60 replies to this topic

[OJM]

Swapped the downpipe today, with much swearing and cursing due to the seized bolts! Strangely, the whole exhaust is sitting about an inch or so lower, but can't figure out why - everything is where it should be and fully tightened. Only thing I can think of is the downpipe is slightly longer than the original...?

Went to swap the thermostat, and to my suprise, there wasn't one! Probably why it never got to 68C then! Anyway, put a thermostat in, and gave up trying to drain the rad, so didn't swap out the sensor for now.

Seems ok, but still having issues starting - it's as if the injector isn't firing then splutters into life etc. Revved the balls off it to clean any blockages, but nothing. It stood on the drive for a week and started first time, but 4 hours later, it didn't. Very odd!

Will check the earth points, as I suppose it's possible that it's causing the injector to cut out.

[DaveRob]

After you have checked all the earths and cleaned EVERYTHING in sight earth wise from the battery forward sit in car with engine off and turn the key to get the ign lights on. dont start the car but LISTEN very carefully for the fuel pump in the petrol tank. You should hear it start up straight away as soon as the ign lights come on. If you hear it leave it in this state for 5 or so seconds then start the car...... if you DONT hear it their is possibly a fault with the relay pack.... although it might be its earth so cleaning them up will resolve the issue....worth a try.
Report back

Hope this helps

Rob

[OJM]

Still haven't had chance to do this yet, due to work, and a MINI event in The Lakes, but this weekend is earth cleaning!

Any ideas on the issue with the exhaust I mentioned above? It's as if it's missing a bracket to hold the cat up, but there wasn't one there before (99% sure). I might take it to an exhaust place and see if they can spot anything.

As another note, does anyone near Loughborough / Nottingham have a diag machine that they could do a test on my Mini please? Since Rob ran it, I've put a thermostat on the car (it was missing one...!) so wanted to check everything else was working ok.

Cheers!

[OJM]

Right, cleaned the two earth cables (battery and one from the engine, near the rad), and seems fine, but it doesn't always happen. However, still had issues starting at one point, until I gave it some revs.

The fuel pump does whir into action, however it doesn't do this every time - if I switch off and switch back on, it won't whir, but if I leave it 10 seconds or so, it whirs when I switch on. Is this normal? However, each time, I could hear a relay clicking as I switched the IGN off.

The exhaust is still kicking out a hell of a lot of black wet muck, which smells like petrol. It's still running really rich - getting through petrol like no-ones business!

[OJM]

Still not sure if the temp of the engine is correct or not. I've taken a pic of the temp to see what you think - this is after a 45 minute drive, with some 'spirited' driving. It did get near the dot yesterday, but doesn't tend to reach it and stay there as I expect.

Also, what do you think of the petrol level - filled all the way up (£21) yesterday, and done 100 miles since. Dropped past the halfway mark. Is this normal, or does it back up the thought that it's running quite rich?

Went to Kwik Fit today, to ask them if they could take a look at the exhaust - unfortunately they can't get Minis onto their ramps, as the car's too low. Will have to try and find another place to take a look. Attached some pics of how low it's hanging - yesterday I had to go over some speed bumps, and it was painful! The cat doesn't seem to be sitting in it's recess under the car, and to me it looks as though the downpipe is too long (ie, coming too far down towards the floor).

Anyone have any pics of their downpipe on their SPI please?

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[DaveRob]

Hi mate

Yes that exhaust looks a bit low.... dont understand why tho.... only reasons I can think of are.... Its too long...lol.... its not mated up correctly to the manifold.... or possibly your engine steady bushes have gone and the engine is leaning back toward the bulkhead a bit.

Re the coolant gauge... thats not high enough in my opinion and the car will be running rich prob..... are you sure the thermostat is marked 88 deg C?

This post tells you a bit about how the CTS works

http://www.theminifo...x...c=61469&hl=

however if you have a high resistance to ground somewhere its possible that the CTS is fine BUT the earth resistance is scrweing up the readings by adding some resistance into the equation...... The CTS goes back to the ECU on its own 2 pins and doesnt earth to the cars shell.... but that dont mean the ground plane of the ECU isnt sitting higher than it should be...... clean every thing... see below for an explination of where to look next...lol

re the fuel pump thing..... when you turn the key to get the oil and charge lights on but dont start the engine then you should hearthe pump fire up every time..... if you dont then possible reasons are the relay pack top left of your engine bay has a fault or needs a refurb.... or you have an intermittant earth.... the battery earth clean up and the big earth strap you cleanned are mainly for the starter motor side of thisngs..... on the bulkhead box section of the car just to the left of where the clutch flex pipe is jointed to the copper pipe.... facing you but prob not able to be seen due to the ECU being in the way is an earth point for all the ECU sensors and stuff....It gets pretty corroded and needs all the krud cleaning off.... their is another on on the right hand side of the engine bay next to the power resistor for the lighting circuit that most people dont know is their cause its well hidden behind heater and rad pipes....... these are the ones you need to make sure are GOOD earths.......


Hope this helps a bit and report back and we can take it from their.

Rob

[OJM]

Cheers Rob! I was checking everyday for your information lol.

I can't understand what's happened with the exhaust - I'm 99.9% sure it's mated with the manifold properly (for one, I would be able to hear massive blowing if not...shouldn't I?), and I could probably rule out the bushes as the old exhaust sat perfectly. It's a bit odd! Hoping to take it to an exhaust place tomorrow morning though, so they can take a look.

