I find it interesting that this issue was very quiet for 5 months and now reappears. Our 19 month old CM w/17000 miles has started to exhibit this issue, 2x in the last 9 days. Message shows upon AM startup on Nav screen, runs OK and does not reappear at PM startup. Dealer in the loop and he advises to continue to operate for now. 2 hrs away, I might just drop in when the message displays so the "proof" is there. Might also need to pull some plugs
Mike

 

So yesterday I heard from a Mini service agent about the potential causes of my reduced engine power. He told me that it could either be the fuel sensor or high pressure fuel pump, and they were doing more to understand the problems. He asked how much fuel the fuel gauge was reading, and when I told him 4 bars he said that it was off. My concern was that they were going to try to find a single source of the engine power problem and only fix that. I was also worried that these would result in a long visit at the dealership from other posts.

He also told me that he was replacing the oil pump cylinoid valve and wiring harness as there was a leak and it got onto the wires, so they were replacing both.

Today they called to give me an update. They have my car finished and replaced the cylimoid valve and wiring harness and both the fuel sensor and high pressure fuel pump. I was relieved by this, however...

He also told me that he replaced the DME. I asked him what that was, and he told me that it was the computer that runs half of the car. First, can anyone provide a little more clarity on what the DME is? Also, has anyone else had it replaced, and is it connected with the reduced power error? I looked it up myself, but wasn't able to find much information on it.

This sounds like a pretty significant fix -- especially since I was just in for regular maintenance a month or so ago and none of these problems presented themselves. I am on the path of being pretty concerned, any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

What year and mileage is your car?

Usually the DME is updated/reprogrammed, not replaced. Could your dealer have meant updated? If the dealer tried to update the DME, and it would not take the update, they might have cause to replace it. More info on DME:

"Digital Motor Electronics (DME).
The comprehensive management system for your engine: Digital Motor Electronics (DME) controls all key aspects of the engine's operation, ensuring optimum reliability, maximum performance and the lowest possible fuel consumption and emissions.

By managing key engine functions, Digital Motor Electronics (DME) guarantees optimum reliability, maximum performance and the lowest possible fuel consumption and emissions. Its sensors continually all factors affecting the operation of the engine. The data is then evaluated by a microprocessor and translated into commands for the fuel injection and ignition systems.
The DME system receives up to 1,000 separate items of data input per second, including engine speed, air intake volume, air temperature and density, coolant temperature, throttle position, accelerator position and vehicle speed.
DME verifies all incoming data by comparing it with the reaction of the rest of the system. If a defective sensor delivers unrealistic data, DME replaces this with preset standard values. If a spark plug fails, DME immediately cuts fuel flow to this cylinder in order to prevent engine damage.
DME looks after the electrical power system too, with sensors measuring the charge and condition of the battery as well as current electrical power consumption. By maintaining optimum battery charge levels and thus avoiding flat batteries, it prevents damage to the battery and guarantees maximum battery life, thereby helping to ensure the engine always starts readily.
BMW introduced the world's first Digital Motor Electronics system in the BMW 732i in 1979."

 

Like any electronic part, DME's occasionally fail. While the part is VERY expensive, the physical replacement of it is easy...just unlug the old one from the connectors, and plug in the new one. It also must be programmed. One of my R53 friends had to replace his...list price at the dealer was $1300. Engine computers like this are not at all unique to BMW/Mini products

 

Does anyone have the actual fault/scan codes that are triggering the CEL?

its hard to hear about the dealers excuses of 'special' or bad spark plugs in so many cases here.
The N/A motor uses OEM p/n 12 12 2 158 165 which is a BERU 12ZR6SP02

the Turbo eng uses OEM p/n 12 12 2 163 332 which is BERU 12ZR6SPP1

Although the Beru 'may' not be readily available, but most every engine manufactured has multiple brand/type choices for plugs.

the N18B16A Eng. can also use a NGK Iridium, that is used in the 07-11 S models (N14B16A Eng.; N14B16C Eng.)
this is p/n ILZKBR7A8G

Not sure why BMW had Beru make a plug, one that has a multi point socket fitment no less. Beru is an OEM supplier & quality manufacturer of Ignition coils/wires, etc. Not plugs! very wierd.

 

On Thursday 7/12 we left PHX in our new Countrymen S we purchased at Mini of Tempe, for a summer trip to San Francisco. The car just hit 1400 miles when we had trouble about 30 miles east of Tucson. The cars power shut down leaving us stranded in the desert. After three attempts and 2 hours later we finally limped our way to your service dept in San Diego. Thank God we were stranded in desert at 5:45 am and it was not hot out. also glad we were able to get a cell signal in the desert. Mini of San Diego gave us a loaner car.

I was told that there is a lot of problems with thermostat and they changed it out! Make sure u check with your dealerships be cause I thought it was a recall on this. We got on our way and car had no more problems except the constant electrical smell.

