Engine Gaining Power with miles?

[doogz__]

Morning Guys.

Mostly been Ze Audi recently, but i was out in the Mini last night for a quick dash to B&Q.

When we bought the car, it had around 2500 miles on it, so i would expect it should be pretty well run in, and loosening off a bit by then, but since then, it just seems to be getting not only quicker, but louder.

Is this normal with these cars? Has anyone went to the effort of having a car rolling roaded at intervals to see when in their lifetime they make their maximum power? It's on 7500 now, and really, i'd guess this is probably about as good as it should get.

[GCA3N]

Morning Guys.

Mostly been Ze Audi recently, but i was out in the Mini last night for a quick dash to B&Q.

When we bought the car, it had around 2500 miles on it, so i would expect it should be pretty well run in, and loosening off a bit by then, but since then, it just seems to be getting not only quicker, but louder.

Is this normal with these cars? Has anyone went to the effort of having a car rolling roaded at intervals to see when in their lifetime they make their maximum power? It's on 7500 now, and really, i'd guess this is probably about as good as it should get.

Maybe this is a daft comment, but when you first got your car I am presuming you took it easy kept the revs under 4000, etc etc. Now you have broken it in is it possible that you are driving it with bit less thought on taking it easy. I have only recently got my R56 but it is an amzing car, and the exhaust sound so cool. It is differen from earlier R56's and has much more burble too it (found that out on last weekend run) I was not aware of that fact.

[Gismo]

My JCW exhaust note increased the more i run it in, not on a massive scale, but definitely got marginally louder.
I would expect your car to be more useable due to the engine loosening off, by that i mean the engines ability to rev easier can be felt as more powerful and much less engine breaking due to the tightness of it

[doogz__]

I didn't take it that easy no, like i said, it had 2500 miles on it, should have been well and truly run in, although i have no idea how the previous owner drove it. They might have followed the rules, they might have been hammering it. Also, there are different schools of thought on the best way to run in an engine. The mini race drivers give them death to make sure everything really wears in properly, lots of load, lots of gearchanges. Some good articles about it online if you're that way inclined :D

Ours pops and burbles quite a bit, more so as time goes on.

[doogz__]

My JCW exhaust note increased the more i run it in, not on a massive scale, but definitely got marginally louder.
I would expect your car to be more useable due to the engine loosening off, by that i mean the engines ability to rev easier can be felt as more powerful and much less engine breaking due to the tightness of it


Yeah i understand that, but it should take 7000 miles to run an engine in.

[Gismo]

Yeah i understand that, but it should take 7000 miles to run an engine in.I'll assume that should be "shouldn't" take 7,000 miles?
Agreed, not as much as 7k, but, again depends how you ran it, but, if i expect you probably gave it a bit of stick ;) then should have been a lot less :D

[doogz__]

Well spotted, yeah, it shouldn't!

No i've not been pussy footing around at 2k rpm, but it just keeps getting quicker. Having said that, Knox18's old 106 rallye (which i ended up rebuilding the engine on) seemed to get quicker and quicker, right the way up to 125k miles.

Oddly, in the last week, when it's been particularly warm, my Audi seems to be puling much better as well, which seems a bit backwards.

[Gismo]

Hmm, do you drive maybe more than one or two cars?
Maybe it's a feel thing :blush: perhaps you're getting out of a less powerful car into the MINI?

[doogz__]

Yeah i regularly drive a couple of cars. I get out of a more powerful car, and into the Mini, but it's also a heavier car, as well as being more powerful, so it's not as quick.

Regardless, the Mini is getting quicker. If i use my car as a benchmark, the Mini is quicker, but it's more quicker than it used to be, if you see what i mean.

It very nearly kept up with a STi to 130 leptons last week. :s

[GCA3N]

Ours pops and burbles quite a bit, more so as time goes on.


I know is'nt it gr8:yes nod:

[AndyP & Lenore]

We've noticed both our MINI's perform noticeably faster in the warmer weather. It's been pretty warm the past few days so that could be one reason. I would also say that our R56 took a good few thousand miles to loosen up properly. Maybe 5 or 7K.

A.:D

[doogz__]

yeah my A4 seems faster the last couple of days.

But that seems to defy physics. Not so much with a forced induction engine, since you're compressing the air to whatever pressure anyway, but in a NA car, hotter weather = less static air pressure = less mass of air in the cylinder.

Unless my car's underfuelling for some reason, and the mixture is better with less air?

F*ck it.

[MrMischief]

Hmmm..strange responses here - FI cars being faster in warmer weather?

That definitely shouldn't happen, no matter whether it's FI or NA.

Maybe you're all just ENJOYING driving them more in the nice weather :yes nod::D

[AndyP & Lenore]

Hmmm..strange responses here - FI cars being faster in warmer weather?

That definitely shouldn't happen, no matter whether it's FI or NA.

Maybe you're all just ENJOYING driving them more in the nice weather :yes nod::D

No question it's more enjoyable in nice dry warm weather. But there's also no question we are getting waaaay more power and better response from our R53 especially in warmer weather.

