i posted in another CAI thread and noone answered and it did freak me out to the point where i am a little concerned about it. i have a 2003 R50 CVT.

earlier today i removed my stock air box and installed the AFE cold air intake kit. installation went very smooth and quickly. all was good to go...

with my bonnet open i got in my MINI and fired it up- again perfect i sat there for a moment listening for anything odd and watching my tach, got out looked at engine and started listening for leaks. PERFECT... GOOD AS GOLD!

with the bonnet still open and the engine still purring like a kitten i got back in my drivers seat. now i wanted to give some gas and listen to my new CAI and see how the response felt. i hit the gas pedal... NO RESPONSE from the throttle! car is still idling perfectly. wow, odd. i shut off the engine and try it again. starts perfect idles perfect. floor the gas pedal and NO RESPONSE!

totally nutso at this point i turn of the engine- get out- close bonnet and get back in. turn the key and it starts perfect again. try to punch the gas and nada. NOW i put the MINI in reverse and it reverses as normal so i give it a bit of gas- NOW i feel it the throttle is finally responding? i put the MINI in D and move forward and give gas again NOW it works fine. i put it in park and floor it and NOW it roars perfectly!?!?!

so i get out go wash up and get in my MINI to test drives and it performs perfectly. i run some errands for about an hour and things are back to normal but, i am still freaked by the whole incident. trying to figure out what happened. i'd hate to have it happen again ad lose throttle at a crucial moment.

i'm still very new to my MINI but, have done numerous CAI installs in my other car (1990 Bronco) and never witnessed this. any ideas? did i need to put the car in gear to engage some "learning feature" since the engine was getting much more air with the CAI and the bonnet open? is there some type of safety feature that doesnt allow hard acceleration of the engine with the bonnet open (would be very odd). is it a CVT thing? it all seems odd to me since it wouldn't be getting that much air standing still in my driveway.

anyhow. anyone who could shed some light here would be greatly appreciated if for nothin more than peace of mind.

and FWIW the afe really seemed to smooth out my throttle response when i got it going again. sounds really nice too. we'll see how it does with MPG in time.

 

I would just make sure the throttle body connector is plugged in all the way, that's the only thing I can think you would touch while doing a CAI install. Otherwise it's some crazy Gremlin in there.

 

all connections are good.

 

dont worry about it...

 

Double check the connection at the throttle body. This is exactly what would happen if it got disconnected or damaged.

 

dumb question but, are you talking about the hose that connects the throttle body to the air intake? seems fine. but maybe i'm looking in the wrong area.

 

I haven't looked that close, but I assume the MINI has an electronic throttle body. If so, sounds like they're talking about an electrical connection to the TB.

 

for the CVT, i remember someone telling me that on park or neutral you cant rev it up...

 

Yep.....there is a mutipin connector at the throttle body.

Make sure that this it connected correctly and that the wires weren't damaged.

 

4k in Park
2k in neutral

 

all connections are fine have triple checked. i can normally rev in park and i can now. now everything seems fine. except my window motor just went :(. just took it out for another spin.

it was weird almost as if disconnecting the factory box reset something and putting it in gear started it again.

never expected to have a single issue installing a CAI. my luck...

anymore theories are welcome.

 

ohhh... thx

 

yeah that happens to me for a day after i wash my car. next day it works again, i guess water gets in there somehow, pretty common for them to go

 

just to report in. all is fine. took my MINI to minicorsa to get the window fixed and danny checked it said all was fine with the install etc. he theorized it was probably some type of vaccum issue after the stock box was removed. so if it happens to anyone else- don't panic! put it in gear and back up or move forward a little.

 

I'm installing the AFE cai this Saturday, so I'm glad I saw the post and that it all turned out fine!

 

It could have been a bad connection of the maf sensor.
That's the connection on the throttle body.
If you disconnect that, nothing happens.
This sensor regulates the amount of air being sucked into the throttle body. It doesn't have anything to do with the fact whether the air filter tube is put properly on the throttle body or not. Even if you don't put a filter on the throttle body, the car will still start and run just fine. It's better of course that you don't do this because small pieces of filth can get sucked in, but even without a filter on it, the car will run perfectly normal.

If you really want to be sure, go to your dealer and ask them if they can hook your car up to their computer to see whether there are any error codes being detected. This shouldn't cost you anything (only takes 5 min.). There aren't that many reasons why your car was acting weird. Not many things can go wrong while installing an intake.

 

thanks. already had codes read and no errors. also i'm going to buy a code reader here soon. good investment.

 

The MINI uses a drive by wire system. It is possible the throttle was moved by hand during the work and may have lost its position in memory. Fret not! to do a throttle relearn, turn the key to the on position (do not start the car) and wait about 10-15 seconds. The throttle will initilize if that was the problem. Also, when all is well, with the KOEO, if you have an assistant slowly press on the pedal while you listen at the throttle you should hear the throttle motor open and close the throttle as the pedal goes all the way down and back up again. This can be used as a sanity check to ensure that all mechanical and electrical components have not been compromised. Hope this helps.

 

really good info!

 

With all the good info from here, I was able to install my AFE CAI with no problems. It went in so easy it worried me, until I started the car and revved it up! The biggest problem is not stepping on the gas just to hear how cool it sounds.

 

yeah this is a pretty nice forum. much better than others i have been to for other things like home audio and speakers etc, my other expensive hobby. not too many flame wars around here. a few but, not too many.

the afe does sound nice doesn't it? as far as performance gains i have noticed better immediate off the line response from a stop light, etc. i don't think it adds any mega HP and i didn't expect it to. maybe a tad.

i did notice however that on my 2003 CVT, so far it looks like it gets about +1 MPG better than the stock or k&n drop in. i'm gauging the MPG by the readout on the tach. i know that's not the most accurate way to gauge MPG but, it is how i judged the other filters and so far the afe reads +1 in the MPG department. so i think using the tach readout for 3 different filters does provide a decent way to compare.

 

I haven't checked the mpg yet, as I'm still over 1/2 tank and I like to wait a little longer to fill up. Then I'll work on the math. It does feel faster off the line, but no real proof other than perception.

 

not sure if you have the CVT but, i do and i would get a little stutter on take off with the factory box (with stock and k&n drop in). now the stutter is gone. other than that probably not much in terms of power, it sounds great especially in SD mode though. i am installing the megan racing exhaust next weekend and that may add a bit more oomph. sure it will add more growl though . then hopefully sometime next month me and the MINI are visiting with Jan over at revolution mini for a tune.

 

I do, it did, and it doesn't any more! I also noticed that the low-speed "shudder" that it had went away after I installed Nology wires and iridium plugs. The only things left on my engine mod list is a catback, probably a Megan, and a Unichip system. Then I'll play with the suspension. None it is needed, but it's all fun.

 

yeah i've been looking at the wires and plugs. those will have to wait a bit though. i bought my MINI second hand and the factory warranty had expired. i have 37K on the odometer and i'm purchasing the extended warranty in a few weeks so i can have some peace of mind as far as the cvt goes.