[roland2003]

Hi guys, yes it would be nice to have a customer with a querie or problem at at least give me a ring/pm/email to discuss /resolve before complaining .
OK some facts:-
This car was unusual in that it pinked slightly ,however as we have no means of checking octane (garages do sell duff fuel) .We advised the customer to use 99 to be on the safe side. We can remap it to retard the timing but if not required loses power unnecessarily.

This car as we discovered required 1.5 litres (yes 3 pints) of coolant in it !! We even had to bleed it through it had lost so much. I even put on the invoice that this neglect could have resulted in (or be because of) the start of head gasket failure, and may have caused other engine damage.Without our careful free checks (which are not normally part of the GTT210,!! but we included them FOC anyway) that car would not have made it home.
So I save a customers engine (for free) and he 'very disapointed' .
Roland GTT
ps GTT210 (as opposed to GTT220 etc),doesnt include remap,its there as an upgrade if you want or need it though. The nice thing about the way we do it is we dont have to rely on a 'one map suits all cars with the same conversion' type system. We can advance or retard only if needed and by the amount needed.

[DaFlake]

Definitely should have spoken to Roland before coming here....

Welcome to the mod club... Now, you might be able to run a lower octane fuel with an ECU remap to adjust for it, but it will more than likely be at the cost of HP.

I don't recommend dumping octane booster into your car as it really doesn't do that great of a job and can cause damage if used regularly. My advice is to speak to Roland and see what he can do to solve the problem.

[DaFlake]

You beat me to it!

[Bhozar]

99 Octane is available in Tewksberry Shell. I know you live in that area, just not so sure where.

I personally put BP Ultimate in if I am stuck for fuel. I am usually in Cheltenham once a week so I fill up with Tesco 99 or Shell 99. When ever I go past a shell station I usually fill up if I am half empty as there are no shell stations near me, except Cheltenham 18 miles away.

[stu(pid)]

2-0 to Roland, I think one of them was an own goal too?

[Cooooooperslad]

I made a post to this thread earlier on today after "Perm's" post (I don't know where it is? probably forgot to click submit lol) which was also when I had just got off the phone to Roland. I just stated that I admit I was wrong to jump the gun and come on here before I had spoken to Roland and that the issue had been resolved thanks to the help of him. I'm going to be using 97 octane from now on, not ideal but its the best I can find.

[Nath316]

Coooooperslad doesnt seem to show up on here

Yeh yu prob forgot to click submit

at least this has been sorted now

[supercoopers]

Is this guy for real?!

Sounds like Roland prevented your engine from grenading prematurely; there was practically no coolant in the cooling system by the sounds of things! I would keep a careful eye on oil and coolant levels in the future. If not and you continue to drive it the way you do, don't expect anyone but yourself to pick up the pieces. You have to pay to play...and it also helps to have an iota of mechanical sense to avoid problems.

[Cooooooperslad]

Quote: Originally Posted by supercoopers (original)

Is this guy for real?!

Sounds like Roland prevented your engine from grenading prematurely; there was practically no coolant in the cooling system by the sounds of things! I would keep a careful eye on oil and coolant levels in the future. If not and you continue to drive it the way you do, don't expect anyone but yourself to pick up the pieces. You have to pay to play...and it also helps to have an iota of mechanical sense to avoid problems.

Yes I am for real... and understand what you mean. I think I was just niave to believe that buying a "Cherished MINI" would mean that it would have been serviced, fully checked etc. I've learnt my lesson from that.

[Richard Crofts]

Right...heres the deal.

As you know mate i'm in worcestershire...the stick of it too so miles to anywhere with really good fuel. I feel and share your pain.

I run Alta intake, milly manifold, milly exhaust, 15% pulley and suffer no problems with using any grade of fuel. The issue comes from where the injectors begin to lean out over 6k rpm. Using high octane fuel will mean that this is partially dealt with but its still an issue. I use 97 (or super unleaded regularly, but do my best to get to a 99 or shell garage as soon as possible) The car will run 95 or 97 just fine but power will be a fraction down and you should avoid going over 6k rpm if you can just to give the engine that little bit more chance of not getting knackered. With the pulley and intakes etc I hardly go over 6k in anything but 1st or maybe second gear as the power is avilable so much earlier in the revs if i need it now.

Unless your really pushing her on the drag strip or track then your unlikely to use over 6k rpm much anyhow so i would not worry yourself unduly...just stick to 97 as a minimum and then use optimax/v-power or a esso/bp 98/99 equivilant as much as possible to keep the octane levels up.

[Richard Crofts]

PS with a tuned car its best to check the oil and water and fluid for brakes every week. I actually do it more than that...but i'm anal about these sorts of things after owning a number of classic cars that always drunk oil and water LOL

in fact I'm sure the AA and RAC advice everyone to check oil, water, tyres and brake fluid every week even on a stock car...i may be wrong but its very good practice to get into....especially on a out of warrantee car!

[Nath316]

best bet

live with lower octane until yu can top up with better

[Bhozar]

Quote: Originally Posted by Richard Crofts (original)

...but i'm anal

No comment

I check weekly all the fluids, thats how I noticed my radiator was leaking baddly. Wasnt easy to see where it was leaking from.

Just wish 99 octane was closer to me. BP Ultimate is 105p in town too

[marc-s]

Ok i dont claim to know that much about tuning, doubt i ever will!LOL!

But Richard if its leaning out would he get away with running lower octane fuel if he upgraded to works injectors?????

Just a question, i understand its better to run higher octane, but running lean cant be good any octane?????

[Roadrunner_1]

Marc-S I agree

If you are running a modified Cooper S the Stoich mixture ratio has to change. If you are inducting more air into the engine, through a reduced pulley or filter the air/fuel ration changes.

Now higher octance fuels increase the autoignition, this helps to prevent the fuel catching fire before the flame front can reach.

Larger injectors will prevent this from occuring as this will increase the air/fuel ratio and create a Stoich ratio where the is just enough air to burn the fuel in the combustion chamber.

To prevent the chance of Detonation (pinking. kncking what ever you want to call it) increasing the air to fuel ratio by using larger than stock injectors will stop pinking.

it is better to run rich than run lean.

[DaFlake]

Or..

Tune the ECU to adjust for the mods that you have and the fuel that you want to run.

[Revolution Mini Works]

Quote: Originally Posted by 1320autos (original)

What about all the California Mini owners?? who have no choice but to use 91 our 95

I would die for pump gas like you have available.....

we have 230-252whp Mini's running around on 91 oxygenated pump gas with NO pinging

It must be something in the map of the ECU if it's been modified or the cylinder head porting if it has been modified. What plugs are you running?

We have found NGK BKR 8 EIX to work well with the horrible gas we have out here

[DaFlake]

I am running 91 here in Germany with pretty much the same mods with no pinging at all. I really think that a tune would help to correct this error.

[robbo mcs]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kumho Kid (original)

I would die for pump gas like you have available.....

we have 230-252whp Mini's running around on 91 oxygenated pump gas with NO pinging

It must be something in the map of the ECU if it's been modified or the cylinder head porting if it has been modified. What plugs are you running?

We have found NGK BKR 8 EIX to work well with the horrible gas we have out here

Hi,

There are different standards in different countries. 98RON UK / Australia = 91 USA.

Cheers

Robbo

[DaFlake]

Quote: Originally Posted by robbo mcs (original)

Hi,

There are different standards in different countries. 98RON UK / Australia = 91 USA.

Cheers

Robbo

This is a very good point. The octane rating is different from country to country. I believe that Europe uses one standard (RON). My 91 quote is US spec which is 95 RON here in Germany. AKA Esso Super Unleaded.