A.

[doogz__]

Hmmm..strange responses here - FI cars being faster in warmer weather?

That definitely shouldn't happen, no matter whether it's FI or NA.

Maybe you're all just ENJOYING driving them more in the nice weather :yes nod::D

I wasn't saying that warm weather is good for FI, i was just saying it should make less of a difference since ambient pressure isn't as much of a factor.

[Gismo]

Hmm, i'm trying to rationalise the fact that a supercharged car can run better in warm weather and just cannot see any logical reason for it :lol:
In true Star Trek fashion, it's just not logical captain :smilewinkgrin:

[doogz__]

Well tbh it shouldn't make much difference to a supercharged or turbocharged car. The difference in performance in an NA engine due to ambient temperature is due to the different static air pressures, meaning in hot weather, you get less mass of air into the engine. But a turbocharged deals with that, by compressing the air until the wastegate says so.

[doogz__]

Wonderful.

Apparently it's loosened off a bit too much...

Started it on Saturday morning, and it's rattling like a bag of bolts. Sounds an awful lot like it's spun one or more big end bearings.

It's going to MINI on wednesday.

[Knox18]

Wonderful.

Apparently it's loosened off a bit too much...

Started it on Saturday morning, and it's rattling like a bag of bolts. Sounds an awful lot like it's spun one of more big end bearings.

It's going to MINI on wednesday.

:eek:

[Ally S]

thats not sounding good

[Craig]

Wonderful.

Apparently it's loosened off a bit too much...

Started it on Saturday morning, and it's rattling like a bag of bolts. Sounds an awful lot like it's spun one or more big end bearings.

It's going to MINI on wednesday.

Doogz, does it get better after a few mins of running? as it sounds very much like the diesel rattle that has been the thorn in the R56S side since Nov 2006. . . If so, there is a fix now and it seems to work so hopefully the dealer will sort you out.. :thumbs up:

[doogz__]

the "diesel" rattle?

Care to explain?

It sounds like the engine is getting no oil, and even if they can fix it in a matter of minutes, i'll not be happy. That rattling will be taking thousands of miles off the engines life!

[antihero3000]

This is a well known fault mate which thankfully mini now have a fix for.

Details here (http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=164&t=629899&mid=156228&nmt=Rattling engine from cold- 08 MCS). Hope that helps.

[doogz__]

Just what i was after.

Cheers mate.

So they are saying the rattle is the chain itself? I still think it sounds like the engine is being starved of oil, i wonder if the oil pump suffers when the chain rattles like this. I'll do some digging. Thanks again.

[antihero3000]

No problem.

Its definately a tensioner fault as they are fitting an updated version of this part to cars fixed under warranty.

[doogz__]

Alright, thanks.

They have the car just now, we'll be getting it back Friday at the earliest. Until then, we have a 1 series of some sort, i'll find out what it is when i get home. Hope it's not a diesel...

[Craig]

yeah as antihero says this is a known fault - they also say that it is not causing any damage to engines (and have put that in writing to some people on MINI2).:smilewinkgrin:

They say the fault is a noise issue rather than a mechanical fault... needless to say I never believed them :rolleyes:

Hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction :thumbs up:

[doogz__]

Just had Laura on the phone.

Mini phoned her to tell her there's nothing wrong with the car, and they're dropping it back off at her work tomorrow, then had the cheek to moan that the Mini had no fuel in it.

The courtesy car had no fuel in it, and we had to put some in it, but apparently they "don't put cars out with fuel in them"

They'll have fun picking it back up tomorrow when they drop off Laura's car, when the BMW has no fuel in it. I mean none at all. I'm going to run it dry.

Laura's phoning the dealer we bought the car from, as well as MINI UK to get her car sorted. And we'll not be going back to this particular garage again.

[japper]

Just had Laura on the phone.

Mini phoned her to tell her there's nothing wrong with the car, and they're dropping it back off at her work tomorrow, then had the cheek to moan that the Mini had no fuel in it.

The courtesy car had no fuel in it, and we had to put some in it, but apparently they "don't put cars out with fuel in them"

They'll have fun picking it back up tomorrow when they drop off Laura's car, when the BMW has no fuel in it. I mean none at all. I'm going to run it dry.

Laura's phoning the dealer we bought the car from, as well as MINI UK to get her car sorted. And we'll not be going back to this particular garage again.

Shocking service. It's a known fault and they still claim nothing is wrong. Understandably they need to hear it before they can claim from BMW, but to say nothing is wrong is insulting.

Dealer service is very patchy. I'm doing a 240 mile round trip for my service on Saturday, because i won't touch JC's MINI ever again.

[doogz__]

Yeah Laura said the person she spoke to on the phone was very rude to her as well, so she's going to speak to MINI and phone the garage back later to speak to a Manager.

if it is found to be a fault, and the MINI garage refuse to fix it, if you take it elsewhere can you demand that MINI reimburse you for the cost?

TBH i'm half tempted to take it to see Marc @ The Garage, get him to sort it, and send MINI the bill. One of the few garage's i trust with my cars.