Mine has melted and I am still waiting for my dealer to get the 100% replacement insert in from MINI. This is MINI's latest retro "Fix" for this problem as of 9-2-2008.

Of course this will not work because the problem seems to happen when you turn off the car and it has sat for a while without air flow, not while driving and getting air flow.

I have decided to just purchase some heat resistant material, and stick it up around the scoop so it will absorb the heat before it gets to the actual hood scoop. I am doing this in lieu of purchasing the M7 heat shield, or the turbo wraps, because I do not want to inadvertantly void part of my warranty by experimenting with aftermarket fixes like these. I think sticking heat resistive material up around the underside of the scoop will do the trick cheaply, effectively, and without risking my warranty in some way... This, with the 100% opened up insert from MINI that is.

FYI:
Others have taken a Dremel tool and opened up their original instert to 100%.

 

Well...some will say to my solution "NO...not spending a dime since it is MINI responsibility to resolve etc...' but when we picked up our 08 MCS first thing I decided was to isolate the turbo due to heat but was NOT concerned with melting hood scoops (had not gained forum noteriety status at that time), but simply protecting myself. The OEM shield gets way too hot to touch and I knew it would be just a matter of time (my tinkering with engine) I would touch by accident so installed the M7 turbo shield>>


Yesterday I came in from some back road rattin around so was running thru the gears etc. As soon as I got to my garage pulled out the laser remote temp reader and got a 146 deg F temp off of the M7 unit at the point just below the scoop. So with no intention originally to be concerned with melting hood scopes, I feel this is a total none issue now. The M7 shield is very nicely made, works exactly as advertised and IMO dresses up the engine bay too

 

The heat shield seems nice, but it worries me. That heat has to go somewhere...

 

It does...design allows for venting around the shield thus creates areas for heat dissipation, but disperses out and evenly instead of concentrating (OEM set up) in small areas. Anyone with any questions should really talk to Peter at M7... he does not design or produce products that compromise engine or its components...

 

Ah. It looked like from pictures that it encloses the turbo a bit. I guess if it's mainly just a flat piece above it then that's not so bad.

I assume the heatshield might yield warranty problems, though?

 

I believe there is a software update that allows the cooling fan to run longer after engine shutdown. After a spirited test drive of a 09 JCW, both the MA and I noticed that the fan ran for about 5 min after we pulled it back into the showroom. Check with your SA about a ECU reflash.

 

My fan ran for about 5 minutes the upon taking it home from the dealer. A couple other times I've heard it turn on for about 5 minutes as well. Other times, it doesn't run. I kind of wish I could force it to run.

 

Hopefully the 09 MCS will have the longer fan-run. This, I think, is the solution as the problem seems to be long-term exposure to a combination of sunlight and non-dissipated heat from the turbo.

 

I'd agree with Engender: the melt problem occurs with a combination of hot sun and hot turbo.

My MCS is due for it's first major surplus, I'll be sure to talk to the shop about it.

Would you post where/how to find the M7 heat shield? That appears to be a better solution than any of the other turbo shields I've seen.

Edit: Nevermind about the request about M7, I've found it.

 

I took my MINI to my local dealer to have them look at the scoop (they were great by the way). Anyway, when I got there they told me that they never saw a melting hood scoop. After looking at mine, we looked at every scoop on the used R56s on the lot - guess what? Every single one of them had a bend in them. The only ones without a bend were the brand new ones. I hope MINI does something to fix this problem.

 

My 07 already had that insulation but I didn't notice any warping at 5,000 miles. My current 08 just has 800 miles and I can already see a small depression starting in the middle...

 

I'm noticing a trend with this problem in that it seems to be much more prevalent among 2008s than 2007s. My car lives mostly in Arizona and is parked outside in the sun for extensive periods of time following long commutes and there is no melting at all on my scoop. After reading some of these threads, I was truthfully expecting there to be some melting but even with 110 degree heat, not happening here. It would be interesting to get a 2007 scoop and a 2008 scoop next to each other to see if there are any differences that could contribute to this problem.

 

I also wonder if having an automatic makes any difference? I suspect an automatic might contribute to higher overall under boot temps. My 08 is an auto and my 07 was not...

 

I would highly doubt that the auto tranny would make a difference in the bonnet temps.

