Today was the day to give my 09 Clubby a little attention.....the car has 67K on it now and it doesn't get driven a whole lot as long as I have a classic in the driveway! I did 45K the first 3 years I had it, and it's taken 5 more years to do the last 22K.
I ordered this car from Baron MINI right after the first of the year in 2009 and it was delivered to me Feb 22 - pretty speedy!
I didn't want a lot of equipment (options are expensive on MINIs!) so this car came with the cold weather package (heated seats, mirrors and such) the 6 speed automagic transmischigan, Zenon headlights and sport seats and roof rails - that was it. I also ordered it with the top painted to match as the only two options were silver and black and I didn't like either one. It came with 16" wheels with runflats which I quickly sold and put 17" S heavies on - cause I like the look, not for their performance enhancement - but the other side of being heavy is they are very strong, and with the potholes we have around here they need to be!
Since then I've just piled up the miles......
Today I was due for rear pads and rotors, as the pad wear light had come on......I'd already done the fronts at about 50K
so I knew it was time for rears.
I also changed the oil and filter, and screwed in a new set of firing pins, even tho the ones I took out looked brandy new.
I bought a new battery, not because this one was failing but - 8 years! Plus too and also it's going to be 0* this weekend, and I didn't want to have to jump it if it decided this was a good time to give up!
Just routine stuff, but the kind of stuff you have to do once in a while - I still need a new cabin filter, I noticed it was looking pretty dirty when I had the battery out, I also rotated the tires and freshened the air in them with a new charge of nitrogen.
This car has been as trouble free as it can be - all MINIs of this era had an issue with timing chains and while mine never did anything wrong or made any noise, they had a recall/warranty extension so I had mine done right at 50K, just in case - plus it was free! Since then all I've done are tires, oil changes and the occasional brake pads. Take that Honda! ;D
I think I'll just keep it.......
The pic was the day in Feb that it came in on the truck, I saw it 10 min after it was offloaded and checked it over for damage - there was none. That's the lovely and talented Mrs. MiniDave looking it over - it was freakin cold that day too!
Nice to get that done I bet, I hate deferred maintenance hanging over my head and there is plenty of it.
Our 2004 base cooper has been the most reliable car we ever owned by far Just took it to the dealer in portland for a free brushless electric ps pump upgrade even though the old was still fine. Looked at the new clubman I really like it very nice looking car inside and out and still not a big car despite the online hatred of its size on mini forums.
nearing 190k miles and 1 set of brakes front due again now, 1 set of plugs, 1 new alternator, 1 belt, 3 or 4 sets of tires, 1 battery, Drivers window motor needed some maintenance at 180k and 12 years old, and regular oil, transmission fluid, and coolant changes as needed. All normal maintenance items as far as I'm concerned. Oh almost forget nailed a curb avoiding a trailer towing fucktard on his phone that changed to the lane while I was in it and the drivers front hub bearing started growling a month later and needed replacement, a 15-minute job easy cars to work as well I must say.
I have decided to restore this car when it needs it I may rebuild the CVT at 200k for good measure and maybe repaint the car due to many rock chips from the volcanic cinders applied to winter roads here. I am amazed at the interior upholstery quality it's almost like new still very little wear at all. Yet my friends wife's 5 year newer honda that he is super anal about caring for is on its second set of seats due to wear the first set was under warranty, I won't even get started on all the mechanical problems it's had in half the miles. So yea, as you said take that honda! LOL.
Dave, nice to see you car's 'baby photo', before it got the silver on the A-panels. Sounds like one to hold on to for a long(er) time.
I know some enthusiasts of the classic Mini aren't really fans of the modern MINI - that's too bad. I love my '02 - had it more than 14 years now and I plan to keep it for many more years.
Mrs. Minidave is a ginger? You dog you...
Cool story on the car, I think the BMW Minis get a bad wrap and not sure why, I think they are pretty solid cars.
This 2005 JCW I just grabbed with what... 70K miles now has over 80K, the 11 year old battery finally died because my 13 y/o left the glove box open on the day we were leaving for a week vacation. We came back to a dead battery unable to resurrect.
I did the typical crap I do to a used car when I buy, tune up, oil change, and in this case because I know better, a new super charger belt, idler pulley and tensioner and pulley as well for good measure.
