I having been having issues with my 2007 MCS since winter started and things have gotten cold (as low as -20C/-4F). This is my first winter with the car and it is having issues when it is first started. It will often stall, idle roughly and when I go to drive the throttle will be unresponsive and hesitant. I brought the car in and they kept it over night and agreed that in the morning the car was a "hard start". Their comment on my work order reads:

"Interrogate fault memory. No related DME faults in memory. Possible moisture in intake. Already has multiport intake. Blow out moisture from PCV hoses. Blow out moisture from intake manifold and throttle plate. Performed oil and filter change. Client must let car reach operating temp when driving so moisture can evaporate"

It seems to me they didn't really fix anything and their comment about reaching operating temp is really hard for me since I only work 5min away and it would take 15-20 minutes for the car to fully warm up in the morning.

Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

WOW, these cars are known to be weird in really cold weather so I am not sure what to tell you. The cooling system is so good that it would take forever for the car to warm up, not to mention the fact that you would be wasting a ton of gas since the cars use more when it is cold. I will say though tht you are in exceptionally cold weather for any car, but I bet you would not have this problem with a regular MCS (wouldnt be as fun to drive either). Something about turbo cars and extremely cold temps that they just do not like.

 

That nonsense the dealer gave me was just that - nonsense. Problem is not fixed and I was able to catch it occuring on video (only -2C when this occured). Any thoughts? I read about people having issues with the High Pressure Fuel Pump but I am not sure if this is the same. This next visit will be my forth trying to get this issue resolved and I would like to go in with some good advice from other Mini owners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF1BNhc0mL8

 

There have also been reported problems with the throttle body 'freezing' in cold temp's.

 

So they are blaming the issue on large carbon deposits in the engine... They had it for a week to clean it all out and have the head machined. When they put it back together they said the cylinder head was out of spec and needs to be replaced. So another 2-3 week wait while one comes in from Germany. They put me up in a rental so I guess I can't complain too much - yet...

I sure hope this has a happy ending...

 

I guess it could be that. Why would you have large carbon deposits in the engine (there's thread on that in this forum btw)? I assume that when they had the head machined it didn't go well so it had to be replace (which is good). What you described originally is similar to my HPFP failure. Question: when you finally did get it warmed up and running did it run normally for the rest of the day? Mine did. Certainly if the problem was carbon deposits those would not have permitted it to run normally at all. A fuel pump problem is intermittent until it give up the ghost. I guess you'll find out sooner or later. Good luck

 

An explanation on why this would occur was not given and no excuses (like bad gas) were given.. I will be asking a lot more questions when I go to pick it up.

Once the car was up to full operating temperature it seemed to work fine - so I agree that this diagnosis doesn't seem to totally fit. I asked several times about the HPFP but so far they have been unresponsive in looking into the possibility.

 

I've read about every HPFP thread since mine died, and the common element is that dealers usually don't fix it until it quits and leave the car on the side of the road (or in my case dead in the garage). If that's the problem the time will come when the car won't run, or will barely sputter and the throttle will do nothing (like mine). When it's intermittent the dealers don't know it.

 

Hello all!
I am having random cases of idle swing which is very similar to that shown in the youtube video (not as extreme usually but close) but in addition, My car ('09 with 2500 miles on it) more often than not basically lunges into first gear as I am coming to a stop (I have auto). The dealer recognizes the problem but does not know how to rememdy it (?) I am wondering if the HPFP problems could contribute to the downshift problem.
Any thoughts?

 

Got my car back after 3.5 weeks. With a new head & the latest chain tensioner installed my engine should be better than new! Well maybe it is -but - my car is STILL stalling! Exact same thing happened to me coming home from work on Friday when it was 4C outside. I am sure if it had been -10C it would have taken me 10 tries to get it going. I guess its back to the dealer for the 5th time next week...

 

And how many times have we/I told you what this was? Maybe they'll replace the seat heaters next. That could be it.