My 2008 MCS is burning oil but not all the time. I should clarify that I only get a puff of blue smoke once in a while and only after the engine is hot. I mentioned it to the dealer and they speculate that it is coming from the turbo. Naturally this needs further investigation to be confirmed as the source. I pulled the intake hose on the compressor and it is clean an dry in there. I also pulled the intake hose which is just above the timing cover and it was dry so it seems that the compressor side of the turbo isn't the source of the oil. Now I need to check the hot side, which I will do later this week.

If it does turn out to be the hot side of the turbo, would any K03 rebuild kit fit the center housing?
I ask because I have a left over kit from my Audi S4 that was running K03's. I'm thinking that the center housing is the same as the Audi and the only difference was the housings on the compressor and the turbine.

Any thoughts?

 

I would double check there are different versions of the k03 different size compressor wheels and bearings. I would check that number k03 it is for example the Audi rs6 came with a k04-023 which if iirc was one of the biggest

 

The devil is always in the details isn't it.

I'll check the part number of the kit I have and validate that the mini housing and bearings are the same.

Thanks!

 

worst case you can machine the housing a bit if needed and put the bigger wheels in if they are

 

The kind folks at Gpopshop confirmed for me today that my Audi S4 turbo rebuild kits were indeed the same as the K03 kits for the mini cooper. I was pulling it apart anyway but this just helped the momentum a bit.

So with no further delays. I jacked her up this morning and proceeded to put the front end in the service positions so I could get access to the suspect K03.



I pulled the heat shield off to reveal the exhaust manifold and the turbo. As I looked it over a bit I noticed something a bit odd about the upper oil line. It had just a wee bit of dark oil right where the banjo fitting is crimped (swaged) to the line. When I removed the banjo bolt I found that the fitting was loose and could slide up and down the line about 3/16. Then google informed me that they are supposed to swivel. Hmmm, not so cool but why isn't it leaking worse? I'll check to make sure it isn't plugged and if not I'll just keep an eye on it.



I left the hot section attached to the manifold and just split it at the clamp which allowed for removal of the compressor side with the turbine, after I removed the waste gate control rod. Everything came apart ok and before you know it I had the turbo out on the bench and in pieces.

This is the shield that resides behind the turbine. Note the excessive buildup of carbon and coked oil residue.



Here is the turbine, loaded with carbon buildup.



Oil residue on center housing.



And after the big clean up.


Check out the crud on the seal behind the turbine!




So at this point she is all cleaned up, the new parts are installed in the center housing and now I need to replace that bad oil line. Off the BMW in the morning..

 

wow that is pretty bad looking lol I'd hate to see mine makes me want to upgrade sooner lol good thing it is the same saves you some trouble also I don't believe service mode is necessary seems like it'd take longer for service mode than to remove the cold side? but your the one doing it so you tell me

 

Yah service mode took some time but it is much easier to work in there now so I think it was worth the effort.

 

So she is all cleaned up with new internals installed.







Thankfully, there was no compressor rub or turbine rub on the housings.

The bad news is that the upper oil feed line is totally screwed. I reinstalled the turbo this morning and did a quick leak check before beginning to button her up and sure enough it leaks at the swivel joint on the banjo fitting. Oh well, I figured that it would so no big surprise. Unfortunately the dealer is closed today because it's "Canada Day"!!!

So I'm off the wrenches till at least tomorrow.

 

looking good what kind of milage is on the car beforebu tore it apart

 

The car has 200,000 kms on it or 124,000 miles and even though it was smoking a bit, it still makes impressive power.

 

o wow that's not half bad for that kind of mileage I thought you were going to say like 60k lol how'd it run when you started it to check for leaks?

 

It ran fine but I won't know how it's working till I do a proper road test. That won't be for a few days as that pesky oil line will need to be replaced first and to do that I need to pull the down pipe and the turbo off again. Oh well, every minute in my man cave is a good minute.

 

especially when it's warmer out I don't get the same feeling in the winter lol

 

I went in to the mini dealer this morning to order some parts and wouldn't you know it, their system is down and they can't order, look up or even price a part till its working. I left them the details of what I needed and asked them to call to confirm when the order was placed. It's after noon now and no call yet. I've called them and left two messages but they aren't responding. If I was in the States, I would be ordering from ECS or Pelican by now so at least I know that the order is in. ARGHHHH.
However, I have it all apart now and it seems that the lower oil hose is also junk. You can clearly see that it was leaking.

