Just bought a 08 mini clubman S (automatic trans) last week or so. It had a bad bettery in it so i replaced it with a brand new one today. about 2 days ago i did an entire seafoam treatment. car was running better than ever.

But i was driving home tonight on the highway doing about 60mph driving pretty easy. then there was a small vibration feeling and a short loss of power in the engine for about 10 seconds.

The check engine light came on during the time the engine was lagging then turned off when the car stopped lagging.

It happened again a few seconds later and went for about 10 seconds again.

The check engine light did the same thing and then shut back off.

drove the car about 5 miles. stopped at the store and i was pulling out and the check engine light came back on and has stayed on but this time with no engine problems.

The car is running fine but has the check engine light on.

a few notes: i already checked the gas cap. also the problem accrued shortly after my fuel gauge went into the red zone with about 45 miles until empty. i filled it up with my usual premium grade fuel from shell.


any ideas?

 

You need to read any codes from the OBD port. Many auto parts stores will do it free if you don't have a reader. That's a starting point, might need to get to a MINI Or BMW shop to read mfg codes.

 

Also he had all the service records when i bought it. had the HPFP replaced back in 2014 so it's fairly new.

 

I took it to 2 different auto parts stores and they said there was no codes found.

 

If you still have a check engine light then you need to get to a proper mechanic with a BMW/MINI code reader that can check it for you. Some shops will do that upfront free, most I think will want to charge you and the good ones will apply that money towards the repair if needed.

 

^ Find a shop with a dealer level scan tool, a gas cap being loose won't cause a loss of power. If all of this started after a Seafoam treatment then I'd start retracing your steps in that process.

After you did the Seafoam treatment there would be a ton of misfires stored, did you clear them? Did you reconnect the PCV port fully? Did you run the car hard enough to get any residual Seafoam or buildup out of the intake manifold? They sometimes require you to flog the car for a short time to fully burn all that fun stuff out.

Start with a quality scan tool and report back with the codes that are stored, but remember; there will be quite a few misfires stored in there just from a Seafoam treatment.