Hope for R56 Coked-up Engines
Discussion
I keep forgetting to frequent this forum, and a look through the last few pages of threads hasn't brought anything similar up so apologies if this is old news. Those of you who post on Minitorque as well might be up to speed too.
BMW/MINI have finally caught on to the American way of de-coking engines, and have been buying in walnut shell blasting machines to remove burnt on deposits on the inlet manifold and tops of the valves. This is much less labor intensive than a strip-down by hand (I was quoted £2000+ for this last year). This thread on MT has a list of the dealerships that have confirmed they have the tool and their prices.
I had mine done a couple of weeks ago for £300, and the difference is amazing. If you've been suffering from Superknock, you'll know all about it. It's still sad that we should have to pay anything for what is a really poor engine design consideration, but certainly not as budget-blasting as previous quotes.
Just wanted to make sure other owners were aware of this as its really worthwhile.
BMW/MINI have finally caught on to the American way of de-coking engines, and have been buying in walnut shell blasting machines to remove burnt on deposits on the inlet manifold and tops of the valves. This is much less labor intensive than a strip-down by hand (I was quoted £2000+ for this last year). This thread on MT has a list of the dealerships that have confirmed they have the tool and their prices.
I had mine done a couple of weeks ago for £300, and the difference is amazing. If you've been suffering from Superknock, you'll know all about it. It's still sad that we should have to pay anything for what is a really poor engine design consideration, but certainly not as budget-blasting as previous quotes.
Just wanted to make sure other owners were aware of this as its really worthwhile.
I bought mine at 36k and only really noticed the problem after a few months due to mainly doing town driving daily. Typically, if you give it some beans when heading onto a motorway for example, the car will stutter and knock. So rather than enjoying a nice build of power, you get a hint of pull, then a drop - nothing - then a poor climb of power back up to where you were. Also, when mine was at its worst, I couldn't get past 70mph in 4th gear - it would top out.
So if you have rough idling and the car struggles to keep up with swift increases of acceleraton input, chances are you need a bit of a decoke. Pre-2010 cars suffer the most I think with the N14 engine. The N18 engine isn't so bad for it apparently.
Also only applies to the Cooper S as a matter of course (although I believe regular Coopers at particularly high mileages may also have had some problems).
So if you have rough idling and the car struggles to keep up with swift increases of acceleraton input, chances are you need a bit of a decoke. Pre-2010 cars suffer the most I think with the N14 engine. The N18 engine isn't so bad for it apparently.
Also only applies to the Cooper S as a matter of course (although I believe regular Coopers at particularly high mileages may also have had some problems).
Hi all,
Car bought October 2013 / 2 previous owners / 62000 miles
MINI Model: Mini Cooper S
Model Year: 2007
Full MINI Service History? Full Mini Service History
MINI Specialist Service History? NA
List Aftermarket Modifications: NONE
Fuel Used: (include RON rating) (By us uptill now normal Unleaded. Super will be used from now on)
Driving Style: (commuter, weekends only, track days?): Commuter / Short distances 4 mile each way and normal driving
Engine Codes Thrown: None
When we bought the car in October 2013 for my wife i drove the car home and gave it a bit of wellie and instantly had the engine management light come on. On inspection and diagnostic it showed coil no3 had gone down and we replaced it and had the codes reset / engine management reset.
From what we know the car had a woman owner first followed by a gentleman who owned it for 3 years and did mainly motorway mileage.
After having coil replaced all seemed well until every time i would put the car into sport mode and "Boot" it ... it seemed to cough and splutter a lot under "Hard" acceleration ?
In "Normal" mode it did'nt seem quite as bad but still under heavy acceleration occasionally seemed to mis-fire or cough and splutter.
After quite a bit of research i stumbled upon this de-coke thread and started looking for a Mini - Specialist to take the car to for further investigation.
I knew from other threads that it would not be worth approaching BMW as the car was too old.
Again after much searching i found a thread i think on piston-heads (Thanks Guys) ;-) …. where someone with a similar problem recommended a Mini specialist who was not too far away from me in Surrey.
I rang TWG Automotive and spoke to Will who could not have been more helpful and had a good idea of what the problem was. He said that he was 99.9% certain it would need a de-coke as the "Inlet Valves + Ports" would be blocked. Apparently when this happens the ECU will struggle to give the correct fuel / air mixture as the diameter of the inlet ports has changed thus changing the fuel air mixture.
I booked the car in and we took it over to "Will" who did a De-Coke with the BWM "Walnut" machine and replaced all four plugs. Total cost £257.00 and this has "Completely" Cured the Car :-)
Can't recommend "Will" at TWG Automotive highly enough.
http://www.twgautomotive.co.uk/
Absolutely first class service and the car is now driving like a "Dream". Revs so cleanly through the rev range i might have to buy one meself :-)
Regards
Paul
Car bought October 2013 / 2 previous owners / 62000 miles
MINI Model: Mini Cooper S
Model Year: 2007
Full MINI Service History? Full Mini Service History
MINI Specialist Service History? NA
List Aftermarket Modifications: NONE
Fuel Used: (include RON rating) (By us uptill now normal Unleaded. Super will be used from now on)
Driving Style: (commuter, weekends only, track days?): Commuter / Short distances 4 mile each way and normal driving
Engine Codes Thrown: None
When we bought the car in October 2013 for my wife i drove the car home and gave it a bit of wellie and instantly had the engine management light come on. On inspection and diagnostic it showed coil no3 had gone down and we replaced it and had the codes reset / engine management reset.
From what we know the car had a woman owner first followed by a gentleman who owned it for 3 years and did mainly motorway mileage.
After having coil replaced all seemed well until every time i would put the car into sport mode and "Boot" it ... it seemed to cough and splutter a lot under "Hard" acceleration ?
In "Normal" mode it did'nt seem quite as bad but still under heavy acceleration occasionally seemed to mis-fire or cough and splutter.
After quite a bit of research i stumbled upon this de-coke thread and started looking for a Mini - Specialist to take the car to for further investigation.
I knew from other threads that it would not be worth approaching BMW as the car was too old.
Again after much searching i found a thread i think on piston-heads (Thanks Guys) ;-) …. where someone with a similar problem recommended a Mini specialist who was not too far away from me in Surrey.
I rang TWG Automotive and spoke to Will who could not have been more helpful and had a good idea of what the problem was. He said that he was 99.9% certain it would need a de-coke as the "Inlet Valves + Ports" would be blocked. Apparently when this happens the ECU will struggle to give the correct fuel / air mixture as the diameter of the inlet ports has changed thus changing the fuel air mixture.
I booked the car in and we took it over to "Will" who did a De-Coke with the BWM "Walnut" machine and replaced all four plugs. Total cost £257.00 and this has "Completely" Cured the Car :-)
Can't recommend "Will" at TWG Automotive highly enough.
http://www.twgautomotive.co.uk/
Absolutely first class service and the car is now driving like a "Dream". Revs so cleanly through the rev range i might have to buy one meself :-)
Regards
Paul
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