Here is what fixed it for us....my apologies it has been posted as I did not fully read through the 32 pages.

Ethanol free gas.

Our Mini 2002 MCS is all stock and has around 50k on it. When I mean all stock, it has original fuel filter, fuel pump, spark plugs, coils etc. it developed this issue only 3 years ago when using lower grade gas per recommendation from dealer.

I switched to highest grade ethanol free gas and all has been perfect ever since. It is bit more expensive but we clearly don't drive her much. She starts up on the 1st crank even after months of storage......oh the battery is original too

 

I am having the same issue on my mini, it started doing this recently but always starts right up the second try.

 

I have a 2002 MINI Cooper S

- detroit tuned bypass valve
- alta cold air intake

I recently installed a Imperial MINI Recharger.

Here is my problem:

The car has been sitting for about a month and before I parked it the car never hesitated. Now however everytime I start it first thing it dies. Once I restart it the second the RPM's shoot to almost or at 2k then back to normal. Any ideas???

 

cw40342 -
Mine does this too, however it's been sitting for almost 5 years. I suspect either bad gas, battery going out (even though I have a maintainer on it) or possibly needs a new fuel filter. Leaning towards battery though. The battery isn't old but it has gone flat before. The battery was disconnected and sitting but not on a charger for about 6 months so it was completely discharged while I was working on the engine. The gas in the tank is about 1 year old. I start and then stall within a second or two but on the second crank it fires right up and runs like a champ. I know a lot of weird things can happen on a MINI when the battery starts failing due to all the electronic modules and such. That's where I would start.

 

My battery has never went flat and has always had a maintainer on it. Looking at it though it does have some age according to the sticker on it. I'll go have it checked see what's going on

 

I had a cold start problem, and eventually they diagnosed it to be low pressure oil getting to the engine, which in turn dulled the bearings in engine... MINI said I need a new engine.

 

But seems you have a Prince Engine equipped 2nd Gen MINI. Not applicable to this section / Complaint.

GL with the problem, hope it's resolved.

 

so my issue went away, then i had a 3 cylinder cold start which turned out to be blown head gasket. Fixed that, everything hunky dory, then just a week or so ago the cold start flu came back - intermittently, but back. I plugged in my diagnostic thing and it is showing a P0113 which is intake air temp error. I guess this is a faulty MAP sensor?
From what I know there are 2 on the min - 1 just after the charger and one just before - I'm guessing as the one just before the charger is a PITA to get out it will be that one that's faulty?

 

As a little update: problem has stuck around then i was running low on fuel one day a couple of weeks ago so went to my usual Shell garage to fill up and they were out of Ultimate. So I put in £10 worth of Fuel Saver (Regular) and went on my way planning to fill up with Ultimate the following day. Now - since the first day i took custody of my R53 I have never put anything in it except Ultimate (99RON) and it has run like a dream (until the flu set in of course)
So, Imagine my surprise when the following morning I go to start up and it fires away perfectly.....
Next morning, same thing. I fill up with half a tank of Ultimate, and the following morning....flu's back. After a couple of days of the flu again I decide to try regular fuel and low and behold the flu disappears!!!
I've since filled it up about 3 times with regular Shell Fuel Saver and done some long runs to North Wales and back and it has started perfectly each time.

I'm seriously surprised.....

 

Hi my car has 153000km
Mine did this stalling no throttle reponse b4 I just put foot to floor when starting hit rev limit and ur good to go. Car had ran for 8 hours I shut down for 5 minutes to get coffee and stalling right after starting Was the problem.
u can reset ecu by holding km rest key and turning on key going to unlock off then 21 and reset ecu and ur good its gone !
Or reset your battery by removing cables and draining all power from car.
Drive it like u stole it and it will treat u right !
My car also has oil light when not on throttle
For the last 10000 km but whatever I bought it like that

 

this is mine

 

Mine just started to do the flu, stall at first start in morning only. Today it stayed running but was missing awful for the first 20 seconds. Last fill up was PetroCan 91 (E10) usually I use Shell 91 (gas only). I am going back to Shell.

 

Hi! This is my first post. I just picked up a 2009 MCS with 87,000 miles. On the second day of ownership it developed the cold start problem. Nothing serious, usually started without issues on the second attempt, third at worst. Still, it bugged me. I put new plugs in it. Which it didn't need, but it had NGK's and I prefer Densos from long past experience with them. Plus it allowed me to get rid of those stupid 14 point plugs that exist for no good reason known to man. That had no effect, except the car ran better. I did the CRC valve cleaner thing through the PCV tube, car ran much better especially in the higher RPM range; must be breathing better. I didn't shove a camera into the ports, but I suppose I should have for the non-believers. No effect on the cold start problem. My mechanic buddy who has seen similar problems on other GDI cars suggested I try an MAF cleaner, CRC's to be exact. His theory being that it was the temp sensor in the MAF that was sensing incorrect temp due to crud. Well guess what, it worked. No more cold start problem. Maybe I just got lucky, just thought I'd share.

 

Suggest you ask this question in the Gen2 area as your car is different with the Prince engine while we have Tritecs

 

I have a R57 2010 mini Cooper conv.(manual) and it also happened to me I had my car in my garage for about 3 -4months without driving. I finally took it out for a ride and 30 mins into the ride ride when I exit the freeway my car started stalling on me ....i pulled to the side and waited for 15 mins and tried to started again and it it stayed on ....I drove for another 30 mins and same thing happened. I finally made it home but now I'm scared of driving it, I don't want to be left stranded again in the mountains. I took it to the dealer not long ago and got it checked out (I get this done every other year) and the report they gave me everything came out good just needed an oil change so I dont understand why my car is doing this. By the way I got NO lights turned on ...not even the check engine light NOTHING.....Please help!!!!

 

You should post this in the Gen2 Stock Problems/Issues area. We Gen1s have a different engine and fuel delivery system.

 

My 05 S will start cold and usually run fine but it's after warm and turning off the engine, sometimes when I restart it will crank, rpm's go to 8-900 and then dies. And it won't start again until it's been sitting at least an hour our gets cold. Wierd thing is it doesn't happen all the time and the mech can't replicate the problem. Last time it died I was taking it for tire rotate. It had been running while going home from work. Stopped for short period to change clothes and go to tire store. Dirven and stopped until tech took it into the bay. Driven into the bay to rotate the tires and stopped. Driven out of the bay and parked. I received the keys within 5 min and started it only to have it die in the parking lot. No particular pattern to the problem.

 

 

Yes