I like this for a problem......

I had a piece of plastic tube that has a crack in it - I believe from new. Under warentee the dealer replaced, injectors, the upstream O2.... there's more...... At 1 time I thought there was crack in the head on the exhaust side - Replaced the head w/ Cosworth.... 18 months passed - no issues. BUT....
Bottom line: I won't say I had the exact same problem - their never exact. The tube was under the MAP - I discovered & fixed the issue after replacing the MAP sensor.... The engine would go to limp mode - you could clear the code - the code, not always the same would come back, sometimes days, even years.... the crack would stay sealed - big mystery???? yup.... 6 years after the car was built...... almost 4 days of "take it apart-put it together" = FIXED.

What suprises me is the fact - no limp mode.... with your car????? Similar to your car - the car would crank, lite & die several times, then run - mostly in cold weather. Before going to limp, it would hesitate, spit - then limp. After limp it was very driveable. So, have no idea what the issue really is & don't know what else to say.... just hope it isn't the ECU - check the connectors for any signs of "whatever"....

 

What is this? It was plugged in near the firewall and I broke the plastic hose! It was kind of cracked and the second I touched it it snapped. What do I do? The car is running fine without it but it's something with vacuum because it's sucking!

 

It looks like the break booster valve - drivers side behind the master cylinder???? if so you need to go to an auto supply QUICK. Take the valve with you - it's a very common part used on many brands - you just need to match it up....

 

Yep, that's where it was! I think I am going to put a smaller connector in it and reconnect them back together with a slightly bigger rubber hose, Can I drive without it being plugged in? Started and Idled good but didn't drive it yet. When I put my finger over the hose my idle died down a lot too


Oh, I see. It has something to do with the brakes...let me test them!


And I hope I it's just a cracked tube! Still can't find the MAP Sensor though, there are so many plugs!

 

No don't drive it. the breaks will be extreeeeemmmmmeeeeely hard to use - you would also need to plug the vacuum line. If nothing else use a bicycle & style yourself to the nearest parts store - an Autozone will do - GOT to have breaks.....
From the throttle body, facing the car - about 9" toward the firewall - 6" from the cylinder head - find a plug - it's the only electrical connector = MAP. You'll need a 4 mm allen ( I think can't remember ) to remove the sensor... I'm hoping for a bad "O" ring or bad connection...

 

Okay! I took the risk and stayed pretty far back from people lol. Breaks were soooooo hard to use!! That was crazy! Got to Advance Auto Parts and they had a replacement one, then we put a bigger hose on it to fit the two together. The brakes work better than they did before!! They are super sensitive now!

I will check the MAP in just a minute! Thanks for all the help again!

 

"The brakes work better than they did before!! They are super sensitive now!"

They Do??? that valve could have had a crack for some time causing a vacuum leak. The breaks being better could be - the tell all.... any of the vac lines could be a potential problem - they are mostly plastic!!!

 

Yeah, like I said. They second I touched it to see what it was it cracked off. But they are definitely more sensitive now which is weird. The Mini is running great today! No hesitation or anything at all. I went out there and found the MAP Sensor so once I get back from the Beach later I am going to take it out and clean it a little with some Seafoam. Thanks for those specs on how it find it! I am going to get it smoked ASAP. For some reason I really think it's the supercharger inlet gasket.

 

Well, if the breaks are better now & the engine runs well - The issue may be fixed. Seafoam.... only engine internals - won't do anything of note for the MAP sensors.
All the codes you had, IMHO, suggest a vac leak.. You may have found it - the breaks would tell me - you did... We will see what we see...
Drive the car & tell us it's FIXED

 

But I drove the car without plugging the line when I had no brakes and it drove fine. Just drove about 30 miles to the beach and it ran great, even used the a/c a little. I guess we will see but I'm almost positive it's not gone yet, really it seems like it happens when it's humid I guess. Gonna pull the MAP later today and I will snap a few pics and see!! I thought the SeaFoam in the aerosol container is for sensors as well?? Could I just use some brake cleaner?

 

This is what I'm refering to.

This "tell" suggests that the booster valve was the leak. Lets hope so.

You drove the car 30 miles, no problem? Starts fine? Drive some more.....

