I have been emailing with the OP. I have a reasonable theory as to the cause. I will wait for the OP to post the answers to my questions if he chooses or turns me loose to post his answers.

YD

 

Iam going to go with low oil a couple of hard long turns to starve the motor of oil. Am I close?

 

I have been emailing with the OP to try to see if there is any pattern or connection to his maintenance or oil situation that could be made.

He drives in Arizona, very hot all the time

He has 64K miles on the car

He used M1 0W30

He changed it according to the OBC

He didn't know if it was using oil

He did not add oil between changes

I don't know if he check the oil level between changes

He does autocross the car

He did notice the oil light come on with hard banked turns on the track.

This is all I know from the OP.

Apparently, no oil pressure while screaming in a hard turn on the track certainly seems to be the main problem, but I see several other issues considering the car is being tracked in hot weather.

Did the loss of oil pressure come from oil pump starvation because a normal amt of oil went to the side of the oil pan, or was it low on oil in the first place (OP didn't say if he checked the oil level before he raced it the last time).

Some of the posted pictures looked sludgy to me. What factor did this play?

0W30 oil in Arizona? What effect does this have?

Oil possibly well beyond it's useful life? Another factor?

Have fun, I'm just throwing out every possibility I can think of for discussion purposes only.

YD

 

Well...a very thin oil in very hot weather with hard cornering makes it that much harder to pump and gives that much less protection. So whether or not it was the leading cause, it definitely played a role.

Another ? Does he Autox/Track on R-Comps? Or just street tires?

 

i responded via email to a few of you.

whatexactly woudl you like to know?

i live in Arizona, its hot and dry climate here. i was told to run ow30. obviously thats a mistake.

 

Thin oil is easier to pump, but the important issue is how much film strength or thickness is there when the oil gets to the two parts it is trying to keep apart.

Then after 15K to 20K miles on the oil, as per BMW OBC intervals, what film strength or viscosity is left?

YD

 

Chibi,

I think we are all just doing our best to learn from your mistakes. Not trying to put you down. Typically in a hotter climate you want to run a thicker not thinner oil. This is because as oil gets hotter it gets thinner, this is good to a point as you want the oil to thin out and basically flow in the bearings. But a Zero weight in hot weather isn't the best...instead of the factory 5-30...I'd probably run a 10-30 in your summer months (if you are in Southern AZ...I used to live in Prescott and I know how cold AZ gets )

One question though...were you on R-compound tires? There are stories from several different cars, not just Mini's of R-compounds providing enough grip to send lateral G's high enough for a long enough time by keeping the oil against the side of the oil pan. Regardless of oil weight, miles on oil, and being full on oil...it starves the pump and creates similar failures. This doesn't happen to everybody, but it is quite a documented occurrence. It is the main reason I'm not on R-comps yet as I want to baffle my oil pan first.


Also, my thin oil/hard to pump comment was not relating to pumping the oil itself...I realize it came across that way. Basically, if the oil is very thin, it will slosh more easily in the pan and be effected more easily by the G's. Thus harder to pump since its not there.

 

i havnt raced the car since may. i HAD z rated tires on there until recently.

 

I just found this thread! I was the one that worked on this car! I was not aware that he put 0-w30 oil to start with, but this problem occurred because the car only had 1 qt of oil in it, the oil light only comes on with 1/4 qt of oil left, at that point its too late! under most circumstances a car might survive with only 1 qt of oil for a little bit of time, but during auto cross-- not a chance! anyway. Moral of the story!! Check your oil People! and only use oil weight the Mini recommends! I am happy to report this motor is now back in operation. A new crank shaft with all new bearing and one piston rod was replaced!

 

Hi all,
new kid here and new to this type of forum, but I have a question and am hoping to get some help here for clarity...

my Cooper S 2007, about 13,550 miles (give or take a few)...started with the loud clanging/knocking noise (I was asked if it was disel was so loud)...to took it in, dealer said it was just a loud noise from the injector and they get louder with cold - NOT, this was very loud, and I can be persistent, so the next thing I was told that it was the tensioner and there was a crack in the link - this was replaced and now I am told the lifters need to be replaced..."Coop" is young, what causes this?...

any help is much appreciated...thanks guys...

Kalona45

 

From the discription you've given, you may be interested in this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-database.html

There seems to be an ongoing problem with what some have labeled "cold start" issues - the main symptom is "sounds like a disel" Good luck!