It now has 82K miles (we knew we were going to rack up some miles on her in short time) and not a single problem. I do not expect any either. I will do some more preventative stuff as I feel the need arises.
Yep, she's a redhead, in every sense and stereotype of the word!
I've know her since 1974, when we me at the Porsche+Audi dealer when she brought her car in for service, took me 20 more years to get her to marry me!
Quote from: MiniDave on December 19, 2016, 08:14:38 PM
Yep, she's a redhead, in every sense and stereotype of the word!
I've know her since 1974, when we me at the Porsche+Audi dealer when she brought her car in for service, took me 20 more years to get her to marry me!
;D
You are my hero (this week) typically it is Dan, he is every mans hero. Trust me.
You distracted me for a moment. Gingers can be a handful you are a special man.
I need to tell a ginger story one day with pics. Being happily married this story is... well... interesting... and the story spans about 20 years. I have a huge... amount of commitment/loyalty and self control.
Gingers, gotta love 'em, or else...
Hyacinth maintains her ginger-ness, otherwise would be as grey as I am.
Rose uses some sort of henna thing on hers, but given her age I guess it's to be expected.
Back in the day when Hyacinth colored her own hair, I used to get some really nice nalgene bottles that the hair dye came in, complete with a dispenser tip and small screw-on cap. After a hot-water rinse, the bottles were ready for fluids, namely carb suction chamber oils. So, I now have bottles with 5W, 10W, 15W and 20W synthetic motorcycle fork oils which are convenient when testing on the road. Combined with a veterinary syringe that I've set a 6" length of small-diameter plastic tubing onto the tip, it makes changing piston oils a breeze. Suck out the current oil, drop in something new or different and note it on a bit o'tape on the air cleaner housing.
What would I do without Hyacinth... 71.gif
Quote from: BruceK on December 18, 2016, 10:49:50 AM
Dave, nice to see you car's 'baby photo', before it got the silver on the A-panels. Sounds like one to hold on to for a long(er) time.
I know some enthusiasts of the classic Mini aren't really fans of the modern MINI - that's too bad. I love my '02 - had it more than 14 years now and I plan to keep it for many more years.
The reason I put the silver panels on was both to be "different" and because the side marker light on the right side popped out one day on the highway, and hanging by the wire proceeded to ding and scratch that panel before I could get pulled over - rather than try and match paint on a brandy new car, I did the panels in silver.
Since its paid for I can't think of any reason to get rid of it, even if it had a problem of some kind - it's far cheaper to just fix it.
The only issue I had with the 2008 Clubman-S I had was the high pressure fuel pump and that was handled as warranty.
Facepalm! :-[
I've had one ongoing issue that I frankly have just ignored.....the back story -
All direct injected engines have a propensity to carbon up the intake valves and ports over time, on a MINI it seems to take about 50K and even tho my car had no symptom as I was around that mileage I decided to do a little preventative maintenance and clean mine. The procedure is pretty simple, pull the intake manifold and walnut blast the crap out of them. I built a pressure pot with a special wand and retrieval system so I could vacuum out the shell bits and carbon debris as I blasted them - worked a treat - they looked like new when I was done.
Feeling fairly chuffed with myself (saved the $800 the dealer was charging at the time too!) I headed home and within a few miles I got a check engine light and reduced power symbol. The car still felt fine, ran fine and so on, so I cleared the code and went on. I found over time that it took warm weather and a sustained power pull to set the code - like getting up to speed on a highway ramp or going up a long hill. It also was ambient temp dependent - on a cold day I just about could not get it to do it - on a warm day it did it easily.
So I scratched my head, talked to a few friends in the bidness over time and finally decided to see if I could fix it - about 2 years have gone by now!
Today I was going to pull the diverter valve and see if it was bad as a few people said they had fixed similar symptoms that way.....I wasn't convinced that was it as it was too coincidental that it did it right after I worked on it, but I could never find anything wrong, unhooked connections or whatever. So, getting ready to remove the intake pipe to get to the diverter valve and the first clamp I touch is completely loose!
Major Facepalm! :-[
I tightened it up, cleared the code and it seems fine. I'll know tomorrow when I drive it to school and hit the highway......
