This is not for sale on here, just though I'd share my rant. This is the worst built car I have ever owned. Shame really


2010 Cooper S 184BHP Turbo. N18 engine, just 51K miles

Very well specc'd car: Chilli Red (£3,200 option as it come with so much)

HID (xenon) lights, Front fog lights
Headlight wash, Part leather Sports seats, start-stop,
Brake regeneration, Cruise control, Auto climate,
Sports suspension, Sport steering wheel, Sport button
mood lighting, Heated Mirrors and washer jets
Sport button, DSC,
Boost CD DAB Radio with blue tooth phone prep, Aux and USB jacks
And much, much more....

This car would be £25,000 + today and was £23,000+ when new

This car goes like stink and is a great fun drive, well it was.

It had a cold start issue but no fault codes (!)

During the start up phase it tries to squirt 16 Mpa of fuel into the engine and in doing so floods it. Once started it runs fine and will re-start all day. The issue is only during start up from cold.

After extensive checks and re-checks, including the wiring loom I admitted defeat and took it to Mini, as they said their software was better than mine and would soon find the fault.
They could not find a reason either with their diagnostics and seemed to go off on an unrelated tangent. They wanted to do a walnut shell blast of the inlet valves, on a car that had full power once warm so was not being strangled by carbon build up. I explained it was an N18 engine and should be immune from that issue. £180 to check and £320 to clean if required. I talked to their 'Master tech' explained my point and also queried the cost of checking as £180 seemed a lot to loosen 5 bolts stick a camera in and see. He agreed and so we settled on 0.5 hrs labour. The car was fine and it did not need doing.
However they also did a compression test and wanted to strip the engine apart as they said the timing was slightly out and the compression low. They charge £132 p/h! I said no as they did not bother with a leak down test or wet compression test as they don't do them apparently. These would be helpful in deciding that was the next step (so they would know if it was rings, inlet or exhaust valves, carbon build up, etc). And the compression was not so low the car would not start, anyway. I dread to think how much that would have cost to be no further forward. I did explain the car has a turbo to boost it and flies and I doubted the slight lack of compression would be a major issue. But they explained this was the official repair schedule and had to be followed. Again I declined.

So I drove the car home (it takes some starting). I did another compression test and a timing chain wear check as a worn chain would be the cause of both timing and compression issues. such is the closeness of the valve timing.

The Timing chain was well worn (indicator read 78mm when the limit is only 68mm and yes this car has only 51K on it!).
So I replaced it and both the compression and timing returned to their normal values. Brilliant! I felt I was getting somewhere at last.

But the cold starting issue remained. Imagine if I had paid mini to do the chain or split the engine? Still no fault codes but same old story.
Then I got a fault code show: 2BDD. It stated the obvious 'too high fuel pressure' but I had the ECU acknowledge the fault at last. The fuel pressure reading is from the pressure regulator on the fuel rail. The command to do so comes from the ECU as it thinks the car is sat in really cold temperatures, yet all the engine bay temperature sensors are fine, and read correctly.

I did some reading and found the fault could be a programming issue in the ECU. Google it

So then I had the ECU tested, no faults. WTF!

Mean while, having previously done a full system scan I had another fault to investigate that might be nothing to do with the cold start issue or it might just be the whole reason. The passenger compartment temp sensor was reading -40deg C. But sometimes with diagnostics if a sensor is not present when looked for, the system will generate a false fault. BMW cannot tell me if the car has a passenger compartment temp sensor or not! Please bear in mind the car has auto climate, so how does it know the temperature in order to maintain it?

Additionally, why should the aircon control unit inside the car, as in the dashboard controls, dictate starting parameters? but the unit does talk to the ECU and feed it info.

In fact I have found BMW to be useless through out all of my dealings with them.

This does include a set of circumstances that could see a Mini like this catch fire! I had a coil pack get too hot and fail. I contacted Mini UK about this but they washed their hands stating a 'thermal incident' like I had described meant they needed to take a step backwards away from me, i.e. your on your own mate! This should be impossible, the whole point of individual coils packs are to limit the risk of high voltages being exposed in an accident. The ECU should and can shut them down. Even the inertia switch is built into the ECU these days.

Not that this car is about to go up in smoke, its just a set of circumstances. This car is 100% safe.

Now today, the car has decided to it will not start at all. It appears there is neither spark or fuel. My best guess is crank sensor, but I cannot be bothered any more. And still no fault code!!!!!!!

Once repaired this will be a highly specc'd low mileage Mini which is great fun to drive. £130 p/a tax, 40+mpg. The new timing chain should last another 50K+ as I fitted a JCW rated version.

This is the first car I have been unable to fix in my life, but it is truly doing my nut. and I want to do something else other than think about it.

You are welcome to view, ring up, email, chat etc. But no silly offers please.

Do not buy if you are thinking of taking it to MINI to fix; they haven't a scooby.