This is what got the Total guys in a flap! Just reporting the facts. Gasolina de mala calidad acabó con el rally del equipo MINI - Puro Motor | Noticias Deportes de Motor e Industria Automotriz Costa Rica
Fresh from the doctors! Dear Mr Wilson, I would like to inform that we already checked the injectors, and we found there is one of the injectors that behaves little out of the range, however we think is not the roots cause of the symptom. Now we are testing the computer signals to see if the failure change from the oscilloscope. Honestly I think it is a difficult diagnosis case, so the diagnosis process may take more time. Please let me know if you want that we continues with the diagnosis process or pickup your vehicle. OMG I need to sell a kidney! keep going chaps!
The BMW tech says they can't find the problem and want to return the Mini. They say it is an electrical issue some place.....which leaves me screwed!
What!!!?they are giving up. That's BS! I have never heard of a shop giving up. Just bring it to my house
Chris it is time to bin all of that fuel infection stuff & slap a set of proper SU carbs on there. Those I understand fuel infection not so much. Good luck buddy.
Now go back in to Total and see if they like this headline: TOTAL Gas SAVES the day for MINI Rally Driver by replacing damaged componets...
Hahaha funny! and SU carbs! I'm not sure if they gave up as the emails are in Spanglish..LOL from what I can understand they can't find the problem but didn't tell me what they had checked and asked for my other set of injectors which is a good idea based on this article: Deposits also disrupt the normal injector spray pattern, which interferes with fuel atomization and mixing. This results in a lean fuel mixture that may cause the engine to misfire, idle poorly, and hesitate or even stall when accelerating. It does not take much of a restriction in an injector to lean out the fuel mixture. Only an 8-10% restriction in a single fuel injector can be enough to cause a misfire. A lean mixture caused by dirty injectors also increases the risk of detonation when the engine is working hard under load. Lean misfire at any speed increases hydrocarbon emissions that may trigger a misfire code and turn on the Check Engine light on 1996 and newer vehicles with OBD II systems. The code will often be a P0300 random misfire code, or you may find one or more misfire codes for individual cylinders depending on which injectors are affected most. Also I sent them a comprehensive check list of all the possible cause and checks so they can fill it in so I know what they did and what I have done. Not heard back since then. LOL Regarding Total.....they are a lost cause and not worth the hassle. I figure around 3000+ rally fans in CR now use other gas stations.
The dealer still has the Mini. They requested my other set of injectors so I hope they have a plan. Total want to send an insurance guy to check the Mini. I don't trust them and think this is a plan to say the engine issue is not related to the fuel so without me there they are not looking at the Mini.
I dont blame you! I would let the dealer know that they can not talk about your car without you there!
yes I have someone working on that. The silence is killing me. I leave for CR on Sunday and I have not ordered any parts.
The Bastids! I do hope you get things sorted out soon Chris. Sucks that you're pretty much stuck in limbo until someone can identify the underlying problem.
The dealer parts guy has been very good to me so I hope the service guy is as good too. I think they are leaving the Mini as a side job while they work on priority (paying) customers..LOL I told them from the start I cannot afford a huge labour bill so I hope that will be the case. Actually I just got an email to say they are busy and will try to fit and test the other injectors tomorrow. Meanwhile I had to use Amazon and Ebay to buy an 02 sensor and 4 remanufactured injectors. just so I have some back up parts. I'd buy new but at $800 I can't afford it and I'm not sure if Total will pay up. Worse part is there is a rally the weekend after this one.....
I read through the entire thread, it's unbelievable that no one at the Mini dealer can come up with a solution after all this time that has passed! I have always thought that these 1st and 2nd Gen Mini's could have better, smarter ECUs to record more than just codes, but sensor data that's out of range (spec) and report it as for injector duty cycle on #1 and #2. I noticed you haven't attempted to log data while these multiple issues are rearing there ugly head, perhaps if you could see in real-time what's going on you might better understand what the problem is. At this point anything could be helpful, I do agree that it just might be an electrical issues such as a short somewhere. I hope for you and your Mini sake the problem is found soon, I know how frustrating it can be to hang in there! So hang in there! :fingerscrossed:
You should be buying from ECS Tuning, their hundreds of dollars cheaper than the dealer and even on eBay on new parts! I don't know a single company that can compete ECS Tunings prices.
Yeah ECS has a great selection and their prices are good, but then they hammer you on the shipping costs.
Hey Thanks I'll look into their prices. Yes I'm amazed the dealer has not found the problem. I'm sure they must have a data logging machine but so far they have not told me what they have tested, I did send a check list but they never came back with what they had done. Seeing as the engine was running really good the day before and the fuel was contaminated with water I'm still hoping the injectors are bad. Below 4000rpm I can here the exhaust popping just before the engine goes to 3 cylinders. Another thing that I found odd was the fuel filter had dirt on the outside and the inside. Surely one side should be clean? How does the fuel flow? outside to in or the other way round? Plus when I pumped out the fuel using the fuel pump there was a lot of dirt which should have been caught by the filter? Yes very frustrating times.