Well, no joy in mudville......I still get the code. I pulled the air cleaner and took the diverter valve out - it all looks fine. I just can't find anything wrong, so Monday it goes to the dealer and we'll see what they say.
I did find one interesting thing tho......I've only done 22K miles since 2012!
What code is it throwing? Happening right after the cleaning I would suspect a small boost leak, but It could just be a coincidence.
That's what I thought too, and when I saw that loose clamp I thought I had it, but OTOH I knew that was on the intake side, not the pressure side so I wasn't real confident that was it. I don't remember the number (my little cheap code reader doesn't pull this code, I had a friend with one of those $5K readers pull it) but the description was "boost pressure is implausible"
I take that to mean that the computer is expecting to see a certain pressure under certain conditions and it isn't, so it cuts the map. Which sounds like a leak.....but I'm damned if I can find anything wrong. I changed the plugs a few weeks ago and they looked perfect - they weren't even worn looking with 65K on them, and the color was perfect and even on all four plugs.
The weird part is that it's ambient temp dependent......if it's cold enough out I can run the piss out of it and it's fine, above 50* outside it takes very little effort to set the code. When it sets the code and the light comes on (the yellow engine symbol that means reduced HP) it still runs smoothly, gets the same fuel mileage and so on, but the engine feels "soft", it just doesn't have the crispness it usually does and of course there's less power - it has to downshift for hills it normally wouldn't.
So with our trip coming up it's going to the dealer to see what they say....I'm expecting them to say it needs a new turbo, in which case I'll pick it up again and do it later, as it still runs fine as is and I'll take our Audi to Texas and leave the MINI for the bride to drive. Apparently these turbos have a built in waste gate, and the holes that the shaft pivots on aren't bushed, so they wear, causing the gate to hang up - if that's what's happened here you and I may be talking further about machining the housing for some bushes or something.
There is no play in the turbine bearings and its not leaking or burning oil, so I don't think there's an issue with the turbo itself....we'll see what they say on Monday.
There have been some bad diverter valves show up, but the problem with them tends to be with the diaphragm, mine looks like new but there could be an issue with it electrically, I suppose. In my experience either they work or they don't, mine seems to work.
Are their any vacuum lines or map sensors that could be a problem?
Not really, there is a vacuum pump that provides vacuum for the brake booster, but that's it......and a vacuum hose to run the waste gate that seems OK.
Like I said, I've been all over this thing and can't find anything amiss........
That code message sounds more to me that the sensor is reading an over-pressure condition rather than a leak (under- pressure).
Could the waste-gate be sticking shut and letting the system build too much pressure? Or the connector for the sensor be loose or need cleaning?
At this point.....who knows? The tech working on it tomorrow is also an instructor with me at the college, I think I'm in good hands.
That code with your description of the problem being ambient temp related. I would highly suspect the boost sensor as it is also the temp sensor they are combined into one sensor. And they do fail I have changed a few in our shop.
Here is an article on pelican parts about changing/testing the sensor.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/MINI_R56/87-FUEL-Turbocharged_Engine_Pressure_Sensor_Replacement/87-FUEL-Turbocharged_Engine_Pressure_Sensor_Replacement.htm
Fixed!
And my fault, just as expected......
There's a vacuum canister and control valve mounted under the intake, and one of the vacuum lines was off - I'm sure it happened when I had the intake off to do the walnut blasting.....
My Clubby is feeling SO much better this morning! I had forgotten how responsive it is. The good news is that in looking for the problem I confirmed that everything else with it is in really good shape.
Now it's ready to haul the RG to Texas.....new tires, new brakes, fresh oil, filters and plugs, and it even has fresh nitrogen in the tires! 77.gif
Gotta love those vacuum lines! 8.gif
4.gif nice to hear it was simple fix.
I came *this* close to pulling the intake off the weekend before I took it to the dealer, and I'm sure I would have found it, but I just ran out of time with all the other things I'm trying to get done before the Texas trip. It's been a revelation how well it runs now, it's been a couple of years that I've been driving it with what amounts to no boost.
When I said that it ran fine in cold weather, I was mistaken - it ran better, and didn't set the code, but nothing like it does now.
You've been driving it for years with no boost!? :-\
Well, there goes the gas mileage now that it is really fun to drive again.
Pretty much, the dealer had told me the turbo was probably bad but I thought better......