 

Drove back from the beach this morning with no problems as well. The A/C seems like it kills my Mini. When the A/C is on while driving it's just very hesitant. And at an idle it almost makes it stall. But I just found out even better news, my PS Pump just went out! Great! On the way home it just cut out on the highway. Restarted a couple times (that usually fixed it about 6 months ago) and nothing. I think it's finally a goner! Hopefully the stumble's won't come back but I till don't understand why I only have 10in of vac. Going to get it smoked this week sometime just to be safe. Time to find a replacement PS Pump. Is there a way to check if the fan is bad?

 

Did you check to see if your battery and charging system are good? If you have low voltage you would get similar problems especially with the codes your car has been throwing. Your PS pump failure could also be a symptom. Just my .02 cents.

 

If you spin the fan by hand, it should move smoothly...because of the magnets in it, it will not spin perfectly, but it should be smooth. If it feels sticky, or like it has sand in it, or it does not spin pretty freely, replace it when you install a new ps pump....they can be blown out with compressed air and lubed a bit...but that is best done with your oil changes as regular matainance....the fans die, and they are unlikly to out last a ps pump IMO...

 

Good to hear you may have found your vac leak!!!

 

Just put a new battery in it about 4 months ago and I trickle charge it overnight about once a month. That's funny that you mentions using compressed air because I did that about 4 days ago when it went out for a minute and then kicked back on. That's when I noticed all the oil under my car! The fan spins smooth for the most part! But today I went for a drive and i dove mostly on the freeway. The pump was working when I left the house and I had full power steering, drove for about 20 minutes pretty hard (no stumbles so far!!) and it's about 90 degrees outside, after I got off the freeway and sat in traffic for a minute, it turned off. That makes me thing that the fan either isn't turning on, or shuts itself off and making the PS Pump overheat causing it to shut off. It'd be nice if I could just replace the fan, I am going to put it up on the ramps and see if it's spinning while the car is on tomorrow. Once again, no stumble or stutter so far, but I used the A/C again today and just shut it off because it really just puts a load on the Mini! Thanks for everyone's help through this so far, as many problems as I am having I will always love driving the Mini! I will keep it updated with everything that either continues or is taken care of.

 

The fact that it fails when I gets hot indicates 2 possibilites...since it is a DC motor with brushes...they are likely worn....or the electronics are flakey from age/heat....if it is the brushes, a rebild would likely be a great choice. If Otis the electronics....new might be the better options since most places rebuild YOUR unit, test it on a bench, and send it back. That IMO is Likely the differance between folks who have great luck with rebuilds, and those who don't.....
I don't think just putting in a new fan would fix it if it is intertmintant....wear/age has made it more senstive to heat..it will likely only worsen....a new cooling fan may buy you a few weeks, but the warmer temps are comming.....

 

Yeah, I agree! 100+ is coming! Where can I get it rebuilt? I saw somewhere on eBay that does it for $200 bucks but I would like to get it done correct and somewhere that has previous history of good work. I hope it's just the brushes and not the electronics, because otherwise I'm going to be a little p*ssed! A new pump is like 500 bucks!

 

BBA is the company (I think that does many of them). They are actually semi local to me and seem to have a good reputation. I assume they rebuild the motor, and clean the electronics...if the circirt board is toast.....

 

Everything is good so far! Have been driving all day and everything seems to be working great! PS is working and no stumbles. Rerouted my OCC today because I noticed my hood was tilted up a bit on the passenger side where the OCC was, moved it right above the oil filter area where the m7 can mounts. Also bought some red air compressor hose from Lowe's for like two bucks! Once again, I'll keep everyone updated. I am probably just going to get my pump rebuilt. Obviously it's about to go out. Where can I get a MAP sensor from? Dealer is too far from me, I'd rather just order it online somewhere! Thanks again!