BTW, regarding the heat shield that was pictured earlier: I have the same thing installed on my 08 MCS, so it's not new and it doesn't help with overheating the scoop.

I'll take mine to the shop, get it fixed, then talk my wife into buying the M7 shield. After reading all of this, I think that all this needs is a little bit of redirecting the heat to solve this problem.

Does anyone know for sure if the carbon fiber scoop is actually more heat resistant? I would expect it to be, but that really depends on the type of resin used during the part's layup.

 

BTW, regarding the heat shield that was pictured earlier: I have the same thing installed on my 08 MCS, so it's not new and it doesn't help with overheating the scoop.

If you are referring to the M7 turbo shield first not suggesting is "new"...only was showing what I did and have to disagree totally with your second comment... I have been monitoring under hood temps using a Raytek Laser remote temp sensor and it does work to dissipate heat and keeps the under hood temps in the scoop area WAY down...no temps even close to cause melting of scoop.

For those interested in specific temp data go to this link>>
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=148677

Michael

 

MeloR56,

Expect that Ken G was referring to this one;
"...pictured earlier..." and he spoke of adding the M7 Shield..

And yes, Carbon Fibre is also constructed with plastic resin, usually Epoxy, which is not especially heat resistant, depending on formula.

 

I guess it comes down to nomenclature... I would call the item attached to the underside of the hood (bonnet for proper MINI speak ) a thermal blanket as opposed to the M7 item which is truly a 'heat shield'... so I would agree with Ken G if he is referring to the thermal blanket. Oh...concerning the hood scoop... I understand that the early MY 2007 MCS had a closed scoop grill then that changed at some point in MY2007 and is what is on all MY2008 and looks like this (opening number and locations)>>
looking thru scoop from under hood


Makes you wonder why not have all the cells within the scoop grill open ?

 

If you read all posts in this thread from the beginning, I believe there's a long technical discussion of why those holes should be all open, all closed, some open, etc.

 

Yes, a Thermal Blanket and I recall when almost all autos had full fiberglass Thermal Blankets under hoods and wondered why there was none at all on my justaCooper, I thought it was put there for noise more than heat on my older autos.

As for opening more holes in hood 'scoops'; what I have not seen mentioned but might be a concern is if MINI designers wanted a more 'Low Pressure' area behind Intercooler, A/C Condenser and Radiator for cooling airflow and you now Ram Extra Airflow through that 'scoop', you might disrupt cooling.

 

YES!! I had the same idea at work today and ordered this: http://www.alamomotorsports.com/ther...atbarrier.html
There are all sorts of thermo blankets, some you can attach under the hood, some you can wrap around the turbo, you name it. I should get it in the next couple of days and then install it and I'll post some pics! The one I ordered has self adhesive backing so it should be really easy to install AND it's not expensive.

 

PilotArt is correct, I was NOT referring to the M7 heat shield when I said it didn't work, but rather I was talking about the factory-stock hood insert. It was the latter that wasn't working on my car.

In fact, I've been looking on the M7 website and it looks like they have the best solution that I've seen so far. I'm an aircraft mechanic and have dealt with small turbos like this in the past; they can be temperature sensitive, and I like how the M7 shield goes over the top of the stock parts, rather than stuffing material between the stock heatshield and turbo. In general, you want to keep as much free air as possible around turbos.

Yes, the temperature tolerance of carbon fiber is dependant on the resin used. There are a lot of resins that can take heat well in excess of what's radiated by the Mini's turbo; F1 car bodies are now carbon fiber and they hold up to the exhaust gasses those engines generate. The question I have is: does Mini make the JCW CF scoop using heat resistant resins?

Another thing: I parked my MCS in the sun two days ago, on a 90 degree day. After 4 hours, the hood was still too hot to touch for more than a few seconds, but my scoop didn't deform any worse than before. I had idled the engine for a minute or two to let it cool off before shutting it down. Makes me think that the cause of the warping is a combination of hot day and hot engine.

 

That's soooo funny that Baron said that, because I have a scoop on order from them for over a month and a half now because of the warping. They said the same thing to me as well. "Well, we've never seen or heard of this before."

 

This was actually the Dever Dealer I moved a while back!

 

Looks great, I just ordered mine today. The way it attaches to those empty holes on top you would think Mini left something off the engine to begin with, like an M7 heat shield...

 

What is that
metal bar going over the top of the engine pictured above?