Hi everyone,

I'm new to the community. I just bought my first Mini 2010 R56, I did not buy it from a Mini dealer. It has 43000 miles on it. I'm still getting to know the car just wanted to know if it is normal for the car to idol a little rough for the first 30 seconds it starts? when you watch the tach the needle jumps it smooths always within 30 seconds. doesn't seem to be a big deal I have a appointment for it at Mini in a couple of weeks to clear the low beam malfunction indicator on the tach I'll have them check that also. Can anyone tell me what mileage I need a tuneup at and what it entails? Thanks

 

My rough idle (2007 S 70K miles) got worse and worse when it got cold. Finally, it wouldn't start at all cold unless I stayed on the gas. I swore up and down to the dealer that the mechanical fuel pump was going bad (very common problem and under warranty for pump) but they insisted that the coolant temp sensor was faulty, even though it wasn't throwing a CEL. They changed it, and it runs great now when cold. This could be your issue.

 

do you think that would happen with a Florida car?

 

Could. A faulty coolant temp sensor stuck on "hot" tells the ECU the car is always at operating temp, so on cold starts (even when the temp is 80 degrees outside) the ECU is telling the car to fuel at operating temp (180 degrees) causing the car to be really, really lean until it warms up, which could be as little as 45 seconds to a few minutes.

 

Ok that makes sense. Wold it through a check engine light? I was also thinking MFA Sensor. Are the spark plugs good for hundred thousand miles? Thanks for your help.

 

Mine did not throw a CEL. The reason why is normally the CEL is triggered when the temp sensor either stops sending signal altogether, or sends signal completely out of the normal realm of resistance. In this case, the sensor was just reading that the car was at operating temp all the time, and when any shop hooks up to a real-time scanner with the car running and cold, they are able to see that value and immediately know the sensor is not functioning correctly.

 

I have learned a lot on this forum today. Thanks again for your reply I will mention it to Mini when I bring it in for it's service appointment in a couple of weeks. Reading in thees forums could save me a lot of money if I know ahead of time whats going on with the car before I get it to Mini service.