Hi All -

Thanks to this wonderful forum, I quickly realized what was going on when my 2010 Clubman started the "death rattle." Got her into the shop quick, confirmed timing chain issue, got everything replaced including the oil filter and oil. They also ran some stuff through the engine to do a carbon clean out.

Finally got the car back after $1400 and 7 days, and the gas was almost empty when I got it back; I immediately went to the nearest station and got it filled up. Due to driving our other car, the car sat for a couple of days over the weekend. Went to start it up about an hour ago, and it stalled repeatedly on start up. After about 5 attempts, it started back up and ran fine. (This was part of what was happening before I got the death rattle - stalls on start up.)

In addition to the stall on start up, I am still noticing what I describe as a "shuddery feeling" on idle; I imagine most would call it a rough idle. This car has always been a bit that way, so I don't know if it's worse now or I am more aware of it after having all this trouble.

I also notice that the insides of my exhaust pipes are absolutely black, which I am imagining is due to the carbon being cleaned out of the engine? I don't know if it's a symptom of that or a symptom of what else is going on with the stalling.

Has anyone had this issue? Does anyone have a solution here? I am taking it to our local MINI (non-dealer) service station, and they have always been great. I am a bit at the end of my rope with the car at the moment (it's been in the shop several times in the last 9 months, which seems ridiculous for a 4 year old car), and would like to give it one more try before I trade it in for something else. (I'm considering a 2015 Countryman, so if anyone knows if that is prone to similar issues, I'd be grateful to know.)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am a MINI girl through and through and hate to be this frustrated with a car I really (generally) love.

Thanks!

 

This sounds like the high pressure fuel
Pump. There is a ten year (?) warranty on this item. It is common issue on NAM.

The dealer will fix for free.

 

Really?? That is great! Unfortunately, our dealer here is terrible, always blaming the customer for whatever is going on with the car, so I'll have a fight on my hands.

I think I saw someone talking about this in another thread...so I should be able to pull some info to give to the dealer. Fingers crossed, this works!

Thanks very much!

 

Would this also explain white smoke coming out of the tailpipes??? I am at the end of my rope with this! I just looked back and saw tons of white smoke coming out...

 

if the smoke is really white, the engine could be burning coolant from a leaking head gasket into the combustion chambers. check your coolant level and take it back to the garage

 

So i am curious to know what happened with your issues. I am new to mini and this forum but i do know that a common p roduct used by garages to clean engine carbon is a product called seafoam. It is an over the counter spray can that you spray in your throttle body and whatnot. Anyway,this product causes white smoke out exhaust, rough idle, no starts and some bogging at first. It burns through and goes away after a few start ups and runnings. Just some info that might help. Hope your mini is doing better. Let us know what happened so some of us newbies can know what to look out for and how to fix.