R56 Cooper smoking problem?
Discussion
I have an 09 Mini Cooper which my daughters drive. 77k miles.
It has an odd issue; after idling for a bit, or after a session doing low speed manoeuvres there is a puff of grey smoke, sometimes a small amount, other times more, which then clears. It only happens in those circumstances. Oil usage seems quite high but within tolerance.
I read it might be the PCV diaphragm so I replaced that….No difference. I resigned myself to engine wear and decided to keep going with it until oil usage got out of hand or worse symptoms.
It may be my imagination but it seems worse when the car is pulling away after stopping on an uphill slope.
However after a service and oil change yesterday the smoking seems to have stopped for the time being, and the car seems to be running better… less ‘chuggy’ pulling away at low revs.
Any ideas what’ might be going on?
It has an odd issue; after idling for a bit, or after a session doing low speed manoeuvres there is a puff of grey smoke, sometimes a small amount, other times more, which then clears. It only happens in those circumstances. Oil usage seems quite high but within tolerance.
I read it might be the PCV diaphragm so I replaced that….No difference. I resigned myself to engine wear and decided to keep going with it until oil usage got out of hand or worse symptoms.
It may be my imagination but it seems worse when the car is pulling away after stopping on an uphill slope.
However after a service and oil change yesterday the smoking seems to have stopped for the time being, and the car seems to be running better… less ‘chuggy’ pulling away at low revs.
Any ideas what’ might be going on?
Edited by Robertb on Saturday 4th November 14:48
probably stem seals, and on an incline it could be that oil pooling in the head gave a better momentary supply to any engine vacuum pulling oil via the valve stems perhaps
not a good idea to do these in situ imo, especially on S's, but loads of people do, thing is valve seats pit up on them all, and it leads to exhaust valves blowing out, by the time stem seals need doing so will the valves want lapping, which an in situ seal change prevents
as the costs for the two versions of repair are rather different it's easy to see why people take the quick option, and quite often cars get sold soon after this work, I suspect because some owners know or are advised other stuff needs doing, it also fits many stories people post about issues soon after cars are purchased, not doing the reputation of the cars much good either, when people might be part of the problem a lot of the time
the F series has much of the same going on, people won't yet accept it because the internet always goes on about the newest car being the best when of course there are just fewer stories, not that the cars don't actually have issues, the F has chain grief sometimes and still uses oil, actually they can easily empty the crankcase between services, a great idea with these is to get the dash reprogrammed to ask for oil changes early, and owners make a point of checking oil at every fuel fill, which can be some distance when they can do 50mpg, one thing to note is not to just glance at the dash which might say 'oil ok' and accept that it is, that message is just from the last time it was checked/corrected, so people need to request a check when the engine's warm to get a new reading, if that's not obvious already, but some have been known to run low
just as with the gen2 cars, these if they run low will deny oil to the chain tensioner, this causes lash in the chain which in turn whips the plastic guides, those notably the front one can break, which quickly exacerbates the already significant chain jump, and the chain then can easily jump teeth on the cam sprockets (adjuster units), they hold ~4.5ltrs, one I did had ~1.5 pulled out of it, luckily there was no severe damage and it retimed ok
nice cars, more advanced again than any gen2, nice that they're cheap to tax and are economical despite being bigger
not a good idea to do these in situ imo, especially on S's, but loads of people do, thing is valve seats pit up on them all, and it leads to exhaust valves blowing out, by the time stem seals need doing so will the valves want lapping, which an in situ seal change prevents
as the costs for the two versions of repair are rather different it's easy to see why people take the quick option, and quite often cars get sold soon after this work, I suspect because some owners know or are advised other stuff needs doing, it also fits many stories people post about issues soon after cars are purchased, not doing the reputation of the cars much good either, when people might be part of the problem a lot of the time
the F series has much of the same going on, people won't yet accept it because the internet always goes on about the newest car being the best when of course there are just fewer stories, not that the cars don't actually have issues, the F has chain grief sometimes and still uses oil, actually they can easily empty the crankcase between services, a great idea with these is to get the dash reprogrammed to ask for oil changes early, and owners make a point of checking oil at every fuel fill, which can be some distance when they can do 50mpg, one thing to note is not to just glance at the dash which might say 'oil ok' and accept that it is, that message is just from the last time it was checked/corrected, so people need to request a check when the engine's warm to get a new reading, if that's not obvious already, but some have been known to run low
just as with the gen2 cars, these if they run low will deny oil to the chain tensioner, this causes lash in the chain which in turn whips the plastic guides, those notably the front one can break, which quickly exacerbates the already significant chain jump, and the chain then can easily jump teeth on the cam sprockets (adjuster units), they hold ~4.5ltrs, one I did had ~1.5 pulled out of it, luckily there was no severe damage and it retimed ok
nice cars, more advanced again than any gen2, nice that they're cheap to tax and are economical despite being bigger
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