Hey guys,

I've had my 2012 MCS for a few months now and I've been quite busy tinkering around.

So far I have:
NM Intake
Forge BOV Spacer
NM ECU Tune
BSH Lower Engine Mount
Evolve Catless Downpipe mated to a stock exhaust (soon to be replaced)

I just installed the downpipe last night and now I've hit a fork in the road.

Here in Illinois, I will not have to go for emissions test (OBD scan/no visual) for another 18 months. BUT that nasty little CEL I'm getting from having no primary cat is bothering me already, and it's only been 24 hours.

From what I gather, I have two basic routes I can go.

1)Akrapovic Delete-R (Expensive)
2)O2 Spacer/Non-Fouler (Cheap)

The question I have here is one of time and functionality. I work, a lot. I'm out of town a ton, I have no garage and very scarce access (distance related) to the one at my mother's house which houses all my tools. I'm not trying to do this twice, or over again, or to be in there fooling around more often than I need to be.

So, does anyone have the spacer/non-fouler method installed and working on an N18 equipped R56?

I know that's a broad question, but I've searched and searched and I've done nothing but come up with mixed reviews about it sometimes working but sometimes a CEL comes on and goes right back off or blah blah blah whatever.

That being said, I'm willing to spend the money on the Delete-R if the thing is going to work the first time and as intended.

Purely to convey my level of seriousness with this little bugger, by spring I plan to have an FMIC installed along with the remainder of exhaust system being replaced by something much more ridiculous by my girlfriend's standards (DDM Works?) followed closely by the Stage 2 Tune from Jerry and the guys at NM. I've already got my eyes on the OS Giken clutch setup and a whole lot of suspension/braking related goodies. Money pit.

Thanks for reading and if any of you are in the Chicagoland area and want to cruise. PM me or look for me on the street! I'm kinda hard to miss.

 

The R-delete works for keeping the check engine light off. But you still get a P0420 code from time to time. The code then clears after a few miles.

 

Contact your tuner. Jan at RMW, Evolve and the Accessport tunes are all able to tune out the CEL from a downpipe.(I'm unsure about NM) Best part is, it's free!(since you already paid for the tune)

 

Being that this is an N18 equipped MCS, there is no AP (or any flash tuner) for my car. :-(

NM can't tune it out because they're based in California, which in hindsight is something I should have considered. Although I am more than pleased with the tune I got from them and the customer service was and is phenomenal.

I suppose I could always go a different route for the next tune I have done, but I would be paying full price again.

For the time being, I'd like to consider the two aforementioned options if I can verify that they'll work.

 

i read a post by someone using the r-delete that said while the check engine light was off, when he read the codes on the obd2 port it showed a "not ready" code

i don't remember which not ready code it was and i cannot find the post, but in illinois, a "not ready" code is a fail

scott

 

Well the O2 sensor doesn't always work. It seems to be a hit and a miss with both the N14 and N18(very few reported overall) engines. However, it's cheap enough to try?

 

If you got the RMW tune or Evolve or others in this case, you might as well buy the Delete R. It would almost come out to be the same price in getting a new tune. The nice thing about NM is that it's free re-flashes with new mods you get, if I'm correct on that. Good luck!

 

spacing out the o2 sensor will not work with a de-cat, only with a high-performance cat

from reading the forums and aftermarket sources, the oem cat has 400 cells per square inch of cross section and an open area of 55-65% of the cross section area

the milltek cat for the mini is a 200 cell cat with an open area of 75-85%

the Akrapovic cat is a 100 cell cat, open area unknown/not specified

using the spacer on the o2 sensor with either of the aftermarket cats is said to work

i called renntech and talked to an engineer, not a salesman, and he said their tune with the milltek cat would not produce any check engine lights and may or may not produce a CEL with the Akrapovic cat

he said with the Akrapovic cat it appears that the rest of the mods may be the determing factor of getting a CEL and that a spacer has worked in getting rid of the CEL in some cases

i am planning on a renntech tune in combination with
defenders-of-speed CAI
way's Turbo Exhaust Manifold
milltek cat
milltek exhaust
forge Intercooler Reasonator delete hotside hose and intake coldside hoses
TyrolSport Mini Cooper S Front mount Intercooler
ALTA vacuum operated Compressor Recirculating Valve

scott

edit

a note on the renntech tune, it is ON with the sport button on and OFF with the sport button off ... stealth mode for trips to the dealer

scott

 

bmwr606, I was looking at that Tyrolsport intercooler, that thing is crazy.

Also, this is all going on your 2012 Countryman S? Don't those have N18's also? I'm not sure, but if so I dont think the vacuum operated recirc valve from alta work. N18's don't make manifold vacuum due to the valvetronic sytem.

Anyway, I'm think I'm gonna give the spacer a shot and see what happens. They're cheap and it's a 10 minute mod, couldn't hurt. If that doesn't work (which I'm not really holding my breath), I will most likely leave it be until it actually gets closer to time for me to go to inspection.

I don't think I want to spend the coin on the Akrapovic Delete-R just to get rid of the light if it's not going to pass the inspection.

Maybe I'll get it tuned out by someone other than NM once I get some other mods done. Who knows what will/may become available by the time I have to really start worrying about it.

I've got 18 months. LOL

 

i have been emailing back and forth with alta, it does work on the n18s engine

scott

 

Ahh okay. Well then that may be something I could consider adding my own list!

