I left the car at the airport for a week. Started yesterday without any problem and drove back over 350 miles from Montreal to Waltham MA. Nothing sounds wrong. Today, I started and drove up to the gate of the parking lot. The car stalled and I was never able to restart it... The car started and stalled immediately, tried it few time, then wait 1 hour....retried and get the same thing!!! Is it the cold-start problem that I see in the forum?

I've called Mini road assistance at 9h00 am and did not get service yet after 4 hours.... thanks I am not on the highway! Very disappointed with this.

Is anyone can help me? I just get that car 3 weeks ago and hit 1000 miles yesterday!!!

 

So the car must be at the dealer now. Which dealer?

 

I took a cab to go to work and left my husband with the problem. He is still waiting for assistance. We bought the car at Herb Chamber Boston

 

The towing guy finally start it after more than ten consecutive attemps. Black smoke but seems ok. He think it is due to bad gas or water condensation in the tank. Anyway, I will fill it up right now. Should I get 93, 91 or 89 quality for winter???

 

In the future, you might want to consider MINI of Peabody for service. They are a MINI-only dealer, so you won't get scheduled for repair after every >=3 series BMW has been put in the queue.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...=Herb+Chambers
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...=Herb+Chambers

 

You've been putting 89 in it?

Is this a Cooper or an S?

 

I have a Cooper-S. I've always put 93 in (fill up only 3 times). I saw in forum discussion that people put 89 sometime in winter. The guide said 91 so what I should put when 91 is not available?

 

93.

 

A week outside in cold weather can certainly cause enough condensation in the tank to create your problem. The drive home from the airport was using the gas in the fuel lines and filters (water free) and probably warm enough to burn whatever water got to the engine during the drive home.

But a cold start with water in the gas? Yeah, mis-firing, hard starting, all of that.