 

There are 2 PNs - they look identical - THEY ARE NOT

THE MAP is a Cooper part 12 14 872 648
THE T-MAP is a Cooper S part 12 14 872 679 this is the sensor in the intake

Any Bosch distributer should be able to get 1 for you

 

Little update after today's incident. Since thusday of last week I have drove back and forth to the beach (30 miles there) about 3 times. It's been about 90-98 degrees outside at almost all times of driving it. I ran some Seafoam through the PCV on Thursday and wow what came out! I have a very very strong idle now and the performance that came back after the cleaning was unbelievable. One of the trips to the beach required almost a standstill idle for a good while (took an hour and a half to drive 30 miles! Traffic!!) I had the windows up, A/C on and I was just amazed with how well the Mini did idling! Everything has been great until this morning, went outside a little early to let the Mini warm up and after it idled for a minute it just died. Just like last time. Wouldn't stay running and was just chugging. Check engine and dsc light both came on.

Anyway, I opened the bonnet and did these steps again!

Unplugged and replugged the front plug in front of the IC
Unplugged and replugged the sparkplug wires
shuffled the wires around by the MAP sensor and the O2 sensor wire
squeezed the radiator hose in the front and it was bubbling in the expansion tank.

Went and started it, drove perfect to work without any hesitation and idle issues. Something is weird! Next time I am going to do one thing at a time and try to start it each time to single out the problem! Other than that the Mini has been roaring on the streets!

 

Ugh! This is getting annoying! Here is some more information! First off, finally got my KiWi WiFi and that thing is awesome! My iPhone is so much more useful now! I did a couple idle test with it and have some basic numbers. Yesterday the PS Pump went out again and was flickering on and off dimming my lights until it finally cut out. Haven't had it except when I start the car, after the first turn or two it cuts off. Today I put the car up on some ramps to check a couple things out. The fan doesn't freely spin, it seems like the bearings are shot but when I cleaned it with compressed air it was spinning SUPER fast without any problems, it just doesn't spin freely if I try to spin it. Spins for like half a turn, almost like it is lopsided. But that's not my worries unless it relates to my other problems.

While the Mini was on the ramps, once again I noticed a lot of oil everywhere. All over the oil pan and a lot under the oil filter area but NONE on the oil filter cap so I know it's not dripping from there. It's all over the inner hub (closest to the engine) that connects to the (US) passenger side front wheel, the PS Pump, and there are a couple of hoses (like 3/4", radiator hoses?) under the oil filter cap that had a good amount of oil on them as well. Cleaned it all up as good as I could!

I have noticed a couple of things lately, every time I start my car, it almost sounds like something is getting shredded just until the RPM's come back down to 600-800 for idle. My buddy looked at it and said it seems like the SC pulley belt was getting caught for a second and then it would start spinning, we couldn't really get a look at it but it just sounds like (excuses this next horrible example) chu-chuu-chuuu??!? Like when you put paper in a fan kind of. But only when I start the car. We conditioned the belt but it didn't help any.

Okay, and the final problem, the stutter is back again! Cruising in 5th and the stutter started to happen, dropped to 4th, high rev and no problems. Same problem in any gear with low RPM's. DSC light came on but no SES. They I got to a stop light and the RPM's died down, caught itself and there goes the SES! Got to where I was going, turned the car off, and did the same procedure as I have been and it worked fine. PS Pump worked great and the car drove perfect on the way home. I have NO idea what is going on!

Now, about this Rev App for the iPhone! Wow! Great!

Same codes as above, and I did a couple other idle test

Intake Manifold Pressure: 6.381661 PSI

Autometer Boost Gauge: About -8 or -9 PSI (in Hg)

Rev Boost Gauge: -8.314288 PSI (in Hg)

Air Intake Temp: 160º F at 85º F outside

Timing Advance: -1.5 to 2

Fuel Trim Long Bank and Short Bank: -1.5% to 2%

The Rev app is awesome, you can export your recordings of any gauge and open them in Excel on a computer! I would recommend it over a ScanGauge any day!

Thanks for all the help! Hope this info will make it a little easier to diagnose. I have to have a vacuum leak somewhere because I thought it should be reading like 18-20in Hg on idle.

 

Anyone?

 

Do you hear a whistle anywhere in the engine bay when the engine is at idle?

I've had some similar issues, rough idle, BPV failure and Power steering pump failing (it's in the stage where it gets stuck in the on position, but the fan works fine), #4 post on the coil pack covered in corrosion, P1688 limp mode, and I'm sure there's more. Can't say I've got a solution for you but I'm going to be checking some of the things you mentioned in this thread, and will report back if I find a solution.