So iv'e been driving my Mini for about 7 months now, 6 of those months with a DDM Works Intake, and 4 with an ALTA Piggyback. The Intake sounded great and looked cool, and the ECU definately made the car faster, but after countless intermittent issues including Check Engine lights, Reduced power lights, annoying rattles (started after I had the intake on for about 2 months, even though the screws were tight the back didnt seat properly), I've HAD IT.

Nothing sucks worse than taking a nice weekend trip to Munich and getting (no joke) 6 instances of off and on Reduced power lights. When everything worked the car felt great, but in the back of my head I always had a feeling that something would go wrong.

Now im back to stock, no more lights, no more rattles, and best of all peace of mind. I love my car to death, but I still have a need to make it faster. So maybe I'll go the John Cooper Works Route. Who knows what ill do, but one thing I'm sure about is that nothing works better than OEM parts.

 

Whatever mods or OEM, JCW or not, .. Motor on The first priority is that you are doubtlessly pleased and confident, happy in your mini.

Similar to your experience, I had a completely modded '05 Cooper, and I eventually got many rattles, check engine lights, fried O2 sensors, droning, harmonic vibrations, and the like. It slowly creeped up on me and drove me ballistic, but being 20 years and a college student, there wasn't too much I could immediately switch, so I accepted it and motored on anyway through various excellent opportunities I'm out of it and in an '07 S with JCW. Paid an arm for it, but I couldn't be happier. And I'm 20 years old and I've for the most part, learned my lesson.

To each his own opinion, though, I share yours in many ways

If you ever were interested, I wrote a large review on the JCW Kit,
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=148341

Enjoy Best of luck.

 

Im definately going to go with JCW mods next. Kind of pricey, but from what Ive seen theyre dependable and retain driveability. I'll probably start with the Intake and go from there

 

Well, contained in my review, and also -- a slightly more previous thread "JCW Kit Confabulation: What WORKS and What DOES NOT"

You might find out a few things about slicing off the parts of the kit.. I'd really recommend reading this

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=147312

I was looking down the very same route it sounds that you are, but, take one part of the kit... no warranty, and no ecu tuning, ever, ever ....

I tried every angle, ended up having the techs go back and forth with JCW division directly, they won't warranty anything separate from the whole kit, and the ecu tuning, no matter what you do, no matter what you do, no matter what you do, can never be had, apart from the kit ...

I wanted JUST the exhaust .... anyways, read that thread.

Best of luck to you !!

 

I really feel this one, so much in fact because I spent the last three days debugging my little toy. I have a 3" cat-back, Alta intake, Forge IC, M7 boost tube, Forge Blowoff, Alta Boost gauge, alta temp gauge, and the Alta Unichip.

I came from a month of travel hopped in warmed it up, went to pass someone on the northway and threw a CEL. She went into limp mode. I checked the connections, I looked, I played. I cleaned the MAF, it cleared up. I drove my wife over to the dealer to look at the X6, and right in the lot the engine died, no start. I got out, disconnected the battery, switched to MAP 0, reconnected, and she barely ran, limped down the road. I pulled over, got out and took off the unichip. She ran fine, I was peeved. I got home and as I rolled into the driveway, it stalled. I couldn't start it.

So I checked everything, the Alta boost adapted had a leak, replaced it, it started, but still wasn't right. I removed the Forge blow off, little better, I replaced the Alta foam with a off the shelve paper, vola! ran great. Hooked the piggy back up, ran even better. I took it out and beat the snot out of her for 4 hrs in the mountains, no CEL's, no 1/2 engine, ran consitantly 20 to 22 psi of boost, she was screaming.

So, try to debug, there maybe something odd there, the leak in the Alta adapter surprised me. It was bad enough that it screwed it so as not to start...

 

I might try using the piggyback without the intake and see if it clears up any of the problems id been having, but I just dont see how an intake would be a factor.

I ran my intake for 3 months without a single problem. Within days of having the Unichip on I was having CEL's and random half power lights. I honestly think its the front connector coming loose, being that you have to stretch that harness sooooo much just to get it on.

 

not sure if this applies but I have had my ECU remapped and found that using a custom CAI (as per the thread on here) i constantly kept getting 1/2 power. Changed it back to stock air filter and everything was fine, no more issues

 

Maybe I'll try it tonight, but I wonder why a CAI would cause reduced power lights with the ECU. Anybody have any ideas?

 

Dunno if the Euro spec model is different... but I didnt get any reduced power lights... I didnt even know there was such a thing? I just got massively reduced torque and performance when shifting quickly... I found that when replacing the CAI with the stock air box, this dissappeared and there power was always there

 

I have a U.S. Spec model, wonder what causes the CAI problems? Maybe the MAF sensor?

