Hey guys my MINI's been acting up lately. I'm sure there's threads on all of this, but since noises are hard to search and the other problems are intermittent... I thought it was best to just combine them in one thread.

Problem 1: stalling on start up. The car did this once every few week or so during start up for a few months, but it hasn't done it in a while. The car would fire, the RPM would stabilized and then immediately stutter and stall. Start it up again and it was fun.

Problem 2: stalling and restarting while stropping. This happened twice yesterday morning and once a few weeks ago. When I am just about stopped the car dies: tach goes to zero, radio turns off, lights, AC and as soon as it registers in my mind that the car has turned off, it starts back up on its own. The engine itself doesn't die, just all the other stuff.

Problem 3: when I first start moderate/hard acceleration, for just a second there is a metallic sound from the engine bay. It sounds sort of like coins or keys jingling.

Problem 4: not sure if this is a problem, but my car sort of sounds like a sport bike when I first start it up. It has sort of a breathy, high pitched sound to it beyond the supercharger, and as the car warms up it goes away.

All of this has started fairly recently. The car has 65,000 miles on it, accessory belt, oil and spark plugs were replaced about 6,000 miles ago. Only modification is a 15% reduction pully with the smaller belt and JCW spark plugs.

Thanks

 

A lot of odd stiff happens on a mini as the battery gets ready to die...the almost stall/fans off thing might be a dieing battery.
Clunk most likely from a bad engine mount....
The metalic startup sound might be the sc gears making a bit of noise as the remaing lube gets splashed around...just a couple of wags.

 

+1

 

Battery is about a year and a half old, engine mount is two years old and I haven't had those symptoms.

Do you need to change the super charger fluid frequently?

 

Batteries fail from time to time. Even brand new ones fail.

 

I really don't think it is the battery since the problems have been going on for a few months now. And it should have died already if it was having problems.

 

If you are sure the battery is good, then check that the ground wire (by the engine motor mount) is well connected, the bcm and engine computer plugs/connections are are on firmly,corrosion free, and clean...still, i would double check the battery terminals....make sure they are clean and tight.
Before thinking the sc is junk, tty to isiolate the sound...could be a dry bearing on a serpitine belt pulley/tensioner....
with any troubleshooting, rule out the simple, cheap and easy stuff first.
mini considers the SC to be sealed, and filled for life. But the seals can fail, and even a tiny leak can cause it to run low, and grind the waterpump gears. Not sure that is your issue, but some cars have the issue...some go 100,000+ miles....no ryme or reason which ones fail.
listen to ensure it does not worsen....could be something else, but if the gears in the sc run dry, it can get kinda $$ gor a rebuilt one, plus labour....some folks upt to get the sc serviced...folks that catch it early can save the sc, but if the seals are leaky,it will happen again, so imo, a rebuild would be a good idea if the oil is found low, or contaminated...simply too much work not too.

 

PS
New parts fail....old parts fail...don't rule something out just cause it is newer than the car...
Still look at the mount...symptom matches...that or a item bouncing around in the trunk!!
A thunk /clank on acceleration seems to mtch you description...
a squeel on startups might be a stretched belt/missalighned belt....it is a sound that you know it when you hear it sound....
Good luck, hope you get it a squared away!!

 

I am re-reading my first post to try and see where you people are getting "clunk" and "squeal" and for the life of me, I cannot figure out how you took my descriptions and navigated to those sounds. It is not a clunk, it is a tinny, metallic sound that only lasts for about a second. I've had the mount fail, I know what it sounds like-- this isn't a failed mount. If your keys jangling sounds like a "clunk" then what do you have on your key chain? It is also not a squeal, it's a breathy, airy, whiney sound on start up. I've been around the block, I know what a bad belt sounds like, and "a cat being run over by a tractor" would be a sound description I would go to first before breathy sound.

Also, no one said anything about the supercharger being junk. One guy said I should maybe change the fluid, I was inquiring about how frequently that should be done. As for the battery, I am just trying to trouble shoot here. If it was in fact the battery, wouldn't it have died by now?

On top of it all, my window regulator failed today. This is way too much in way too little time to go wrong with a car, I'm getting pretty frustrated.

 

Have you tried whacking it to get it working again? On a side note, if it helps alleviate your frustration, replacing your window regulator is pretty straightforward: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

 

It's not all the way failed, the window just hesitated up. Whacking it did help on the driver's side a few months ago

I think my sound problems may be a vacuum or exhaust leak.

 

If the sound is present while the car is idling and the hood is open you can use a length of hose with one end in your ear and the other end moved around the engine compartment to help isolate the source of the noise. Sounds rather crude but it works quite well.

Also, a quick trip to your local auto parts store that has the ability to test your battery will rule out the battery as the culprit. If you do not drive your car much or drive it a lot for short distances then the battery can become low on charge, even if it is new.