Not saying your wrong, but in my mom's case being at the dealer, why wouldn't the MINI techs mention this? I mean it is more money for them...

 

If its truly plugged, then the turbo just won't be effective. It won't die. Replace the turbo. If you don't have much boost, replace the cat. One step at a time.

The OP never complained about a lack of boost. I doubt if the cat is trashed.

 

I don't think the cat is bad, cars got miles on it but is in great running condition. I'll post some pics of what I find when I tear the car down Tuesday and Wednesday

 

ok so as promised I took the front end apart and took the inter cooler off to see what I have going on in there. First off let me start by saying this car is way over engineered with all the fasteners that I broke off!!!

So I took the front bumper off as far as I needed to to get to the inter cooler. The pics say it all, so what your looking at is oil pooling towards the passenger side of the car, which please correct me if I'm wrong, is the side of the inter cooler just before going into the motor. This leads me to think the turbo is starting to fail, I didn't notice any puff of blue smoke at start up this morning but I know it's there when you start rolling and getting the turbo hot.

Any input on just a turbo issue or should I go further would be greatly appreciated. Going to clean out the inter cooler with brake clean, let it dry for a day and order the turbo. I think I'm just going to get a refurb'd unit and hopefully this fixes my issues. Thanks for listening and any feedback is more than welcome!.

 

Looking at the pictures of the oil in your intercooler it is obvious that you have a clogged cat and it is blocking the exhaust flow. This happens when the pressure seal (not oil seal, turbos do not have any oil seals) gets coked in oil and starts spinning with the turbo. Once this happens exhaust gets into your engine and pushes the motor oil foam that is spinning off of your turbine assembly out the front and rear pressure seals. For details on how it happens and what it does read the info at link http://www.jmturbocoopers.com/Cooper...ton-Issue.html.


This is what kills all mini cooper turbochargers and causes many other problems like cracked pistons, burned valves, head gasket issues, cracks in turbo exhaust and exhaust manifold, and damage due to oil getting into your map sensors and throttle valve. Hopefully the reason for the smoke is that the catalytic converter is overwhelmed by the amount of oil that is going through your engine. In some cases we have seen the catalytic converter temperately burn all the smoke caused by a cracked piston, and burned valves until it gets so clogged that it stops working.


If you don't replace the catalytic converter with the turbocharger it wont be long before you have to replace the new turbocharger again. Some fail instantaneously and some around two years it just depends on how clogged the cat is. In the last 3 years every turbocharger that failed or was sent to us as a core for an upgraded was damaged by or showed signs of back pressure in the exhaust. Hopefully this will give you the information to make the right decision on how to fix this issue, I hate to see people waste money and replace the turbocharger twice once they figure out the cause of the failure was due to back pressure.

 

Being that a turbo is $650 or so, don't have much money for this build I see your point about the first cat, what do they usually run for the Catalitic converters?

 

I have seen them from about $500 to $1000 depending on the quality and how well the work. OEM is the best and most expensive, but there are good after market ones for around $750.

 

Are we talking about the first cat that's part of the header or further down the line? So the back pressure is coming from the Cat, back through the motor up the valves through the inter cooler and into the turbo? Or is it a combination of oil from the turbo pressure seal's and back pressure from the cat through the motor? I'm just trying to wrap my head around why the cat would also need to be replaced along with the turbo, I know you've seen this before, I just don't have $1200 for parts right now!

 

I would replace both just to be safe, if you don't the total you could be spending to repair it twice will be about 5k (2k for first and 3K for second when you realize that you do need to change the cat). Some people don't believe me and end up replacing it 3 or more times. Or they think that since they just got a new High flow cat and it has only been on the car for a few hundred miles that they are safe. but it doesn't matter if the cat is used even for one mile DO NOT USE IT. Never install a used cat on a new turbo and never install a new cat on a car with a used turbo in both cases you are wasting money!

Yeah, it is a little confusing so I will do my best to explain it. First you have to understand how turbochargers work in the hostel environment of the exhaust system. The first thing to note is that they have no oil seals and the way they keep the oil in the turbocharger is that the oil has to run out faster than it runs into it. To do this there is a cavity in the bearing housing that allows the foam that spins off the turbine assy (that is spinning at 250k RPMs) to drain. If the foam cant drain out the bottom of the turbo charger it drains out the front and rear pressure seals.


The pressure seals are nothing more than c-clips that crate a dam in the groove on the turbine shaft. When the oil comes out of the sleeve bearing it migrates down the turbine shaft in into the groove in the turbine shaft. Once you turn off your car the heat (1500 deg F) from the exhaust system will migrate up the exhaust pipe and soak into the turbine assy. This heat burns the oil that came to rest in the groove on the turbine assembly that holds the exhaust side pressure seal C-clip. Once this happens the oil will burn and start closing in on the pressure seal and it will start spinning with the turbine assy and begins to wear and gets compressed in the shaft. Once compressed it allows exhaust gasses to get into your engine pressurizing it.