 

Tony, seems like you and I are going for the same thing just in different order. See below for my present mods. I'm doing one more (WMW Exhaust Manifold) and then sending my ECU to NM for their stage 2. I've not heard of spacers working to cure CEL's. By the by, I will not be using anything else from Alta.

Good luck!

 

I've been looking at the WMW exhaust manifold, my thought is that I'm not going to take the whole turbo and manifold off unless I'm changing both! Haha! It may end up happening. Good luck to you in that build.

I'll be letting everyone know if I can get it to work for me, Porsche guys swear by the method from what I've been reading.

 

Thanks! In all actuality, I'm just gonna drive up to Atlanta and have Way do it!

 

Damn! I wouldn't be willing to drive from my house here in Chicago to Atlanta for that. I could do that myself, I'm pretty good with the wrenches haha. But I might consider driving down in a group to get some tunes done when my mods are done if there ever becomes enough interest.

 

You aren't throwing codes for that Forge BOV adapter?

 

Surprisingly, no. At first this was odd to me to until I had a conversation with a friend of mine and the in-house mechanic at my work and we came up with an interesting theory.

The fact that the N18 motor is both direct injected and has 'Valvetronic' means a couple of things.

1) Due to Valvetronic, when the engine is in overrun (throttle lift-off), the computer is only looking to see atmospheric pressure values at the MAP sensor due to the fact that it does not use a throttle blade to control engine RPM. It is opening the bypass valve based on throttle position information because there is no manifold vacuum metric to look at.

2) Due to it being direct injected, when throttle position is zero, the engine computer isn't looking at the MAF sensor for air flow values because it's going to shut off the fuel injectors completely anyway during overrun.

These two facts together mean that the Forge BOV Spacer isn't causing the computer to see any abnormal values that it would consider improper function.

I'm not entirely sure this is the reason there is no CEL, but it seems like a solid theory to my non-engineer brain.

 

.....idk, but at least you get the sound without the downside of an open filter haha

 

I might be reading too much into the bold part above, but is Renntech saying that their tune can help reduce the odds of the Milltek or Akrapovic DPs throwing CELs?

In other words, is Renntech saying that, whereas an Akrapovic w/ a spacer might still throw a CEL without their tune, the Renntech tune might make it not throw a CEL?

I would be elated if the tune would give us a larger margin of error to correct the o2 sensor with a spacer to keep the CEL off.

 

the tech was saying that a 200 cell cat would not throw codes but a 100 cell cat MIGHT, depending on all the rest of the mods ... they do not code out the CEL

it seems the 100 cell cats are right on the line of throwing a CEL so one car may and another not

scott

edit:

when i told the tech i was planning on the milltek 200 cell cat he said "good choice"

scott

 

I installed the 02 sensor spacer today. It took about 80 miles of driving for the CEL to come on when I swapped the downpipe, so I'm assuming it will take at least that to go off, if it's going to work.

The Porsche, Evo X, and several other communities swear by this method. So much so that Hahn Racecraft Downpipes for Turbo Cobalt SS' come with a spacer already welded in place.

I'll let you guys know what happens, of course.

Happy New Year to you all.

 

UPDATE: Installed the 02 spacer and after about a week of driving in different conditions, the check engine light has gone off on it's own.

After it taking about 80 miles over 2 days for the CEL to come on after removing the catalyst, I expected at least that amount of driving to be done before the light would clear itself (if it were going to). During the time, I did some research.

As of the 2010 model year, all vehicles sold in the US market must have ECU's capable of recording Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) in a new category called "Permanent DTC"

I read through a lot of the law itself which can be found here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-201...c86-010-18.pdf

The definition the law uses for "Permanent DTC" is as follows:

"Permanent DTC means a DTC that corresponds to a MIL-on DTC and is stored in non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). A permanent DTC can only be erased by the OBD system itself and cannot be erased through human interaction with the OBD system or any onboard computer."

These Permanent DTCs seem to only apply to emissions related trouble codes. Furthermore, the (66-page) document goes on to elaborate the parameters required to turn the CEL off and clear the code. From what I understand, it takes many more drive cycles to clear the DTC than it previously did. It also does nothing to describe the drive cycle requirements.

Being that all N18 MINI's are newer than 2010 model year, they would all have this programming in their ECU. For most people, they probably don't complete enough "drive cycles" to meet the parameters to clear the DTC in even a month's worth of driving. This would explain why some people might claim that the 02 Spacers do not work to clear the code/light in their N18 equipped MINI. They just simply are not driving enough.

It took almost 200 miles of driving after installing the 02 spacer for my CEL to clear itself and turn off. I am unaware of the exact 'drive cycle' that the ECU is looking to happen before it runs its checks, and it would seem you have to do a few (at least 2) before it would clear itself.

Hope this helps anyone thinking about using an O2 Spacer on their N18 Equipped MINI.

 

"Prolly" got tired...

 

If only it were that simple! I've edited my post for elaboration.

 

Well.....

Thanks for destroying my cute three word response.

Kudos for reading that long of a government document that I know had to be extremely dry (I know... I work for the gov't)!

For better or worse, I stick with my Ak Delete-R. If and when a code pops (every other week or so), it goes away within 5 miles if that long.

Great Thread!!!