Oh the joy of being the owner of a new model year vehicle. Or like I like to call them, "guinea pigs".

All kidding aside, I hope they fix it promptly and that you get full satisfaction with their solution.

 

The Mini has a virtual dipstick that could be actually wrong with absolutely no way to verify. I just can't believe manufacturer's are saving anything removing this simple feature. I even complained about this in the owner evaluation Mini sent me. Color, clarity and even smell are important features of engine oil in my book, along with correct level. All of those are no longer available to me for the lack of a $2.00 part!

OK OK I'll get off the soapbox!

 

OK. Just talked to my service department again. They say it is the oil filter housing leaking. They have ordered one and hope to have it tomorrow but there is no guarantee. Wasn't there a recall on these before we were able to take delivery?

 

I had a check drivetrain soon light. took it to the dealer this morning and they found a fault 20a503 code, which is turbo coolant pump fault. I was told by my service manager their is a service bulletin by BMW to reprogram the DME due to software problems and not a hardware fault. hope this helps.

 

Yes a car was programmed for that same fault and vehicle has not returned.

 

Well, so I finally got the car back Monday. The dealer couldn't find anything wrong. Engineers gave it a clean bill of health. Leading theory is a "one time computer glitch." Service advisor mentioned the engineers had seen similar issues but they were tied to the battery, which was working properly in mine. Basically shrugs all around.


Happy to have my car back and to no longer be driving their ridiculous loaner vehicle.

 

Got the drivetrain message today (I have an MCS). Promptly taken it for service. Seems like the service guys are ready for it. They said it's a programming error and the have the solution. The positive note is that I got a R56 loaner. I am not a purist, I am moving from VW to MINI so I don't really have a point of comparison until today. I am so happy now for my F56. Everything seems to be better. I didn't care much for the "sporty go kart" feel. I prefer the "refined go-kart" feel of the F56. I don't have any emotional attachment to previous models. I am really satisfied with the F56. To me, it is better than the R56 in all aspects. Yes, that includes the exterior design.

 

JMeril
How many miles on the odometer when the drive-train message appeared?

 

I have 3217 miles. It happened when I started the car.

 

About 130.

 

I had the same error. Live in South Africa. No one knows on the Mini F56 website either.

Really hope that it is actually a software error.

 

Got the car back with their fix. They had to reprogram the computer. They said that is the solution.

 

So if this happens is it ok to drive to dealer for service or should it be towed?
I'm 1 1/2 hours from my dealer.

 

My issue is different than the thread starter. Mine was just an error coming on, no noticeable mechanical issues. It was drivable for me.

 

Same thing just happened yesterday with my F56 MCS. I was on my way to the dealer for a different issue. Two mile from the dealer on the freeway doing 70 and try to pass someone, when I step on the gas that message came up "drivetrain malfunction drive moderately" and I had no acceleration. So I feather it all the way off the freeway and arrive at the dealer. They said they'll let me know in a couple of days. The car had 2100 miles when it happen. Keep my finger crossed, hope nothing serious. My salesman thought I was doing burn out to cause that. :-)

 

I had to exit a gas station last week rather briskly due to traffic and got "Chassis Stabilization Malfunction - Drive Moderately - Contact service center". I cleared it from the screen. It came up again after I took the following right turn. Cleared it once again and it hasn't appeared again in over a week. I don't think he car liked having to take a hard right with acceleration on the high angled sidewalk ramp at that location.

 

I had the transmission warning come up on our screen, but O.K to drive, contact service dept. They reprogrammed the cars computer. This happened at 3200KM. We love the car

 

The "Chassis Stabilization Malfunction" has reared it's ugly head once again. This from reversing gently and now the engine functions icon is on. The car seems to drive fine which is a good thing since the dealer gave me an appointment nine days from now.


P.S. This is not the NH dealer.

 

I just got the drivetrain malfunction message this morning on my way to work. My MINI has 350 miles. I am taking it in to the dealer during lunch.

 

please post here:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ty-thread.html

 

Also just got this error message afternoon. I recall feeling a slight sluggishness with the engine and the belief that it would stall just as I started the car. It did not, but it has stalled on 3 previous occasions for me. Once while at a stop sign and two other times while starting the car and quickly putting it into reverse. Car is automatic and has about 2300 miles on it. Taking to the dealer Friday morning.... Anyone else have a stalling issue accompanied by the drivetrain malfunction message?

 

Make that 4 stalls! Completely stalled out this morning while rolling in traffic at about 5 mph

 

I just got mine three days ago and stalled once so far when I was rolling slowly towards the stop sign (Car had only about 80 miles!!). The auto stop/start function was off and the only way to fire up the car again is to put into Park then press the ignition button.
I haven't received any drivetrain malfunction message yet........

 

Make that 5 stalls. I was able to reproduce the stalling issue when starting the engine cold, dropping it into reverse, and rolling backwards without applying the brake.

Anyway, I'm at the dealership now and they are telling me the same... "we need to recalibrate the computer". I guess we can start here and see if it fixes my stalling out issues. My gut says no, but I'm not a car guy so maybe it will. Will post the details...

 

Today I got the "drivetrain malfunction" message. Have around 400 miles on the car, was going down the highway around 50mph when it flashed. Not sure if there was any loss of power. As I was looking around the dash trying to figure out what was going on, I noticed that the song display reset--instead of showing the artist and song title it went back to showing the name of my iPhone as the USB connection.

The alert went away after a couple seconds and everything was normal for the rest of the ride.