As the exhaust pressure builds in your engine it not only adds a lot of particulates to crate sludge but it also prevents the oil foam from draining. Since a C-clip is not a positive seal and can only handle a differential pressure of <1psi it allows oil to be pushed passed it due to the pressure. When this happens you get a large amount of oil into your inter-cooler and engine. Most of the time the extra oil makes its way through the engine and is burned by the catalytic converter but in your case the clog is so great that at idle you are overwhelming the catalytic converter.


If you install a new turbocharger without fixing the catalytic converter since you have a new pressure seal the pressure will push the turbine assy into the thrust bearing. This pressure will cause the thrust bearing to wear out extremely fast and eventually the compressor will hit the compressor housing ending the life of your turbo.

 

No I get it, just not made of money but I understand the idea of replacing new parts so they match. I did find a member on here that is parting his cooper s out with 49k, I'm going to buy his cat, header, turbo and all the lines and O2 sensors so it will all be the same unit. I understand the idea of going all new but I just don't have the money for all those new parts. Getting a great deal in everything, guy is close to me and is a mini specialist in Long Island. It's at least better then what I have now I only planing on keeping the car for another year or so, so unfortunately this is the best option for me. Really do appreciate the insight!

 

You don't need the 2nd cat, you can have a straight pipe put in its place. And when you get a new turbo and cat start using good oil, mobil 1 at wallmart is not. You need an oil designed for turbos.

 

right now I'm using Mobil 1 5W-30 high mileage, is there a recommendation on what oil to use that is best for turbo'd mini's?

 

Cleaned out the inter cooler, put it all back together, fired it up, got the car hot and seeing less oil. hopefully the used parts I get from 49K cooper S does the trick for at least a few years. From what I've read and people have commented newer cat and Turbo should do the trick for now, just need to find the time to put it in. I will try to post pics and Vid of cold start up and up to temp. idle and rev to show you guys and gals what I'm going through to see if it's the right move.

 

I'm replacing both the Turbo and Cat off of the manifold, found a great deal on both from a donor car with 49k so at least the turbo and cat have the same miles on them. The guy that I'm buying off of has the motor out of a totaled 2010 S that had timing chain and runners already done and from what he says and the pics he gave me, looks like it's going to be at least an upgrade from what I have now and will hopefully last me another few years. Plan on running this thing into the ground anyway but if I can get some sort of value when it hits 180k in 2 years anything would be welcome, body, electrical, everything outside of this current issue is mint!

here is a Vid of cold start, after I cleaned out the inter cooler, what normally happens is a big puff of blue/black smoke, didn't see that on initial start up until rev. which is a positive sign turbo and cat might fix problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Ocu...ature=youtu.be

After taking it to Home Depot and back I let it get up to temp, didn't get on it while out so didn't see any obvious signs of smoke out of the back, but got home, parked it, let it stay running for about 10 minutes and took a vid on a few revs while at temp. The coolent level is fine doesn't look like it have changed since i bought the car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBMUq...ature=youtu.be

so the second vid is again letting car idle for 10 minutes, revving motor which looks like clears oil that has pooled and shoots it through the motor and out the back of the car. I don't see any white smoke while revving car or under load and the engine sounds fine, I don't hear any instance of "death by timing chain" noise. Let me know what you guys think, thanks for listening

ps, this is a great thread don't worry about hijacking thread any input is more than welcome, if you have any Ford or Mustang questions I can be you go to guy for that, just not familiar with the Coopers, so THANKS EVERYONE!

 

I use the oil from MINI because I get a great deal on it from the dealer (Sewell MINI) and it's cheaper than the auto parts stores around me. However, the dealer oil is the same as Castrol EDGE w/Syntec full synthetic. Always run a full synthetic oil in the MINI. Most guys who run Mobil1 use the 0W-40 Euro blend instead of the 5W-30 that came in the car. But MINI recommends Castrol full synthetic oil.

 

good to know, thanks for the tip!

 

The brand is not as important as the spec. Make sure whatever brand it has the ACEA A(1, 2, 3, or 5) spec if it only has the API spec than it may not be 100% synthetic and there is no way to know. The API spec only requires tha the oil be 1% to be called a "fully synthetic motor oil". This means that you don't know what you are getting if it only has the API spec. To make it worse the big box stores will spec the blend of oil to keep the cost low. ACEA spec oils are what Mini Cooper requires don't use any other spec or you are taking I big risk.