Tag Archives: turbo

2007 Mini Cooper ‘S’ engine overhaul

20 October 2016 David Leave a comment

OH… oh my.. this is not what we want to be doing. I guess the odds might eventually catch up. I never buy new cars, ever; just don’t have any interest in taking that hard of a depreciation hit. So… used it always is…. and generally well used. So, we’ve bought.. 20+ used cars over the years and this is the first to suffer a major failure (in this case, engine has eaten itself).

Article Sections

The Engine Damage
Replacement Short Blocks

The Engine Damage

As you can see.. it’s in pretty bad shape. Cylinder #4 was down 50% on compression, starting to throw warning lights…. but.. honestly.. they car gave no external indication anything was wrong. Ran very strong, sounded fine… but internally is was in seriously bad shape:

So now.. what are our options? We did have an aftermarket warranty that covered up to $3000 for powertrain. This is going to cost A LOT more than that… but I’m trying to minimize the financial damage. So.. some research is in order to try to figure out what we’re going to do.

Replacement Short Blocks

I did find 1 replacement short blocks on the interwebs:

Source	Price	Notes
MiniMania	$2925.00	Factory replacement Engine Block with Crank Gear for the N14B16A engine in the Turbocharged Cooper S.

Mini Mania returned my e-mail this morning with the following information.. so.. this is sounding more and more like what we are considering doing, provided the cylinder head is not junked out:

Thank you for your interest with Mini Mania and our products.

Sorry to hear of your situation with your 2007 Mini Cooper S and I will try to answer your questions accurately as possible.

The replacement engine short block that we offer are units from MINI and includes everything ‘below’ the cylinder head and ‘above’ the oil pan.

Basically, it is the block with the crank and pistons installed. It does not include anything that gets attached to the exterior of the block.

Replacement pistons are available individually from MINI, but only at standard bore. Depending on the condition and mileage of the block, it may be advisable to replace all 4, especially if you plan to keep the car for a while. There are some oversized pistons available from CP Pistons, but only in sets of 4. Mahle offers replacement pistons but only in standard bore.

Main bearings and rod bearings are also available, but the prices will add up quickly if you replace all of them.

If your budget allows, the short block is probably the best way to go as a ‘simpler’ solution and perhaps for longevity.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,
—-

More to come….

automotive, Trucking

Sprinter T1N Failing Turbo Resonator

18 January 2015 David 2 Comments

It’s a common problem, when the T1N Sprinters get a little long in the tooth. The turbo resonator (pressure side) can start to split, causing loss of boost and the dreaded Limp Home Mode.

Mine was not exempt from this plight. Below are some example photos of what the Turbo Resonator looks like when failing. This example shows the common separation of along the bonding lines. During high boost this can open and cause the loss of pressure, power and then a CEL fault which the trucks ECU detects as a dangerous condition for the engine and cuts severely reduces power.

This is what the part looks like. It is connected directly to the outlet side of the boost section of turbocharger. The rubber o-ring seals to the turbos (pressue side, not exhaust / impeller side).

Closeup of the gap formed at the bonding point. I’m told this is the typical failure point. In a lot of case you wont’ be able to see this unless the motor is under boost. In my case, it looks like it’s been failing for some time, it probably why the seller unloaded the truck $2500 under asking price.

Another area that I’m told is possibly suspect fails is the outlet side. I didn’t see any signs of a failure here, but it’s something to check if you suspect you have this issue.

Another thing to look for is leakage around the o-ring. In this case there is crud around the area, but the ring appears in tact and no signs of blow-by. It turns out the crud was from the primary cause of my reliability issues, from a totally separate part.

Fortunately, this part is not really difficult to remove. A 1/4″ wrench or an E8 female Torx socket (later bring the correct tool) and remove too small bolts when it attaches to the alternator bracket and it’s removed.

Also of good news is that a good, reported very reliable by the Sprinter community replacement, is available on Amazon.com for less than $30.

automotive, Trucking

Track Truck – first repair attempts

8 January 2015 David Leave a comment

At the beginning of the week, the new truck broke down outside of town. After some fighting we got it back to the garage for diagnostics.

Once running again after purchasing a new battery charger and hours of fiddling, it was clear the battery was junk.

Testing battery and charging system performance.

It looked like a cheapo battery, and it had no date indicators on it to clue me in to it’s age. Regardless…

Once a new battery was obtained, it was then possible to truly test the remainder of the charging system, namely the alternator.

Having started up the van easily with the new battery, checking voltage across the terminals showed that the rest of the charging system was in failure. This could have killed the battery during our repeated jump-starts to get it back home. Might have just been cheaper to tow it (note to self).

Lack of charging can be result of multiple issues other than a bad alternator in the Sprinters. The most common culprit are bad grounds. There are several on the driver (left in USA) side of the engine room that need to be checked.

main chassis ground just above the battery negative terminal
engine main ground on the left side engine mount, connected to the frame rail in the same area
control system and accessory points below the battery near the headlamp

Having checked all those and cleaned them for good measure, the next easy win is checking the alternator fuse. On the sprinter there is a large plastic block bolted to the battery cable lead connector. From that block runs several high-amp wires (red) and one very large black wire, which heads to the alternator (this is the main charging feed). Inside this block there are plastic fuses of various amperage, high amperage, including a 200A fuse on the charging system side. This fuse is next checked for continuity to ensure that it is not open, and thus causing the charging system to fail.

Having inspected that, and seeing that it is in tact, the next avenue of investigation is the alternator itself.

Following the acquisition of some TORX Sockets (female, not male), sizes E12 and E6 where required, and about 1 hour of pulling parts to access top and bottom of the alternator, the item was removed.

Turbo charger as seen from top in Dodge 3500 Sprinter (intake and outflow piping removed).

Dodge 3500 Sprinter intake and turbo outflow parts

Tomorrow I will be picking up a rebuilt alternator for around $210. Hopefully that brings the fun-van back to life!

David DeMartini actual