And yes WillieB, I'll bet it drops like a rock, cause I'm on the loud pedal a lot more! Before I was hypermiling it in essesnce so it wouldn't throw the code.
We'll see what it does when I tow the classic, I don't think it made a big difference on Bruce's '02 when we towed his classic to Sandy Ego last summer......
I didn't update this thread after our Texas trip, but my average MPG for that trip was about 27.5, not bad IMHO!
The blue Clubby still runs perfectly tho now that I'm not dragging a Mini behind it the fuel mileage has gone back to what it used to be, right around 30-31 average. EPA says 34 hiway 28 city, but the only time I can get 34 is driving 65, anything above it drops back to around 30. On a run to Colorado one time before, at 80+ it drops back even more.......
The next run I make will be to Elkhart lake next month for the Vintage car races, then in the fall I may drag the RG down behind it on our run to Cuba......I may just drive the RG too, dunno right now.
Getting ready for the upcoming CMU 59 event next week, I dug out the trailer lights and hooked them up to the Clubby - those on our Texas trip know that I had issues with them on that trip too, and I thought the problem was just with the connector, but now I'm convinced it's something to do with the PWM converter box. I hooked the light bar up to the Audi and it works perfectly, on the Clubby the left side works fine while the right tail light comes on all the time and the stop and turn don't work at all.
Since time is short for this event before I tore into it I decided to just buy a new box, this one is made by Hopkins rather than the last one I installed by Curt, I had ordered that one when I bought the hitch from Curt. This difference in quality is apparent, especially on the end the trailer lights hook into where it has an led to show if the box is operating correctly. I always thought the one by Curt was really cheesy cheap at the end connection - it looked more Harbor Freight than proud American company The rest is in a sealed box, so no way to tell but this one is advertised as "professional grade" for whatever that's worth - they still send scotchlocks to wire it to the car (which I don't use - I solder or use sealed crimp on connectors on all my connections).
One thing I'm curious about, they don't list the input amperage tho they do limit the output to 8 amps per circuit - since I'm using LEDs I don't have to worry about that....but they supply a 20 amp fused circuit and a long #10 wire that they want you to hook to the battery. I'm not keen on running a wire all thru the car so on Mike Playle's suggestion, I took power from the cigarette lighter socket near where I mounted the box - the question is, does it need this heavy power supply from the battery? They claim it's to separate the box from the vehicle's power supply, but I figure as long as it's 12V and enough amps (cig lighters are usually fused 30A) it shouldn't matter?
Several years ago when I had a 2008 Clubman S and put a hitch and lighting kit on it, I had a similar issue with the PWM lighting module. Mine was also from Curt. It bulged and split from internal heat expansion. They provided a free replacement module.
The replacement was still working fine when I traded that car in on something else.
I never had any issues with powering the module from the back of the rear power outlet.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's going to turn out to be the box....I probably shouldn't have waited so long as it quit working on the way down to Texas.....I probably could have gotten them to replace mine rather than spending money for another.
On the trailer lights module wiring on my MINI I used a power line directly to the battery - an advantage of the battery location of an R53 - but I used only a 10A fuse. Works great. So I think you should be fine.
Well, I figured out what's wrong with the my tow lights, I either misunderstood the wiring instructions that came with the Curt module, or I'm just a dunce, but one wire was installed wrong, it's a wonder they worked at all! At any rate, I'll be installing the new one since I have it and the old one is out already and to be sure they are working correctly this time - but I wouldn't be surprised but that the old one will still work fine....so I'll have a spare I guess.
One thing I've noticed, the Blue Clubby is starting to go thru some oil, I'm going to have to keep a weather eye on it in the future. It's not leaked a drop since I bought it, but at 76K even tho I don't see any blue smoke, I think it's using about a quart every 1000 now.......
80* when I went to bed last night 36* this am, and it's still dropping.....
All righty then, fresh oil and filter, new plugs and air filter - need a new cabin filter tho. Got the slow leak in the left front tire fixed, and now the trailer lights work correctly too. I think the Clubby is ready for the trip, now to just tidy up a few last things on the green Mini and I'm ready for the road.