We returned from our trip on Monday I took car to Tempe mini for a inspection to look over the entire car. Checked in yesterday and it checked out fine. Drove it in to work today about 22 miles from house and car died again with engine indicator coming on indicating loss power. Had to be towed to them!

I found this forum and can't believe. I have had over "60" cars in my life time and never had issues like this on a new car. It is very dangerous. Let's say I was elderly and was trapped in desert with no cell coverage and could not get a hold of anyone. We have elderly people die in the desert all the time!

If there are truly this many problems with this car out there then what is Mini doing about it????

I am in the mind set to tell them to keep the damn car and not pick it up.

Well thanks for letting me vent
*
Should checked this info out b4 I purchased!

 

Ok dealer called me today to tell me they found out fuel sending unit was bad and had one sent over night. They are going to drive car next few days to make sure.

now after reading this entire post I have documented 4 items that seem to go wrong on the CM. 1) Thermostat, 2) valve tronics, 3) spark plugs wet needing replacing, and 4) fuel sending units.

So that being said I have now had two of the four replaced (thermostat and fuel sending unti). I can't waite for the spark plugs and the valve tronics.

Time will tell I guess, with less then 3100k miles on my 2012 CM-S

 

I can't be as incensed as the rest of you all as I bought my CM used with 19k miles on it in December but in the last 2 weeks it's been in the shop three times. I got the Engine Malfunction light on Sunday on my way home from a weekend away. Luckily the car drove fine with the light on but it's still a little disconcerting driving with a light that basically says there is something NOT insignificantly wrong with your car.

Two weekends ago the car wouldn't start after a visit to my mothers house. I called to get it towed to Mini Alexandria and took one of my moms cars. Of course when the tow driver got there, after discovering that my tow hook was not where it should have been, the car started. My mother, who is so very wise, told them to tow it in anyway. According to Mini the thermostat needed to be replaced. While the car was there I asked them to check on the underperforming AC. The rep said that the thermostat change should fix that. We take the car home.

The next day my wife calls me from the road and says that the AC is only blowing out hot air. Now the AC was underperforming previously but still performing, now it was broken. I told her to drive it straight to MINI. Conviniently enought we hadn't yet returned my moms car. I was called by the rep the next day, she said something about a flush and refill and that the AC was blowing out at 40 degrees. However, after being in their loaner Clubman yesterday, I feel like my AC is still underperforming.

My wife loves this car, she gets her 'SUV' and good mpg and it's fully loaded and it's pretty good looking. But after reading these posts and with the issues I've had thus far this summer, she might have to go.

I should be getting a call from the dealership in the next few hours or so, doesn't much matter what she's says to me, at this point she can't underplay the issue. I'll drive it home when it's fixed but if it has to go back to the shop for anything other than a wash before this summer is over, I'll have to cut my losses.

 

Sounds like the dealer is trying to blow you off with the A/C issue (no pun intended). The thermo issue would not effect how well your A/C is working. If your A/C is really blowing 40 degrees that's terrific performance (easy to check with a thermometer), but if at times it's hot air, there's something amiss. Do you have manual or auto A/C?

 

It's automatic. Let me be clear, currently I don't necessarily have an issue with the AC temp, but I do believe there is an underlying problem there. The AC temp in the loaner just reaffirmed my belief. If indeed the thermo issue would have no bearing whatsoever on the performance of my AC, then she was blowing me off and that bothers me considering the next day the AC stopped working completely.

I broke my own rule re buying a first production run vehicle, new or otherwise. I am getting what I deserve.

 

I had low pressure fuel pump, thermostat, and injectors replaced at about 5k. It took two dealers to fix all of the above. First out of town dealer just did the pump. My dealer did the thermostat and injectors. The theory on the injectors was they got messed up with all the excessive cranking when it would not start.

Oh and now at 15k it's getting the nav and right door speaker replaced! Stay tuned for my story on that. I still haven't got it back yet.

I never had this many issues in the whole 10 years with my other mini.......van - a 1999 Toyota Sienna and it was also the second year of a new model.

 

Add mine to the list of limp home cars.

Turned out to be a bad spark plug. By "bad" the definition is that the ceramic insulator that is at the base of the plug and surrounds the pencil thin center electrode came loose. Wow.

I've not seen a spark plug like the one used in the Mini before.

However, the dealer had seen this problem before. All 4 were replaced. Had the ceramic come off the plug ,it could have lodged in the exhaust valve, or depending on size of the broken parts, downstream in the turbo exhaust fins. Could have been a bad day.

Pay attention when the half-engine icon lights up.

Robert Patton

 

When this message pops up it could be a number of issues. For me, with less 500 miles, it was a faulty fuel pump. Yep, car died while I was driving and roadside towed it to the dealer. They had to replace the fuel pump.