 

man that sucks I just called a parts store we use at my independent shop they can have the line here within the hour lol just for giggles ( even though you won't be laughing)

 

I went back to the dealer this afternoon to find out why they didn't call and I never got a straight answer but it didn't matter because they had the parts.

So I just finished installing the new goodies and took the beast for a 20 mile cruise. So far, she pulls excellent with no or very little turbo whine and so far there seems to be no smoke. Tomorrow I will give the engine bay a good shampoo and then take it for a healthy shake down run.

 

NB Cooper when was the last time you replaced the oil filter housing gasket? Now is the time to do it because it's right there next to the oil feed line hook-up.

Really nice work on the compressor blades.

 

Well the turbo is much better but my oil smoke is back now that I had a chance to get it good and hot driving in town. I pulled the intake to see if it provided any answers and it's got plenty of oil residue in there bottom to top. So it seems that the PCV is dumping oil into the intake. There may be other sources too such as valve guide seals but who knows. The valves are loaded up good as expected. I guess the only step now is to do the valve cover and clean the intake ports and valves. If the issue persists, I will need to do the valve seals.

Are there any cheap ways to bypass the PCV to test my theory before I fork out $300 on a valve cover?

 

Just got a quote from the dealer over $500!!!!! plus tax of course.....

 

ESC Tuning sells them for almost half that price here. I never buy parts from the dealer because they mark it up.

 

I like ECS but with the exchange rate and shipping plus the arbitrary import duties, it will cost over $400 even through them. When the dollar was at par and when I lived close to the border I shopped on-line all the time and had it shipped to a US address. It costs three times as much to ship direct to a Canadian address. I need to move!

 

I have to say guys that more and more I feel like I'm trying to put lipstick on a pig. I don't think I have an issue with my PCV based on the following thought process;

The crankcase should be running with a slight vacuum as long as the bottom end was healthy. The PCV vents any positive pressure that may build up. The passenger side PCV only opens when the intake is near ambient pressure. It doesn't open when the turbo is building boost as this would result in that pressure being ported back into the crankcase. The driver's side PCV valve will open if necessary when the car is making boost. It's the only way to vent pressure in the crankcase when the intake pressure is too high to vent into the intake manifold. The inlet side of my turbo is dry so there is no oil venting from the drivers side PCV but the passenger side PCV hose is loaded with oil. So I have high crankcase pressure at idle but not under load.

How can this be?
Perhaps the rings not sealing well at idle resulting in blow-by that ends up pooling in the intake. As soon as I step on the gas, the increased air flow through the intake draws the oil into the engine which creates a plume of blue smoke. Once underway the rings seal better, the passenger side PCV is closed so the blue smoke stops. The driver's side PCV stays clean because once underway the crankcase pressure drops.

All this to say that the real culprit is probably the rings and no matter what I do, it will continue to vent oil either into the intake or into a catch can of some kind.

The proof would be a leak down test. I just don't know if I want to know as I have no intention of rebuilding this engine.

Thoughts, comments, humorous pictures and words of wisdom are always welcome..

 

what about a compression test to start? I'd hate to think it's the rings but it's extremely possible. a leak down test would be a good way to go if you have the tools but either way it's probably better to know than to know when it's too late atleast you can proceed accordingly either by rebuilding if your live for the mini is strong enough or make a move to something else or just ride it out

 

I did a little experiment this morning to see if I could validate my theory. I capped the PCV port on the intake manifold and ran a new PCV line off the passenger side of the valve cover. I ran this new line to an oil separator and then vented it to atmosphere. I figured that this would give me an idea of how much oil is being vented and it would test my theory that the oil smoke was coming from the PCV.

Well it didn't vent any oil at all even after a lengthy run on the highway to get it hot and a slow drive through town. It also continued to smoke after sitting at red lights and then pulling away. So this experiment told me that my rings are good, which is a good thing and it also told me that the oil must be coming from the valve seals as that is all that is left.
Not fantastic but at least I know now and I will begin to gather the necessary tools and parts to do them as well as the cam chain and tensioner since it has to come out to get at the valves.

 

It's still a good idea to get a leak-down test performed, only then can you make an informed decision.