Hello all, my sister has a 2008 Cooper S hatch. It had been running pretty good and then after her other car was fixed from an accident, she parked the Mini. After I think about 2 weeks, she went to move it and it would not start. It cranks and cranks, but just will not start. We first check for fuel coming from the tank, fuel is flowing. Next, we checked with a pressure gauge the HPFP output to the rail. The pressure was greater than what the gauge showed. Still I wondered about the HPFP. At the time, a few weeks ago, a friend who drives a Clubman with the same engine was having issues. I put the pump from my sisters on his, and it woke his up. He didnt want to give the pump back since he knew a new pump was not cheap. So I feel we ruled out the HPFP to be an issue. So last night we put the HPFP back on her Mini and tried to start. It gets to a point that it sounds like it is going to start, but never makes it. So, next we pulled the plugs. I put the plug in the ignition coil and had her turn it over to see if we have spark. There is spark there in all four cylinders. Then I wondered about fuel injectors. While the plugs were out we tried to start it while I watched to see if I could see fuel. Fuel is present, I just cant tell if its enough. Then I asked another friend if a bad fuel pressure sensor would cause a no start, he didnt think so. Anyone know if thats true? The only code we had seen up to this point, was a P0302, cylinder 2 misfire. What have we missed? Thanks in advance.

 

"The pressure was greater than what the gauge showed." How do you know?

"... and it woke his up" What does that mean?

"While the plugs were out [sic] we tried to start it while I watched to see if I could see fuel." Where are you looking and how are you looking (fiberscope?) to see if you can see fuel? Fuel injectors atomize the fuel, so you're not going to see a lot if you're simply looking into the spark plug boss.

If the fuel pressure sensor is lying that will not normally cause a no start, but it could cause improper fuel trims.

How many miles are on the engine? Does it have the original timing chain? You need to have the misfire diagnosed first and then go from there. I'd run a cam/crank correlation test to check your engine timing.

 

Disable the fuel injectors and then compression test the cylinders.

 

I borrowed the fuel pressure gauge from Oreillys. The gauge went to 100. When we tested it, the needle went beyond 100 and hit the stop at zero on the back side. This was before I put the pump on my friends. At first, I wasnt sure if the HPFP from my sisters Mini was good. So, since I was helping my friend and had his car, I put my sisters pump on his to see if it would run. It started right up and ran for 10 minutes. Well, when we put his pump back on to send him home, he said his wasnt running like it use to, it would losing power when he would accelerate. So I told him since I still had my sisters pump, we should try it and let him drive with it for a few days. We did that and he said it gave is power back (woke it up). At that time we knew he needed a pump and the pump from my sisters was good. The miles on the car are roughly less than 120k. I bought the car at 104k a few years ago, but my sister didnt drive it much. While I had it, I took the head off and had all the valves checked. Put a new water pump in it and new timing chains. Put another JBE in because we had a stalling issue. That ended up being the valve cover and PCV. I have a new filter in as well. The misfire happened a few months back while it was still running. Cleared the code and it didnt come back before the current no start issue.

 

If #2 cylinder misfires continue:

1) Swap the #2 and #3 ignition coils to see if the misfire follows the #2 coil. Do the same for the #2 and #3 spark plugs and fuel injectors.
2) If the misfire follows neither the coil, plug nor injector, then compression test the cylinders.

 

I have finally got around to testing compression. Cylinder 1 barely made it up to 25psi, the other three made it to 50psi. I am not sure how, but the timing has to be off. I did read something last night on a forum where someone had low readings then did a wet test and the compression jumped up to a normal range. From what little I know, I am betting the valves are bent. I will put everything in time again to see if and how far off it really is. This is an extra vehicle and I have a lot of projects, so I will get to it as soon as I can. And even though it takes me some time to get back on this forum, I am one that will follow up until the end so we all know the results.

 

Describe how you performed the cylinder compression tests.

 

We made sure the battery was charged. Pulled one spark plug at a time and inserted the compression tester hose. Hooked up the Gauge and we cranked it until the needle stopped.

 

I asked because the test results don't seem to match with the cylinder 2 misfires. Compression is low on all cylinders. If you can currently start and run the engine, this would also be inconsistent with your low compression readings.

Did you disable the fuel injectors before performing the tests? Did the starter strongly turn the engine?

 

We have not been able to get it to start and run at all since it died after sitting for weeks. I did not disable the fuel injectors and the starter did strongly turn the engine. On my other vehicles when checking compression, I have never disabled injectors. But I can find out which relay does that in give it another try.

 

Fuel in the cylinders during the test would cause low compression and thereby confound your interpretation of the compression results. Can you unplug the fuel injectors during the test? You also now may need to add a small amount of engine oil into each cylinder prior to redoing the tests.

Pull the oil dipstick. Do you smell a lot of fuel in the engine oil?

 

I understand, Thank you. I will figure out which relay disables the fuel and I can also add a small amount into the cylinder and test again. I will get back on here when that happens. I will try this week.