Yeah, the thermostat was marked 88C - purchased from Halfords, although didn't check it was working before installing. Are they prone to being DOA?

Not looking forward to changing the CTS to be honest - I fell at the first hurdle, as I was going to change the coolant, but couldn't even remove the bottom pipe of the rad - the screw was rusted and a screwdriver wouldn't 'bite' to turn it.

When I have an evening, I'll check the mentioned earths. You're not, by any chance, down in Nottingham again are you? Really want to find some with a diag tool to see if the CTS is being flagged as failed - as you mentioned, it was either the thermostat or CTS, and seeing as though the car didn't have a thermostat, I was hoping putting one in would cure it.

As another note - the rad has two connectors at the bottom front, and these had split / sheared in two on mine. I recently spliced these back on to the spade connectors and connected back up, but wasn't 100% sure what these were for. Haynes didn't mention them.

Edited by OJM, 27 June 2008 - 06:21 PM.

[DaveRob]

Are they prone to being DOA?

No generally they are fine... so 88 deg C is good

Not looking forward to changing the CTS to be honest

Wouldnt worry about this.... its an easy job to do just take your time... to be honest its about a hour or twos job with no real problems.. the only diff bit is getting the Throttle body nuts off the manifold but Id give it a 2 star in Haynes as long as you have the right spanners lol.... take your time is all.

couldn't even remove the bottom pipe of the rad

Try taking the water pump end off.... that will get some water out.... then by the time you have the manifold off you can easilly get to the bottom hose...

I'll check the mentioned earths.

This is prob the first thing you should be checking really.....and prob the easyest....

the rad has two connectors at the bottom front

This should be the electric fan switch connections ( bottom corner of the rad as you look at it).... it wont kick in till your overheating... and you dont really need to worry about this at this stage lol

I might be your way later this week.... drop me a number and Ill call you when I know what im doing.

Cheers

Rob

[OJM]

I went to a HiQ garage at the weekend, and they had a look under the car and said the exhaust definitely isn't sitting right - their solution was to continue disputting with MiniSport.com or pay HiQ £50 to cut a section of the downpipe out, and weld back together. I've dropped an email to MiniSport.com so will see what they say.

Also cleaned the earths that you mentioned - are they far left (5 earth contacts) and far right (1 earth contact)? Just little bolts with black wires running to them? Also saw a big earth strap attached to the left of the engine block. Didn't really want to remove it, as it looked to be holding parts together - however, loosened one end off and cleaned as much as pos. Couldn't get to the other end though.

Car is still having issues starting, and the temp is only reaching halfway between cold and the dot. Going down the motorway and the temp was reading cold.

Typically, driving down the motorway as it started to rain, flicked wipers a couple of times, then again and nothing - also rev counter stopped revving. Doh! Didn't have chance to check any fuses etc.

[ICAM]

Have you check your water temp harness. Mine last time was giving problem. Morning very hard to start. Temp gauge keep flickering whenever the car jerk. Found that the wire was rubbing to the bulkhead.
Hope this will help

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[OJM]

Will take a look, cheers ICAM!

[OJM]

Didn't remember to check the harness, but will do soon.

I decided to take it in to HiQ to get a section cut out of the exhaust - probably close to an inch from the downpipes. Now the exhaust sits nicely in the recess (not 100%, but enough).

I'm just wondering if the spluttering problems we're having is 100% down to electrics, as the wipers and rev counter have been playing up again (currently not working), along with the lights only working on sidelight setting. Main beam doesn't work, and neither does full beam - however, it seems like the dash thinks the full beam is on, even when it's off (blue light on). Confusing!

If someone could point out the fuses for the rev counter / wiper etc, I'll check all the connections etc.

As a thought, is it possible the battery is on it's way out, and having problems providing enough juice? The rev counter seemed to cut out as I was using the wipers, then back on when I wasn't - as if it only had power for 1 at a time.

[OJM]

Right, checked the 4 fuses on the right (in the black box) - all fine. Unfortunately couldn't check the other fuse box, as have to take the airbox off, and didn't have time.

What I found with the electrics, however, was this...

Switch sidelights on - nothing
Switch main beam on - nothing
Switch full beam on - nothing
Switch full beam on when lights are switched off - works!
Wipers - nothing
Wiper jets - nothing
Speedo - nothing

Any ideas? Seems odd that full beam works when the lights are at the off position.

Indicators, brakes and rear fogs are working fine. Also, the internal lights are working fine when I switch the lights to on - ie, the dials light up.

[OJM]

How much do you reckon I'd be looking at for the whole wiring loom to be ripped out and replaced by a Mini garage?

I find it strange that there's fuses all over the place, as if things have been spliced on over time etc. Ie, black fuse box with cylinder fuses, see through box with block fuses, inline cylinder fuses and 1 inline block fuse. I thought it's usually just the black fuse box, and inline cylinder fuses?

[OJM]

Sorted the lights, wipers and rev counter - think something was shorting in the mass of wires at the front of the car.

However, on the way back from a drive, the rev counter and wipers went crazy again - the rev counter worked, but when I flicked or switched on the wipers, it stopped and the wipers didn't come on. When I switched them off, the rev counter started working again. It's like there's not enough power or something. Lights are still working though.