The problem with the trailer lights was the instructions said on PWM cars do not attach the brown wire to the taillights - so I didn't. However, further down in small print it said to be sure to hook the brown wire to the side marker or license plate lights on PWM cars......oops, missed that before. :-[
Well, I did close to 2000 miles towing the Classic Mini to Tennessee and back with absolutely no issues.......gotta love a new MINI.
Averaged 27.1 mpg, not bad. Average speed for the whole trip was 61.9 mph.
Took the Clubman S down to the dealer last night so they could do a cold start up, awaiting the call back to see what they think is wrong. I changed the coolant and flushed the brakes to get ready for my Colorado trip this weekend, and when I started the engine - well it sounded nasty. I'm thinking timing chain - again.
This will be it's third one, and I thought the replacement kit they came up with (and put in my car) was the end of t-chain problems in the N14 engines...apparently it isn't. Of course, it could be something else - something even MORE expensive!
If it is the timing chain I'll have them go ahead and replace it as I don't have the time or inclination to DIY it with the trip only a couple days away, then I'll argue about paying for it. My understanding is it's a $2K job, but I don't know that I can expect a freebie at 10 years old and 85K miles....even tho they replaced it at 50K. Seems like it ought to last longer than 35K!
Well, $800 later, turns out it wasn't the timing chain, but the water pump. Better to get it fixed now than on the road to Colorado across a steaming hot Kansas. The real pisser (besides the $437 pump) was I just changed the coolant the night before, and they charged me $24 for new juice!
At least they wash and vac it out - it needed it badly!
Your luck on less expensive repairs continues.
Yeah, lucky me........lucky, lucky, lucky.
;D
Yeah, I'm not worried.....this has been a great car in spite of my grousing!
So far in 10 years and 86K miles.....1 new timing chain (under warranty), 1 new thermostat (under warranty) 1 valve cleaning (done by me), 1 set of brake pads and rotors, 3 sets of tires and a bunch of oil and filter changes. 1 new battery, a couple of air filters and cabin filters. Now add one water pump.....that's been it.
See you all in just a few days now. 77.gif
This car has been so reliable that when it does have a problem it's always a surprise.....bad water pump last month not withstanding.
So today I was coming back from Vicky Brits and took my favorite roundabout onramp and gave it the beans - immediately felt it drop a cylinder. I limped it home about another 4 miles and pulled into the drive and opened the hood to let it cool off. Went in and got my code reader and found a misfire on cylinder 4. Dug around for a while and found the old set of plugs I had changed around 60K and swapped one into cyl 4 - no joy. So I knew either a bad coil pack or something REALLY expensive.
The last check I could do in the drive was to swap coil packs from #3 to #4, it still had the miss of course so I drove it around the block to make sure it would set the code, which it did. Problem moved to cylinder 3. So, good news of a sort - failed coil pack. I checked online and can get them 4 for about $100, but I'll call the dealer and see if they have a recall on these, and if not what they'll charge for one (I'm betting about $100 for one!)
The reason I mention recall is that VW-Audi had a massive recall on their Bosch coil packs, but a little research shows these were supplied by Delphi, so maybe not.
Edit: Real Oem says $57 each from dealer. We'll see.
I would recommend going ahead and replacing all 4 coil-packs. If one has finally aged enough to go, the other three may not be far behind.
Called the dealer this AM, as expected they want $85 plus tax for one. Amazon has the OEM Delphi ones for $25 ea, delivery today on Prime, so I ordered two - one for a spare.....we'll see when it gets here.
Edit: I didn't get my parts ordered thru Prime, so normal free shipping means I won't see it till Sat. Weird that if I were on Prime I could have had it today.....not really a problem as I have other cars I can drive.
you'll be good no need to replace them all as my experience is there is no age, mileage, or other reason they fail you may never replace another one. I maintain a number of these cars for customers and have only replaced two on different cars. Neither car has lost another one both replacements are now over two years old.
That was pretty much my thinking too, but when it happens it's a little disconcerting and definitely not good on the cats, so having my little cheap code reader and a spare in the car seems like just good prep for a higher mileage car - plus I like to go to the far away Mini events - the next one is in Virginia, about 14 hours drive from here. I don't want to get way-laid while towing, although I guess if my classic is behind me I always have a "spare" - car! ;D
All righty then, the new coil pack came in, installation took less time than to open the hood, and of course it runs smooth as buttah now. I'm glad when it's an easy fix like this, and not too spendy.
