in gas. It worked after a few months it started working and has worked sense. So long story. Sorry but I say all this because it started with bad gas. You may have to go thorough the hole fuel system and give it a good cleaning to fix the problem. You have been very through and I just don't know how you have hung with it this long. I would have set it on fire by now. Anyway I thing you should go back to basics. You know the full was bad and that was when it started. I would go over the hole fuel system and make sure its clean. Make sure a valve is not sticking due to bad gas, double check the injectors. Also on my car it would Idle ruff because of the sticking valve but if you got it above 2000 RPMs it ran smooth. It did have a flat spot but I can't remember at what RPM. Good luck. If I had a layover there I would come help.
All they needed was the ECU/EWS and key. They even sent me a video showing my ECU/EWS in action but I did wonder how they used my key? Ah yes I've thought about buying a bloody big gun and shooting it up! Yes you are correct. There is a saying: " You can't see the wood for the trees" so as you say I need to go back and go over everything fuel related which might mean the head coming off and all the valves out(worse case) but the idle is smooth as is above 4000rpm.....just that 2500 to 3500rpm range. First issue is to figure out why the filter does not work and why the fuel pressure pulsates. Still the good thing is all the parts I replaced were with 130,000miles so no harm done, just I could done replacing over a longer period of time LOL Today it is raining like crazy so no work tonight.
Keep all the work well documented (pictures). If it does turn out to be caused by the bad fuel you may have another shot at the people who sold it to you.
no chance with total, they sent a large document explaining their fuel was good and I had fabricated the whole to financial gain. I took off the filter because I like the pain of working on the Mini every night! The filter was dirty but more dirty on the inside! Strange because the fuel travels from the outside in. All the O rings were good but I did notice the paper filter was looking worn on the edges, I suppose water in the fuel is not a good mix for a paper filter? Anyway I'll get a new one for next year. A nice prezzy from Santa..LOL I was trying to figure out how the inside gets dirty? There is the out pipe on the top and another pipe at the bottom that goes to the siphon jet pump. I'm not sure how that works but it might but faulty allowing fuel in? Hell let's buy everything new!
Chris I want you to keep something in mind. Your Mini is really taking care of you! I mean if it was running good you would have too much time on your hands. Then you would probably get in to trouble. You know what they say "Idle hands are the devil's play ground" So you should go out there and give it a big hug, because it must really love you.
hahahahahaha A big hug! More like a big kick up the tail pipe! guess what, some more hugging and pain tonight! Injectors out.
I'm not sure what's the legal system in your neck of the woods like but i'm sure you could file a claim with some sort of small claim court. Obviously they have slick ass layers who can draft papers but you seem to have facts on your side. Judges like facts and evidence. Just my two cents. And don't shoot the Cooper, you may end up trading it in for a Subaru someday. (with the tmap off)
Well I think the Might of Total would squash any of my attempts to make a claim. No rain last night and I felt frisky! So I pulled out the injectors, inspected/cleaned them. Nothing strange. The I took off both sets of valve rockers to see if the cam is worn, all looked good. So I a valve tap test with the pistons half way down the block. The idea was to gently tap the top of the valve to see if some have more resistance then others to try to see if I have sticking valves. Not the best test but something is something. Actually some valves had a ping and others a thud so maybe the thud is a tighter valve than the ping??? I put everything back together and tried the mystery 2500-3550rpm. Misfire still there! Oh hum I suppose to be 100% sure I have to pull the head at some point. The head is from a 25,000 miles Cooper S so should be in good order. I did rebuild the head in 2012 so it has about 4000 miles but most of that is at high RPM. Anyway the head will have to wait until next year. One good thing is the engine runs the smoothest at idle then it did before.
So I decided to run the engine with the V belt off. The popping in the exhaust increased but the misfire took longer to appear. Also on the day before this problem started I put on a new Vee belt as the other was slipping. The new Vee belt was 5mm shorter, so last night I put the old belt on. The misfire now does not happen at 2500rpm, actually I can very close to 3000rpm and hold it there without misfire but I can hear the popping starting to increase as I move up to 3000rpm , I can hold it there for much longer until the misfire kicks in. I took a look at the Alternator which had a ton of black dust around it and it was getting really hot. I have a get me home spare alternator in the shed so although it was a bit rusty I fitted it instead of the current one. Now the misfire range is less 3000-4000rpm . Maybe the both alternators are bad? also I pulled the plug on the PSP just to see if that is draining the voltage but even with that not working the misfire is still there.
The way this is going you are gonna have a completely rebuilt car and hopefully it will run like one.