The MINI Club of Ireland

As some of you may know we have been working on some solutions for the problem of the R56 Cooper s carbon build-up and hence heavy oil consumption , the problem is due to the quest by manufacturers to restrict the carbon coming out the exhaust due to the 'green ' agenda ( don't get me going on that one ) the 'closed circuit' breather system is supposed to allow the fumes to be burned as part of the normal combustion cycle BUT as the S is 'direct' injection and the spray of fuel vapour does not get to the valve top or stem as per normal engines it has no 'cleaning' effect and the valves totally gum up with carbon . several solutions are used by now , in the US most MINI dealers use a system where they remove the inlet manifold and blast away the carbon deposits using crushed walnut shells ( yes that kind of walnut ) .others especially this side of the pond remove the cylinder head and remove the deposits by wire brushing the valve stems , all very invasive and expensive . we have been looking at the problem with some time and now are happy that we have solved the problem on a few customer cars AND also have a solution to prevent future build -up of carbon . its a chemical process which removes the deposits and we then modify the breather system to prevent the problem re-occurring . as I have said we have found on 1 customer car that was using 1 litre a week for a few hundred kms use and now has gone between changes with no appreciable oil use , performance is also restored . we are now continuing tests on the breather system with Fergal's S and will update any developments , on another note we have remapped 3 R56 Cooper S's in the last 2 weeks and the performance improvement is just amazing , also initial fuel consumption figures are really impressive with 2 owners already reporting close to 40mpg combined urban / rural run .
G

Great news Ger!

So it's not just emptying a bottle of Poitín into the intake manifold then? The stuff is good at cleaning all kinds of things...

A

My R56 S is running very very well since this was done. Oil consumption has more or less stopped and idles better too.
Very happy with the results.

Mine was done too! Running much better after the clean but will have to give it a few weeks to check oil consumption. Mine had 100k kms and was getting more and more thirsty by the week! Apparently mine was the worst they'd seen!

Also had my timing chain replaced by the lads, just in case, and bloody happy I did. My old chain was so loose the tensioner was extended fully and it was only a matter of time before something bad happened... My friends SLK had jumped it's chain and destroyed the engine recently which made me even more weary of the this. Car runs much much smoother after de-coke and new chain.

Excellent customer service from the lads, I learned a lot from them and they learned a lot from my car . Thanks a lot Ger and Aidan! It's great to see that there are still good decent honest folk still out there!

Hey guys

Got my de-choke done today. My 2007 Cooper S was running sluggishly and burning a fair bit of oil. Already I notice a change in its performance.

Will keep ye posted.

Thanks Ger

Good to hear buddy !

Any more info? long term? How are your minis getting on now?

My own had some issues recently with being coked up, which had the modification done by Ger before I bought it from him.

But I think that was caused by petrol stretching, as I only started having issues after the missus filled up the car in a part of the country that has apparently had issues with main service stations selling kerosene doped fuel.

One treatment of Redex (via the vacuum line) and multiple tanks of good petrol+redex fixed it.

So now that I've typed that, I suspect my answer isn't very useful ><

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum, as I just bought a 2007 S. 95K Km on the clock and it seems to run sweet. I am reading with interest about decoking though. Is there any decent mechanics in dublin other than frank keanes who will not rip you off if work is needed? i.e. timing chain /mod as mentioned above.
Thanks in advance,
miniGaz

Hi ,
Whereas I can't recommend any solutions in Dublin ( I just don't know of anyone I could recommend ) We can certainly help in Cork and we have lots of Dublin based customers and its just over 2 hours odd now anyway , chain and tensioner as etc can be done in time for a day visit if booked in , call Me for details of pricing ( we have a fixed price for chain job ) and work involved etc if this is of help , one thing though I would mention we are hearing of certain workshops (that should know better) actually fitting tensioners without changing the chain !!!!!!!! this will NOT work as a worn chain is just that worn and we have the evidence of this folly in the workshop in the shape of wrecked heads , valves , pistons etc so whoever you get to sort the problem make sure no shortcut is taken . finally we would recommend oil changes at 10000 km intervals maximum forget the MINI recommended figures they are just too long in the real world .
G

Thanks for the reply Ger. I'll give you a call tomorrow if that's alright by you.
Much appreciated,
MiniGaz

I got my 2007 Mini Cooper S checked out by Ger and Aidan 2 weeks ago. I got my timing chain replaced (Mini had 102000km at the time) as it was quite loose once the tensioner was removed. Also got the borescope check done and I decided to get the walnut blast of the ports done while I was there. I noticed an improvement in petrol consumption ( averaged 10.3 before service and down to 8.2 on long journey back.) and the idle revs in normal mode had improved. I have done 600km since and not noticed a drop in the dipstick yet. Previously I had to top up by a half litre every 500km or so depending on driving. I only use Castrol 5W30 titanium.

I am very happy with the job to date. Car seems more responsive and smoother on acceleration. I would recommend anyone with an R56S to get checked out by Ger and Aidan. Great work and quick turnaround to get back on the road.



Thanks Lads,

MiniGaz