I'll put the spare in the boot under the floor where the tool kit, extra quart of oil and flashlight live.
I noticed a noise in the left front that kept getting worse and worse as I drove, I was sure it was the left front wheel bearing so I ordered a set of them off Amazon. I normally only use OEM factory parts on this car, but the dealer wanted $200 for one bearing/hub and I got two complete ones off amazon for $91 shipped, plus no sales tax!
Today I organized some room in the shop and Don and I got the car in and got ready to rear it down......ruhroh.
Turns out my bad bearing was a loose left front wheel.
The last time I messed with the wheels and tires was when I rotated them for the trip in early October to Virginia and North Carolina.....all the others were torqued properly, so all I can think is that I snugged them up and got distracted and didn't torque that one.
A 5 minute fix and I can send the bearings back at no shipping cost by dropping them off at Kohls.
I also went over to the BatCave and picked up the Racing Green classic, so when the Audi comes back on Tues from the shop ($1500 lighter in the wallet) we'll be back to full strength again car wise.
just did the plugs on the countryman S hard to believe we already have almost 100k on that car. One coil didn't want to budge and when it did half the coil boot stayed on the plug. No one seems to list a boot but local parts store had OEM coil in stock for about $40.00 so I took that I now have a spare provided I can salvage a boot if/when needed.
I'm thinking I should pull the intake and check out the intake valve build up next I have the stuff to walnut blast for customer cars but I've never seen one that we maintain be bad enough to need it.
Cars that go 10k or even longer on oil changes and/or go to the quick lube and get shit quality oil is another story.
Using Mobile one in these cars regardless of change interval seems to clog up the intake valves quickly from what we have seen. Not saying its bad oil just might not be a good choice for direct-injected minis. Makes more oil Vapor maybe? I ran it once in ours when I couldn't get the Castrol and I sure could smell it (oil vapor smell) when hot thought I spilled some on the exhaust or something but didn't go away until I changed it back to Castrol.
I run Mobil 1, what Castrol do you run?
I use the full synthetic 5/30w. If I recall you cleaned your valves once and they were not too bad so the Mobil 1 might be doing fine for you. There does seem to be a correlation between intake deposits and Mobil 1 with our customers but local climate/fuel combined with Mobil 1 might also play a role it's just something I have noticed.
Do you smell hot oil smells or if you think you are getting more intake deposits than normal. If so you might try Castrol or another quality brand like royal purple, red line, schaffers, etc.
I have other reasons to question Mobil 1 quality but not conclusive enough to really post about but I'll put my 2 cents in. I think it's a fair quality oil marketed as great quality oil. I don't think it's bad just not great I just recently took apart an engine in a customers mini that runs Mobil 1 because he buys it at Costco and brings it in for us to put in his car changed every 5k it was more sludged up than it should be I'll take a few pictures of the rockers Monday.
Per the recommendation of the manufacturer we were running Mobil 1 in our shop air compressors, we had issues with air tools not working the air motor vanes were stuck in the rotor with a very sticky thick layer of what I'm going to compare to a polymerized oil film (similar to whats on the intake valves) maybe it is I'm not a chemist. we cleaned them they were fine for a while and happened again. keep i mind the compressors don't go through abnormal amounts of oil we get a little out of the tank when draining water but the same as any compressor.
After the second round of sticking tools I changed the compressors to royal purple and the problem went away. But it's an air compressor, not a car engine so maybe that's not relevant but I think it has to do with how well it handles heat. Our compressors sometimes run really hot for extended periods that was the original reason for the manufacture telling us to switch to Mobil 1. The Dinosaur oil was burning the burning smell went away with mobil 1 but the sticky residue started. royal purple seems to have stopped all the issues I might try Castrol at the next change.
What about Amsoil?
I buy Mobil 1 because MINI requires synthetic, and I can buy it for $25/5 quart jug at WalMart.....sometimes only $22.
Yes, I did my valves at 50K, I'm almost at 100K now so I may be taking a look at them soon......only recently I've started noticing that oil smell you describe, I figured I must have a small leak somewhere....these engines have an issue with the oil filter housing being made of plastic and leaking after a while I hear - so I figured that must be where it's coming from - but I haven't really checked.