 

Sorry I didn't see this sooner! PLEASE get in contact with me so I can help you with any concerns! If the chip is the issue, then lets get it back to UniChip for a refund or replacement. Don't give up on the MINI!

Let me know!

 

I really dont think the chip is the issue. My wifes been driving the car for a week now stock,so Im not in a huge hurry to fix the problem lol. Ive been super busy with work and stuff, but later this week Im going to put the Unichip back on but with the stock Intake to se if perhaps the DDM Intake was the problem.

 

Kool! Keep me posted if I can help!

Chat soon!

 

In my previous mini I had a home made CAI for at least 9000 miles...
In the new one (again R56s), I have the DDM works Street intake for 850 miles, until now everything perfect, nothing wrong.
Cannot get why the CAI should cause any problem..

 

Iv'e heard of the issue with the ALTA turbo inlet tubes collapsing under increased boost. The DDM elbow is a bit flimsy, perhaps it too is collapsing and causing the car to throw a CEL.

 

We had a few (like handful) that had an issue but NONE will have that anymore now that we beefed up and added a wire to the hose. Interesting thought though on the DDM elbow. Could be!?

 

I also made a very low resistance CAI without an elbow. Used a giant K&N straight into the MAF and even shortened the stock inlet tube and reconnected the valve cover vent. It works very well at low boost levels, up to 5 psig, but under prolonged boost (5 seconds or more), the boost simply quits (I have a boost gauge sensing pressure just downstream of the turbo outlet) and this is what others refer to as 1/2 power. Then, after about 20 miles, the boost comes back. It will also come back if I immediately pull over and restart the engine. I don't get any CEL's on the dash. Only thing I can figure is I made the intake too efficient and the R56 needs a bit of a vacuum pull on the intake, possibly for the valve cover vent (which has a sensor on it).

It could also be that I'm simply making the engine run too lean because the mileage has been very good since the mod. and the engine makes excellent power below 5 psig. I would hate to go back to stock, but may have to add some intake flow resistance in order to be able to enjoy max. power.

 

Sweet data point, it is interesting to note that I too had attributed the CAI to some of my issues with CEL's. I was running the AlTA version, and got rid of the CELS by eliminating the foam filter and going to a more restrictive Paper Element.

I was curious whether or not anyone had experienced this, given that Alta has made comment I was going to play with different configurations to try to verify the theory. Now there appears to be some wind in my sails, anyone else want to add any other info to this. I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Soooo... PROBLEM SOLVED

Well, I think it is anyways. I put the ECU back on WITHOUT my DDM Intake, and went for a nice, spirited drive. The engine felt rock solid. It even felt like it was pulling harder after 5000rpm than with the intake. Even sixth gear pulls from 2000rpm at 100% throttle (which used to cause a light 90% of the time) didn't phase the car whatsoever.

Don't get me wrong, I still need to drive for a few more days, but im pretty convinced the intake was he culprit. I do miss the awesome Bypass Valve sound though, so who knows if ill have to opt for the ALTA BOV

 

Maybe wait for software that DOESN'T cause CEL's in the first place and allows you to use the DDM intake.

That's when you can say "problem solved".

 

I think some people are having intake problems without the ECU also. Perhaps the ECU just amplifies them.

 

Problem is solved when the tuner making the map either works closly with the customer to resolve issues, or someone figures out why there is a percentage of these engines that exhibit these behaviors.

Either way it would require a technically competent vendor willing to work with their customers, in order to find the right solution.

Something I have not found yet....

 

Update: Drove for almost an hour this morning with no problems.

As far as the vendor willing to work with customers, I think ALTA is very helpful as far as providing customer support. In my situation though, (being 6000 miles away) it's kind of a pain in the *** to have them troubleshoot the problem for me. I dont know why the intake is causing problems, and until I can take my car in I probably wont know.

I guess a better statement would be "problem kind of solved"

As far as tuning goes, what differences are there between a map made for a car with an aftermarket intake as oppoed to one with a stock intake?

 

It's all too easy to blame Alta for our problems. Why not try to solve them ourselves. After all, we have more cars than they do. They do help us when they tell us their testing observations. I would actually buy their ECU if it would allow me to keep my excellent intake.

If the R56 has a problem with low restriction intakes, then it can be verified by simply removing everything upstream of the MAF. I know my car doesn't like it and that's very unusual. That's why I can't rule out the sensor on the valve cover vent which probably ensures there is sufficient vacuum for proper crankcase ventilation.

 

i would be weary of getting a BOV. if something as simple as a CAI is causing issues, then i would imagine something like a BOV is just asking for more trouble.

That said, i have had no issues with my DIY CAI with the elbow and a trueflow filter on the end.