Anyway, the next thing was the A/C stopped working during heavy rain storm. I was hot and of course the windows fogged up. I don't remember these issues with my old 2006 Cooper S.

 

Was the A/C problem a one time thing, or is it still not working?

 

I don't know about you guys but my cm overheated and the dealer said it was fixed, then two days later it happen again. This time they dug deeper and found the headers worp and the cylinder walls scorched. They brought an engineer over to check out the problem and he said the engine need to be replaced. So I'm waiting for it to shipped here to the US. I hope I didn't get a lemon. It's my second mini and I really like the car. Does anyone know of other cm owners getting engines replaced.

 

There is a guy on the MINI CM Facebook page that had to get a new engine.

 

2012 Mini Cooper S 6-Speed. Received the "Engine Malfunction-Reduced Power" notification yesterday. My car only has 9400 miles on it! The dealership had a loaner thank-god, but seeing the thread above freaks me out a bit! I only use premium fuel, and only use either BP or Shell. The dealer asked if I had just put fuel in it, which I had about four days prior. Guess we will see what happens. A couple of things that are worrying me is 1. I had a Borla exhaust system put on the car, and 2. I had a larger hood scoop installed for better cooling and to avoid the stock scoop from melting. Does anyone think either one of these things is causing the EML to come on?

 

They replaced the engine and so far so good. They had no choice because the problem would have continued and the dealership is located near the headquarters for BMW and they made the call about replacing the thing. New engine but the warranty stays the same. Keep me posted on how you make out.

 

I have a 2012 Mini S R56 with 9000 miles. A warning came up last week "Engine Malfunction/Reduced Power/ok to drive, schedule maintenance ASAP". Took it to the Mini dealership, and they replaced the Temp. And boost sensor, charged battery,and replaced pressure sensor. Turned it on again today (at the dealership) and same message came on. Now its back in? What the heck is going on? Here is the write up at the bottom of the first work sheet:
"9533 Faulty intake/pressure temperature sensor. SES light not on when bringing into workshop. Performed veh. Test. Battery displayed at 12.1 V. Connected to battery charger. found fault stored for air intake temp. Too high on cold start up. Performed test on air intake temp. Sensor. Observed measuring values within test module while vehicle idling. Found all temp. Values to be plausible". Replaced air intake temperature sensor. Cleared fault memory, test drove vehical for two complete drive cycles. Fault did not return and vehicle did not exhibit any irregular behavior."

 

The reason your DME (digital motor electronics) had to be replaced, is related to the same reason they replaced your oil pump control solenoid. What is happening, there is oil somehow getting through the rubber seal and into the wiring section of the harness. The oil pressure then continues to push the oil all the way from the bottom of the oil pump solenoid, up through the connector to the engine wiring harness, then in some cases (like your vehicle for example), the oil travels all the way through the harness along the wiring, and into the DME. The accumulated oil in the pins and connector of the DME then causes odd things to happen, weird lights come on a random times, cold start issues, driveability issues, all kinds of things. Hope this helped a little. Please guys, bare with us as technicians and service advisors, I know its annoying lol but we have to jump through hoops just to get certain repairs approved by our engineers. It sucks.

 

Unfortunatley it seems as though your dealership has not figured out this issue. I know exactly what it is. I know it sounds crazy, and far-fetched, but it is actually the map thermostat that is causing this issue. I wont get too into details, but basically the sensor is fine, it IS the thermostat that is causing that fault code to appear. When your check engine light comes back on, and yes i said WHEN, not IF, let your dealer know that they need to look into the thermostat lol. they are going to look at you crazy, but it will fix your car.

 

edit: sorry re-post lol. good luck with your issues guys, feel free to email me if you have any questions.

 

Unfortunatley it seems as though your dealership has not figured out this issue. I know exactly what it is. I know it sounds crazy, and far-fetched, but it is actually the map thermostat that is causing this issue. I wont get too into details, but basically the sensor is fine, it IS the thermostat that is causing that fault code to appear. When your check engine light comes back on, and yes i said WHEN, not IF, let your dealer know that they need to look into the thermostat lol. they are going to look at you crazy, but it will fix your car.

 

Just wondering, is the MAP thermostat a device that controls intake air temperature? Or are you talking about the engine coolant thermostat? Thanks.

 

The thermostat only measures and helps control coolant tempature. But it sends those readings to the DME , where the DME compares the thermostats measured temp, to a set value (what the computer thinks the temp SHOULD BE). And the dme also compares other various engine inputs from other sensors, and for some reason the bad thermostat is causing the check engine light to pop up as a "boost pressure/ tempature sensor plausibility" fault. Originially i had replaced the sensor too... Until i had a car return. I had a MINI technical engineer look at the car and after a couple hours of diagnosis, we finally came to the thermostat conclusion. These cars are just like the BMW's, very sensitive and complicated lol.