The other night, wifey took the car out for a drive. It was about 30 F. She warmed the car up for a minute or so, before taking it out. 10 minutes into the drive, with the car nicely warmed up, we had to stop for a light. When it turned green, the engine kicked in ok, but about a 100 feet on, in the middle of acceleration, the engine sort of died (it was running a bit jerkily) and there was no power to the wheels. Absolutely no warning lights on the dash/speedo. I told my wife to take her foot of the gas pedal and then put the hazards on. Luckily there was no traffic behind us. After coasting for about 50 feet or so, the engine caught on again and was purring along.

I suspect that it was the cold and the fact that we were idling at the light, making the A/F mixture a bit too rich, causing the engine to stumble. No problems after that one episode. Am I correct in my daignosis?

 

What are you running for gas(Brand and octane)? could have just had some cold high octane sitting in the lines just before then engine, start moving and have that cold gas not ignite.
Also could be a BPV issue, not sure and not likely without warning lights and limp mode all the way home.

 

We always fill it up with Shell 93 Octane V-Power gas. Always from the same gas station.

 

Well 93 is good for the engine but might want to switch to a 91 when it gets real cold just cause it burns a little easier (sipmly fewer chemical bonds to break) but Shell is Top Tier gas so no worries running it, I'd say probably isolated incident, but might want to give your SA a call or have take a look at the car next time your in for regular service, then if it is a larger problem (after warranty period) you have a record of the issue and MINI will pay to fix the issue. My other guess would have been dirty injectors but using Top Tier gas pretty much prevents that and the car seems to new to have bad spark plugs or dirty injectors.

 

Thanks......I have to schedule an appointment, bumps in the seat and this jerky engine issue, fluids that need topping off...I am pretty sure that this is an isolated incident too, since we have only 3500 miles on the odo, and mostly moderate driving at that, to have dirty injectors (unless ofcourse our baby was delivered dirty!!!)


Now I know how parents feels when their kids fall sick!!!!!

 

jerky engine issue? is the same as rough Idle?

 

My baby has developed the same condition