Install looks great! Steve did a great job Why did you not put a boost tap on as a block-off though?

 

First, this is a great thread and i'm learning a lot to supplement my (limited) knowledge of crankcase ventilation.

I've got two basic questions that i think can be easily answered.

1. Does the crankcase ventilation system for the R56/57 turbo engine have two ventilation out points? I'm guessing that standard ventilation goes through a PCV valve into the intake manifold, but as i recall on an old toyota i had, there was a second ventilation point directly into the air intake, if blowby gases exceeded the ability of the intake manifold to accommodate the high amount of gases produced by high speed driving.

2. What's the advantage of the boost tap, and do i need one for the OCC? I'm not too familiar with forced induction systems, but as i understand, you only need a boost tap if: 1) you want to put a boost gauge in place; or 2) you have multiple boost devices besides the turbo charger?

I ordered the BSH OCC today, too many good things said about it to pass it up. Plus, i get to work on the engine!

thanks...

 

Correct! There are two PCV hoses, one directly to the intake manifold, and one to the intake pipe. The BSH R56 Catch Can works off the PCV hose going to the intake pipe, and the Direct Dual Boost Tap doubles as a block off for the second PCV hose leading to the intake manifold. There is an advantage to having the Boost Tap, because it then allows the Catch Can to see 100% of the PCV gases before they are routed back into the system.



Here is the Boost Tap installed inline to the PCV hose going from the Valve Cover to the Intake Manifold.



Here is the DDBT again, with the Block off Nut installed.

 

Okay, so you use the boost tap to stop PCV gases from going into the intake manifold, and force all of them into the intake pipe. I see that.

That gets me to my two more questions:

1. Is there a PCV valve at both the intake manifold and the intake pipe? I'm assuming yes there are two PCV valves, and now you are eliminating the intake manifold altogether when you use the boost tap to block PCV gas from entering the intake manifold.

2. Since we've bypassed one of the two escape routes (the primary escape route, i would think) for PCV gases, it seems we've created a situation where in high speed driving, with lots of blowby, the high amount of gas can't be accommodated by the intake pipe. I assume that's not true (otherwise you wouldn't put this system in, right ), but why?

thanks again.

 

Yes there is a PCV Valve at both locations, allowing them to operate independently. Under high speed driving situations, you are more than likely boosting, inwhich you would not be venting gasses directly to the intake manifold as it will be pressurized. The PCV to the intake pipe is now your primary vent.

 

Thanks, i understand completely now. I appreciate the tutorial, its not just anyone who'll take the time to explain stuff like this.

I'll order the booster tap tomorrow.

 

The problem is, I enjoy this You are very welcome, and thank you for being teachable. I appreciate the opportunity.

 

Were waiting for them to get here I believe.

 

So...for the past week or so, my wife's '06 Cooper S has started an annoying problem (and of course the factory warranty is gone now)...
When it's cold, it has almost always started hard from new (always starts though), but it now exhibits a slight hesitation in acceleration when the engine's cold (mind you this is at 75-80 deg F). It only does it the once shortly after starting then it's fine for the rest of the day. Ol' Gromit has approximately 27k miles on him now...should I open up the intake and Sea-Foam it? Or does it need a software update? Or do I need to stop being lazy and clean out my K&N? (it's been a longgg while)

 

I have an 08 Cooper S with only 25,000 miles on it. It is currently in the shop for the second time for excessive carbon buildup. I only have 2 more months on my warranty, and they report if I was out of warranty, this is an $1800 job. I Thought (and the dealership agrees) I was doing all the right things, good gas, Techron additive... Agreed, this is mostly an intown car, but does anyone know if there is anything I can do about this?

 

Because of the direct injection, Techron in the fuel doesn't do anything for the carbon build-up on the valves. It's a known problem with many direct-injection engines. And despite what the dealers say, MINI DOES know about it, because they changed a few things in the 2011 turbo engines to address it.

