Yeah at this point, I'm just ignoring it. If the car explodes, it explodes I guess...

 

UPDATE: So I thought it might be cheap gas from Quik Trip as they don't use branded gas, but rather gas sourced on the open market. I refilled with my trusted Chevron 91 octane. Superknock is still there, and I can reproduce almost every time I drive the car. Taking in later this morning to dealer. What do you think the odds are that I won't be able to reproduce there? LOL

I'll report back with their findings...

Greg

 

Definitely sounds like superknock to me. This condition is quite easy to bring about....I assume moreso with an auto. The manual will do this if you are slightly bogging the car and lay into the throttle slightly so you are not alone. Superknock doesn't throw a visible CEL, but the soft code(s) are stored. I, however, find the phenomenon totally unacceptable.

 

I have a manual, and what you describe is dead on. Steady rpm's, say 2,500-3,000 in fourth, apply enough gas to pass, not WOT, and I get a 2 second stall concurrent with 3-5 "clicks" that seem to come from the right side front.

UNACCEPTABLE TO SAY THE LEAST. Embarrassing actually if you have passengers.

 

I have had this before a few times, but I have a tune and I must have 98 fuel. It happens if I fill up on a busy night so I don't get the best fuel quality. Funnily enough it hasn't ever happened with shell for me. I think it has a lot to do with fuel quality in my case.

 

Mine is definitely not fuel-quality related. It'll superknock no matter what I put in there. Dumping in 12oz of Torco Accelerator seems to make it much less frequent (that is raising the octane up to about 94~), but it'll still happen sometimes.

Let us know if the dealer actually does anything about it. Mine admitted that there wasn't much they could do if it continued to happen. They tried to blame it on the bad thermostat which wasn't the case...

I've just reached the point that I ignore it. I figure if a piston blows out the side of the block, then I'll worry about it. Until then, I'll drive it until I can justify trading the car for anything NOT made by BMW or MINI, lol.

 

[QUOTE=SuperGreg;3318290]...I have a manual, and what you describe is dead on. Steady rpm's, say 2,500-3,000 in fourth, apply enough gas to pass, not WOT...QUOTE]

Classic Superknock. To avoid this....I would keep RPM's up around 3,000 mininmum will in fourth if you are about to pass. This should alleviate the issue but certainly is not an acceptable condition. It blows my mind that with today's technology that a condition like this can exist.

 

What blows my mind even more is people have been reporting this on the 08+ cars with the other motor for a couple years, lol. It doesn't seem to be a "new" condition, and it even survived a new design. I know a lot of people like to simply ignore or talk around these "quirks", but really IMHO its unacceptable on a new car like this. The 3 Mustang GTs I had in a row before this car, one of which this took its place, were all flawless. And one of them I bolted on a Vortech supercharger and was making 500hp on an aftermarket tune even.

This is a neat little car, but given it was "broken" at 2900 miles and had to go in for repair, combined with this whole superknock thing, makes it impossible for me to even consider having it out of warranty. I can't wait to get rid of it honestly. Guess perhaps I'll buy one of the 5.0 Mustangs after, or maybe a Camaro...

 

UPDATE:
Car has been at dealer since yesterday morning. Got an update earlier today. They did find "Superknock" soft codes. It was determined that there is excessive carbon buildup. They received permission to use a special tool to remove all built up carbon. They remove intake etc... and also update the software.

I'll pick up Saturday a.m. and report back if this solved it.

This makes since due to the fact that it sounds like pre-detonation!

 

I'll be surprised if thats the only cause of this condition, even if it does fix it. Mine started superknocking with something like 800 miles on it.

 

The difference is that mine just starting doing this like 6-8 weeks ago. It will be 3 years old next month. Your situ makes no sense!

 

As predicted by others, mine is still pre-detonating with the reported ticking sound even after having any carbon deposits removed. Does anyone have any good news for a fix yet?

 

I'm having the same issues with my '09 JCW. I bought it with 6,000 miles and very rarely it would miss/cut out for a fraction of a second when accelerating hard. The problem has gotten quite a bit worse in the last year (now 29,000 miles). In the last year I started to get a ticking noise often times before the engine would cut out and it would do this accelerating under part throttle as well as full or near throttle now. The noise sounds like detonation/knock to me.

I took the car in a few weeks ago and they blamed it on bad gas even though I have the problem on any gas. They checked the plugs for damage, drained and replaced the gas and added fuel system cleaner. The next time I brought in they pulled the intake to make sure everything looked reasonably clean and replaced the knock sensor and asked that I fill up with non-ethanol 93 octane next tank. After I did this and still had the problem they changed the HPFP and the problem still exists. They now want me to come in and drive the tech around. Unfortunatey this is very inconvenient and probably a waste of my time since I can't reproduce the problem at will. On this particular tank of gas it has happened 3 times and I am at about 450 miles on the tank now. It does seem to be less frequent on the 93 octane versus the 91 I usually run.

 

This isn't the news I was hoping to hear, but my worst fear. MINI doesn't seem to know how to fix it. I called my SA two days ago to let him know it was still happening. He said he would research, but still has not called me back. I hope they can figure this out soon, as it's a bit frustrating when it happens on an onramp or when you need to pass quickly.

 

I have an '08 Clubman S that had the same thing I believe. Under acceleration, there was a brief power loss and *tick* and then everything was ok again. This was about a year ago.

They found a damaged spark plug I believe to be the issue (so they said). So all the plugs were changed and the problem never came back. However, much to my dismay, the engine no longer idles smoothly. For the longest time, it would jump around when I came to a stop. A LOT of repairs and parts later, it still putters and give a slight shake once ina while. 60k km. I'm getting VERY furstrated as well.

 

Could it be as easy as replacing spark plugs?

 

Back to the shop next Wednesday to try and solve again

 

Took the car in for the fourth time. This time the timing belt and tensioner were changed. I was told the timing belt looked stretched. We'll see if this solves the issue.

 

Timing chain?

 

Chain was what I thought as well!

 

Sorry, meant chain.

I stopped by and was able to get the car to reproduce the noise for the tech before I brought the car in for service this time. The tech thought it was a knock at the time.

Looking at the write up they stated the chain was 70mm and the spec was 68mm. I'm not sure how or where that is measured.

They wrote up the noise coming from the engine as a rattling noise.

I never was 100% sure what the noise was. The closest it sounded like to me was a knocking/preignition noise, but the rythm of it was odd compared to what I am use to working on old British cars and the pitch of the sound was a little off as well. My best guess at the time was it was only one cylinder and that's why there was the more uniform rhythm, but maybe it was the timing chain making the noise all along. I also didn't understand why the knock sensor would allow the condition to persist to the point I was hearing it. Hopefully the noise was caused by the timing chain. This would explain some of things I didn't understand like why the knocking noise was allowed to persist even after it was audible. I thought the ECU would have made changes to eliminate a preignition condition before I could hear it happen multiple times.

 

I assume that they changed the guide rails as well? If you actually had slack in the timing chain....these guides would've taken a beating and it would be visible to the techs. Unfortunately, they don't have a "do it while you're there" attitude so probably left the existing rails in.

 

The guide rails, slide rails, and a list of gaskets and bolts show up on the sheet in what I think is the list of components replaced.

I am pleased with what the tech has been doing. I get the impression he has been doing as much as he could and still have Mini cover it under warranty. At times I think there was more he wanted to do but couldn't get it covered.

 

well that sounds good! Hopefully your problem is solved!

 

Have you been able to re-produce since work was done? Did this finally fix it? Mine is going in tomorrow morning