Ok, short rundown on what's going on: my '09 JCW began giving me starting troubles a few weeks ago. At first, it just sputtered a bit below 1000 rpm's, then the engine would even out and idle correctly. It began getting worse; rough idle and stalling, and needing multiple starts to finally run and idle correctly. Mainly, this is a cold start issue (though not a cold temperature issue, as I live on the California coast).

Last week I brought it in to the dealer. They set me' up with a loaner, and the SA said that it sounded like an HPFP issue. The hell of it is, it's been starting just fine for them. Argh. It does it intermittently with me too, so I'm wondering if there's a way to trigger symptoms on a faulty pump? They can't repair it without seeing it act up, so I'm in a bit if a quandary. Any ideas?

This is, of course, assuming it is indeed the fuel pump.....

 

It happened to me twice today. Once after a 30-mile drive and stopping for about 3 hours, and the second time after a 20-mile drive and stopping for about an hour. Shorter stops did not show any signs of this issue. I picked up my car just yesterday. I'm sure it's not going to fix itself. I'll be keeping an eye on it though.

 

They can check the fuel pressure for the pump to determine any issues.

Now while there have been some software issues with JCW packages, I would look into doing a seafoam treatment for 10 bucks. There are tons of threads and posts on this issue and apparently seafoam has been the solution. If you check youtube, there are many videos of 2nd Gen Owners performing this treatment and the end result.

BTW: Some MINI dealers are now using Seafoam as well.

 

While SeaFoam may well be the wonder cure people purport, it is for cleaning carbon deposits that normally cause problems at other times than strictly start-up. If you are just having a problem at cold start, it is far more likely to be a high pressure fuel pump. Mine would not fail for the dealer and had to be taken in twice. It will become progressively worse.

The sad part is that MINI makes the dealer go through a witch hunt at the expense of the consumer's time while everyone knows what the culprit is. That is another symptom of why MINI has the worst Customer Satisfaction Index in the industry. They will blame bad gas and owner fault until it fails completely.

 

My MA called me today to see how I'm doing in the car and when I told him about the starting issue he said that he'd have to look into it. I'm planning on dropping off the car later this week to get my racing stripes installed. If they want to play the bad gas card, I'll just remind them that it was the same tank of gas I picked up the car in and see what they can do from there.

 

OK, I'll pose an answer to my own question here:

Patience - or letting it sit - seems to work. While the car was starting up just fine for the technicians last week, my SA gave me the option of either picking it up, or keeping it with them over the weekend to give it one more try on monday morning. After letting it sit over the weekend, they fired it up yesterday and were able to witness the problem. And yes, they diagnosed it as the HPFP. Said they've been seeing a lot of failures recently.

Anyway, they installed a fresh one & kept it again overnight to see how it starts this morning. FWIW, my JCW only has about 5K miles on it. I sure hope this new fuel pump lasts longer.

 

Did they give a reason for it failing ?

Was the original pump not built to original specs. Different part no. now ? Would be nice if they could disassembled the old pump.....

Right now I can only find that there has been just one part no. so far with no updates: # 13517588879 - HIGH-PRESSURE PUMP - $328.62

 

Glad you got it resolved. I can't decide if the HPFP problem is a bad batch problem, an underdesigned problem or simply oversensitive to bad fuel. Something is causing them to fail.....

Word is that BMW uses the same pump and is having a myriad of problems with it too....

 

See my early thread. Mini of Concord simply diagnosed it and replaced the pump. Took about an hour to do the work, with another 30 min of paper work and washing. It seemed to me that this must be a service bulletin. You should ask your dealer

 

Yes but not only does Seafoam clean the carbon buildup in upper cylinder head, it also cleans is the upper air management air sensors as well...they often become dirty and fail to provide proper readings for idle and at start up.

 

Hey.
There is a HPFP thread around here somewhere. My Violet is in the shop for the 3rd time. The first time they replaced the fuel pump. The second time they had the car for a week and said they couldn't duplicate the problem. The day after I got it back, I recorded the issue on my phone. I sent the video to them and they agreed to take another look. The service person tried to tell my husband the up and down idling was normal. That's until the car stalled on him twice. For me, its not a cold start. Its a drive and then short stop issue (ie driving for a bit then running in and out of a store). Check your local lemon law. I am.

 

Your problem sounds like mine, it wasn't the HPFP(yet anyways!) It was a software problem. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nd-dies-2.html

A couple posts down windypointmini has a very good post.

I'm not saying yours is not the HPFP, but it sounds similar to what was happening to some of us. Just something to check into.

 

Thanks much for the info! I just copied one of the posts and sent it to the service manager.