You need to Seafoam it in the PCV every 10K or so. There are a couple of threads around here somewhere about it. I cannot for the life of me understand why dealers refuse to acknowledge that a periodic Seafoam treatment will have your motor's innards all nice and clean, save you possibly costly repairs, and keep it running as strong as new. Maybe they just like tearing heads down, I guess.

 

Eds not-so-red MINI,

In your last post on this carbon build-up issue, you state "MINI DOES know about it, because they changed a few things in the 2011 turbo engines to address it"

I have a 2011 MCS and am trying to find additional information on what was changed on the 2011 turbo engines to prevent carbon build up (as you stated).

Do you happen to have additional information, a web link, or other reference on what exactly was changed? I am dying to know!

Thanks very much ahead of time... I look forward to your response!


tvanhouten

 

I second this!!

 

I have the BSH can and during the summer it's pretty dry. But come the winter months, the amount of water and yellow guck that the can collects is unbelievable.

We had this yellow guck issue in our X5 that caused it to hydrolock the motor as that crap mixed with water freezes in the lines (if I have the story straight). That was a problem on the M54 BMW motors. Not sure if it will happen here as well, but this BSH can is something I can't recommend enough.

 

Hi all - I have a 2008 Clubman s with 83000 miles. We recently had service bc the engine light was on and the car was sluggish. Codes 2885 and 277b were in memory. Removed and replaced valve cover, vent hose, spark plugs. Heavy carbon buildup so decarbonization with walnut shells followed. After service car ran great. Another engine light came on after about 40 min of driving and felt power loss. The engine light eventually reset itself - had code checked out it was turbo boost (was informed that the engine light should not trigger with this code) . Technician can recreate at/near redline rpms to trigger code and engine light. I was told that it was ok to drive and not to redline it to trigger turbo boost. Techs are looking into why. Has anyone else had similar experience?

 

I've noticed my off idle throttle response to be suffering lately but just chalked it up to hot weather. Now that the weather is a bit cooler, it really hasn't gone away so I came here at started reading.
I didn't have any seafoam so I took the intake off and cleaned it by hand with carb cleaner, brush, and rags. I'll follow up with some seafoam tomorrow but I can't believe how much crap was built up in only 36k miles. The work wasn't bad and only took me about a half hour. Made all the difference in the world. The car runs NOTICEABLY better now and no blip off idle. No rough idle. I will definately do a seafoam treatment at every oil change...of which I perform every 5k miles. Mini might call for 15k but that's just stupid.


I drive my mini pretty hard but not on a race track....yet!

Here is a before pic...


and a crappy after


This is definitely something that needs maintenance.

Thanks everyone for the info...

 

Just got my 2010 Pepper White Club back. They used walnuts to clean the carbon build up. No cost and its back to normal again.

 

If your carbon situation is bad enough, the walnut treatment is of no use. The head has to be removed and rebuilt. Ask me how I know.


I'm putting my BSH can back in this week. Just need to come up with a faster way to drain/suck the crap out of it. The nut at the bottom works but it's painful. I need to come up with a way to suck the crap out out of the top quick and painlessly as in the winter, this can fills up really fast. you can't just leave it for weeks on end. It fills up and then your Mini runs like a world of ugly. Ask me how I know that too!! I thought the motor was done one day but it was the can was full to the limit and overflowing. Ugly.

 

So how did you know??? Blown head? Also how do I present this to the dealership?

 

Car never idled right and "felt" off. Even the service manager noted it. When they scoped the head after the walnut treatment, it was still ugly.

 

I use a syringe with a nylon hose attached to it. Much easier

 

so after the walnut sandblast the car ran well, then the rear oil line started leaking and they replaced the line which required pulling the exhaust manifold (so I'm told). We left the bay area and cruised down I5 to Los Angeles all was great until the top of the Grapevine. I was doing 70 when the CEL for reduced engine power came on. I made it into the Mini dealer in Calabassas on the 23rd. they fixed it in about an hour and $400 later. It appears that someone damaged the turbo intake line reinstalling it after a previous service. we wil pay that Dealer a visit to have a conversation and show them the part