Hey everybody I posted this on the other site just trying to get an answer as quick as possible. Long story short I've been having driveability problems with my car for some time now. I took it to a BMW mechanic who does work on the side and he took my head off had it cleaned pressure tested yada yada. Needless to say the damn car still doesn't run right. So I was snooping around under the hood earlier and I noticed a smell of raw gasoline coming from around my intercooler. I popped it off and noticed that the damn vacuum line to the fuel pressure regulator was missing! I started looking at all the vacuum lines and found a vacuum line just dangling over by the output horn of the supercharger. I dont think this is the line to the FPR because its too short. The line I think goes to the FPR was connected to a vacuum tee just beneath the output horn form the supercharger. I disconnected that line and it seems like it would reach the FPR. I traced it back and its connected to the intake manifold on the pass side right alongside the output horn of the supercharger. So my question to you is: Is this the line that is supposed to be connected to the FPR? Here are a few pics I took: This is a shot of the mysterious line connected to the intake manifold Another shot of the line This is the line that I noticed just hanging and what I believe is supposed to be connected to the tee the other line was connected to. I hope someone can help me out because if this fixes all my problems I'm going to lose my mind! I'll be so damn happy. Well I'm not gonna get my hopes up to much. Look forward to hearing some input from you guys. Thanks, Steve
It goes just under the horn on the intake manifold. Take a look at these instructions for a boost gauge. It's the same line on the first image. http://www.altaperformance.com/shared/documents/instructions/ampinr205b.pdf Another view.
Not too shabby.... Response in less than an hour, on a Friday, here at M/A Let us know if the problem is solved.
Hey everybody AMAZING news! Yeah I couldn't wait for a response so I threw it on for the hell of it and yes it not only was the right line it fixed all the driveability problems I have been dealing with for the past TWO years! Unbelievable, you guys have no idea how relieved I am. This guy who did the work was trying to tell me I need a new engine! Thank god I hesitated and didn't just trust him! WOO HOO thank you Mike for the super quick reply. M/A is an invaluable resource. Steve
I guess you will NOT be going back to that guy again. I would not call him a mechanic, leaving a line missing and one not connected. :frown2: Glad all is well now. Jim
Living with a vacuums leak for 2 years.... Had to have run rough at idle. Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda, asked sooner......
No I'm done with him. The simple fact that he tells me I have good compression on all cylinders but it was still experiencing blow by left me quite suspicious. It's all a very long story. I had a spark plug blow out two years ago. Got a time sert installed. Ever since then I had this horrible hesitation but only under boost. For the longest time I thought either the time sert bushing was I installed wrong or I had cylinder wall damage from a poor installation. Basically I was afraid to find out either way. A few weeks ago I finally got up the courage to bring it to somebody and hear the bad news for myself. I was referred to this guy by some local mini people. He said he did some test and that there was low compression on the cylinder that blew out and that the head would have to come off to make sure it was ok and not the cause. Me being convinced that's what it was I told him go ahead. the head turns out to be fine. But he finds the intake man gasket was on backwards and was leaking. So he fixes that also. Now I got a clean head, no leaks at the intake manifold but the car is still doing the same thing. He tells me I need a motor. That the piston rings on #2 were shot and not sealing properly. So I tell him I can't do it right now because of the amount of money I already spent and I pick up the car. That leads me to today. I took it out of the garage for a wash and as I'm backing out all I can smell is raw fuel. Start poking around and find that vacuum line dangling. Fixed it all up and the car runs great! Now I have to really get this thing tuned! Wow that is really long! Sorry if it was boring and wasted a few minutes of your life! LOL hope you enjoyed my tale of triumph over my Mini! Steve
Steve, sorry to hear about the bad news. This part is actually one of the "FFPs" - frequently failed parts. Usually we replace this factory hose with silicon hose and zip ties with every injector change or IC removal. Sometimes the hose will slip off on it's own due to rubber fatique. The purpose of this hose is to provide feedback to the FPR so the fuel pressure will increase while you're running higher boost pressure on WOT (more psi means more fuel pressure is needed for the injectors to overcome the resistance). Typically at idle or cruising, your car would behave like normal. But when you're at max boost, there is not enough fuel pressure to the injectors which can lead to engine running lean... and you now knows what that leads to See my post below: http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/bytetronik-tuning-discussion/2545-bigger-better-faq-bosch-550cc-injectors-r53-3.html#post64403 If you need some good JE pistons, hit me up. I'm getting ready to place an order here really soon. You probably need the 77.5mm either in stock compression or 9.3 (which will require tuning)
Hey Mike, thanks for that info. These lines were actually all fine on my car. The problem was the dummy that worked on it hooked them up wrong and left it completely off my fpr. All it took was for me to hook them all up the way they are supposed to be and the car runs mint now. What the real problem was all this time for the past two years was that stupid intake manifold gasket was installed backwards and leaking. I think when I brought it to Mini when the plug blowout first happened, they removed my intake manifold for some reason. When I found out they wouldn't cover the repairs under warranty because I had those stupid Denso iridium plugs in it, I told them I'd fix it myself. They must have put everything back together again and put the gasket on wrong. It's aggravating to think that's all that was wrong the whole time but also a major relief! As far as those piston go, man I'd love to really just go nuts on this car but I have bigger priorities in my life right now and money needs to go elsewhere. I'm still running stock head, cam, injectors, and IC. And I don't have the money now to upgrade any of those parts! BOO I do however need to tune this thing bad. The old plugs I had in the car before I had all this work done were frosted white like they just came out of a freezer box! I'm pretty sure that's a telltale sign of a severe lean condition right? So I think I'm going to have to pick up the FA53 software and some 550s and at least I can safely drive around without having to worry about blowing a hole in a piston! Yet another ramble post! SHEESH Sorry, Steve
Steve, understood there are other priorities in life besides the MINI :cornut: The lean running condition can be attributed to the vacuum line being off; so now that it's back on properly, your afr should be back to normal (maybe a little bit on the rich side if the tune is factory). BTW, how long was that line left dangling? the compression check came out ok? cheers.
Well the vacuum line was only like that after all of the head and intake manifold work was done. Before I had that guy work on my car those lines were all ok. The car has had the intake manifold leak for two years, since the spark plug blew out. I never got it looked at because I was afraid how much it was going to cost me. I know, stupid. Right before I brought the car to this guy to have him look at it, I swapped out my plugs and wires and noticed they were frosted white. Those plugs had been in the car since the blow out, so 2 years. So you're saying the car was probably running rich with a stock tune? I figured, with all that I have done to it that the injectors were probably maxxed out. Of course I have no data logging capabilities so I don't know what was going on with that thing. Now that its running correctly I'd like to see how those plugs start to look.
Sorry, i forgot to look at your signature :cryin: do'h! You're probably not running rich anymore with the 17% pulley Without afr reading or data logging, it's hard to tell. Checking the color of these new plugs would give you an indication (and while you doing that, do a compression check just to make sure everything is ok). cheers.
yeah I know I'm not one of those heavily modded guys, but its enough where I think those stock injectors are working some overtime. Thank you very much for chatting and giving me your professional input. Much appreciated! Steve