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2K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  mike1967 
#1 ·
So my story is this, I brought a R56 JCW Mini last month and thought it was a good car only to be left with allot of problems. I have just had fixed the timing chain, which cost me £850, but my main problem is a misfire, but get this, there are no fault code coming up, and there are no check engine light displaying, as far as I can tell, there is no problem with the car, apart from I cannot fixed this bloody misfire.

I have change the the spark plugs, and all 4 coil packs, but i’m still getting the misfire , the only other thing I think it could be is the fuel pump but I’m just not sure where to start anymore, i’m at my wits end with this bloody car, and I just do not have anymore money to fix the dam thing, not at the moment anyway.

The misfire only happens in the higher gears 3, 4, 5, 6 gear, 1st and 2nd gear work fine with no misfire at all. Would anyone here be willing to help me out, who have more experience with these cars then me, I live in the Kent area, Medway.
 
#2 · (Edited)
OK. I live nearish to T Wells although in E Sussex. Got an R53. Now I haven't used any of these guys so not recommending just giving you a heads up. So indys nearish to you:
Cragos in Dartford:
Crago's BMW & MINI Specialist - Home
BM Sport in Bexleyheath (bit of a trek):
https://www.bmsport.com/product-category/mini/
ETA Motorsport in W Kingsdown - Matthew & Jeff (near Brands Hatch):
ABOUT - ETA MOTORSPORT
Munich Legends in Chelwood Gate, v near me, the doggies doodaas but v expensive:
Munich Legends Your Independent BMW Dealer

No doubt a number across the water in Essex but I don't go there - bandit country.

Hope that helps.
 
#3 ·
the first timing chain on one of these i ever done i done it by the book and believe me they must be done in a set way with good parts used, also all sprockets must be changed and the special locking tool must be a good make one,, i try'd a cheap ebay timing tool for £50 put car back together it was retarded on timing by 2 to 5 degrees,, i now use a laser tools kit i picked up for £140 and never have any issues, i have also seen cheap ebay timing chain kits from china or where ever where the timing chain guides slot together and these cheap ones come apart,, i only ever fit FAI or febi bilsteen or dealer only parts and the full kits including the vvt sprockets as these wear and allow chain to move under load and cause misfire fault codes, also have seen cheap timing chain tensioner that lock up and cause issues under load, tou will find the misfire is still there in 1st and 2nd but because of nature of the load in the other gears it will show more with high loads,,
i have also seen cars that have been driven for a number or months years with timing chains stretched to the point where the edges of the valves just touch the piston enough to lightly wear the valve guide or and bend a valve very slightly so car gets new timing chain but the valve wear or straightness is out,, not very common as most stop running at this point,,
before anything is done a good level of diagnostics needs to be done, also after fitting a timing chain the cat needs to be checked as dose the upstream 02 sensor as to much overlap on valves due to stretch chain causes unburnt fuel to destroy both items.. as after fitting chain kit and or cat the car must have its adaptations reset,, this resets the ecu back to new state or learning ,, autocom cdp+ or b-cables inpa full bmw diagnostics platforms are good for this,, i like the autocom one more as it does all cars 55000 + will do airbags abs body control stuff prettymuch everything
 
#4 ·
Hi

Thanks for the advice, the company that did the work on my car where Munich Legends, and have been in the BMW business for over 40 years, what they do not know it not worth Knowing from my understanding, all the cars coming out of that place where M-Car, or BMW M3 race cars.

I think the problem with the car is the High Pressure Fuel Pump, if anyone here could help me diagnose this problem that would be a helpfull start to begin with, once I can confirm this problem, I should be able to take it from there.
 
#5 ·
only proper way of diagnosing the fuel pump(any fault with modern cars) is with dealer level diagnostics this will show everything ie fuel pressure whether it is high or low or intermittently drops or drops to one cylinder etc, also will show the injectors etc,, the thp engines are direct injection high pressure,
 
#6 ·
Hi

So I have some diagnosic cable and software coming in the next couple of days, so will hopefully get a better understanding of what is going on with the car.

I'm not to sure now if it is a misfire, or a hesitation problem, It's just odd, once I get in to 3rd gear or higher, over 3000 Rev the car just jolts with hesitant acceleration, no check engine light, no error at all coming on the dash, I have no cold start problem so not to sure if it is the HPFP.

If anyone here has any ideas, let me know?
 
#7 ·
have you got a battery charger if not good idea to get one, so when your diagnostics arrive some rules you should know about while using it,, if its got encoding level on it be sure to learn a bit about on line before using it, otherwise could corrupt a file and cause all kinds of issues for your self.
1, never plug the eobd socket in while car ignition is switch on, could spike ecu.
2.never unplug car with ignition on, could spike ecu
3. any diagnostics or encoding platform must have a stable power surply ie put a battery charger on battery before plugging it in, i have seen a lot of ecu,s get bricked because of this, especially when writing a file or reading a ecu file.

when they done your timing chain did anyone remove the vvt oil solenoids ( two of them) and clean the gauze's out common issue dirty oil blocks them then at 3-4k there is not enough oil volume to advance the vvt sprockets also worth doing a oil pressure test when engine is hot, when this happens they tend not to give eml untill get that bad it gives a misfire fault perhaps, also after the chain was done did they reset the adaptions, the car ecu learns and when it runs with t.chain out of spec it trys to make up for the issue,, so when you replace it it still runs the engine like its still got t,chain issues for a while, reset adaptions resets it back to new and the starting point to relearn again.. also when chain gets really bad it can damage upstream 02 sensor and the cat, rest adaptions and clean vvt valves be my first point of call on it
 
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