What about oil consumption? Mine seems to be going thru a quart about every 2500 now, it used to go 5K or more without using any noticeable amount
That seems like a lot of oil use I change both cars around 5k and there is never any noticeable use. 220k on the 2004 and 95k on the 2013.
I have heard that the n14 can use some oil compared to the older tritec or newer n18 but if you didn't have oil use before something changed.
I don't think the n14 cars we service at the shop use oil but the customers may be adding oil that I don't know about.
Your oil smell could be the turbo supply line at the turbo the o rings at the banjo can go bad.
If/when you need the oil line get it from Detroit tuned.
I hear good stuff about Amsoil some people swear by it. I have no personal experience with it we have some customers that bring it in for there cars they seem to be doing fine on it although we change it at a reasonable interval and don't do the Amsoil 25,000 mile service thing.
It would be interesting to see if a brand change helps oil consumption I have had that result before. Maybe brand X is better at keeping seals like valve stem seals soft but the competitor's brand is better at keeping oil control rings free and changing it up for a while might be a good thing.
I had my Clubby in to the Dealer for a $20 oil change (can't pass those up!) and they did an "inspection" while they had it up on the rack. It's been leaking oil lately so I was anxious to see what they would find.....They came up with three things, starting at the top - the valve cover, next the oil pan and lastly they found the right side axle seal is leaking.
Frankly I think it was only really leaking from the axle seal as the oil pan and valve cover both have o-ring seals and I've yet to see one of those leak. But, just to make sure I decided to start on the top and change the valve cover seal first.
$62 later I took the new seal home and started pulling the cover off.....it's not too difficult and I was pleased to see the engine under the cover looked very clean. No sludge, no mess at all. I cleaned up the cover real well and put it all together. It started right up and ran sweet, so I took it around the block.... when I pulled back into the driveway it was idling rough as a cobb. Moral of the story, if it ain't broke don't fix it! And if it is broke, get someone better than me to fix it! ::)
It got dark so I haven't had a chance to see what's bugging it yet, whether I left a hose loose or what......
Small time work world!
I just replaced VC gasket and Serp belt on a friends friends 2011 MCS JCW 6SPM with 60K on it.
Shouldn't be much but at 100K, perhaps the coils didnt like being disturbed. Or an air leak somewhere.. That valve cover was surprisingly easy to do for BMW. I bet too her oil pan is leaking ( it was pretty wet ) but we started up top for sure with the VC because you could also smell it.
I also replaced the Serp belt, and that was a joy. I liked seeing how the Waterpump is driven by a counter pulley to the crank pulley by the outside of the belt. Pretty neat design. Then the belt tensioner has a hold back pin built into the tensioner. Compress tensioner (not easy without the right tool) but done and pin holds in place. Replace belt / unlock Pin and go! took longer to remove the wheel liner.
I had my water pump replaced last summer at about 90K, they replaced my serpentine belt at the same time, it was the original and still looked fine......I was surprised it looked as good as it did.
The reason I don't think it's the oil pan leaking, it's a steel pan unlike the previous design which had an aluminum one with the o-ring seal - in my experience it's rare for these to just start leaking. Odd too, they don't use a gasket of any kind when they pull the pan, just RTV I'm told.
On the supercharged cars they had trouble with the crank sensor leaking, the oil would run down and follow the lip of the pan around and made it look like the pan gasket was leaking - it never was but I know some mechanics who got well changing oil pan gaskets on them.
These engines are built differently.....so I'm not sure what could be leaking on the back side of the engine where I'm seeing all the oil - supercharged engines had both the oil filter housing and the oil cooler on the back, these have neither It could be that axle seal - but then it would be a different smell to the oil than what I'm getting. I need to get it up on a lift and check it out better.
Finally got around to sourcing what was bugging my MINI, after I changed the valve cover gasket the idle would sometimes go to hell, and it would set the check engine light, codes would vary but it was usually P300 - general misfire.
It was pretty easy to see what was wrong - the breather hose had come out. It snaps in hard into the valve cover and I hadn't got it all the way in.
The valve cover and upper parts of the engine are still clean and dry, so maybe it was leaking tho I saw no evidence of it when I got he cover off. Still smells like oil burning so I'm betting it's the axle seal but till I can get it up in the air to fix it, it will just have to leak.