I've been wondering since I got my MINI how it would do in a wicked rainstorm,
driving along Farrington Hwy with standing water. I got a chance to find out today.
There was so much standing water on the H1 and Farrington that I think I was submerged by passing SUVs and 18 wheelers. I switched on the DSC and that little yellow submarine hit the puddles (ok, small lakes) with the BIG DAWGS! What a wild ride home!



MINIBZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

Wait. DSC automatically goes on when you start your car. If you flipped the toggle and the caution light came on in the speedo cluster, you turned off your DSC. If you are driving with the DSC active, and your tires start to slip, the caution light will flicker. What this does is the DSC is activating and is applying braking to the slipping tire.

 

>>Wait. DSC automatically goes on when you start your car. If you flipped the toggle and the caution light came on in the speedo cluster, you turned off your DSC. If you are driving with the DSC active, and your tires start to slip, the caution light will flicker. What this does is the DSC is activating and is applying braking to the slipping tire.

Hmmm, that's not what the dealership folks told me. I was told at Mini of Hawaii that you can drive with the DSC on all the time if you want, but you really shouldn't.
I guess I'll check the owner's manual.



MINIBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

>>>>Wait. DSC automatically goes on when you start your car. If you flipped the toggle and the caution light came on in the speedo cluster, you turned off your DSC. If you are driving with the DSC active, and your tires start to slip, the caution light will flicker. What this does is the DSC is activating and is applying braking to the slipping tire.
>>
>>Hmmm, that's not what the dealership folks told me. I was told at Mini of Hawaii that you can drive with the DSC on all the time if you want, but you really shouldn't.
>>I guess I'll check the owner's manual.
>>
>>
>>
>>MINIBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Well, I'll be hornswoggled! My owner's manual says EXACTLY what The Beastmaster said. I wonder if I have the strength to interface with MINI of Hawaii one more time on an unpleasant issue....

MINIBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

"MINI of Hawaii" and "unpleasant issue" in the same sentence? Not a good sign!!

 

Generally I leave my DSC on all the time and when I need to drive on the track I'll manually switch it off.
Others prefer to have it off most of the time. I don't seem to have any trouble using it for daily driving and I prefer having the safety feature on especially for wet weather driving.

The manual is a good thing to read when you have the time. At the time of delivery there are so many points covered that it is easy to get information overload. An average person could retain maybe a fraction of all that is discussed.

 

>>The manual is a good thing to read when you have the time. At the time of delivery there are so many points covered that it is easy to get information overload. An average person could retain maybe a fraction of all that is discussed.

Key words "when you have the time" I guess after having Acuras for 17 yrs, I already knew the cars well enough to not need to read the owner's manual cover to cover. I am sure what MINI of Hawaii told me. It's a long story...

MINIBZZZZZZZZ

 

I am surprised at how many people don't bother to learn about the car before they buy it. There is so much information to be found at the Mini USA website and other sites such as this one, you can even download the owners manual, I know I did when ordering my car, during the long wait for delivery what else is there to do?

retroom

 

read the book

 

I'm glad you posted here and we got that cleared up. If not, it could have been a VERY DANGEROUS situation for you. I mean if you expected technology to look after your safety and it was turned off, you could have gotten into an accident.

As for myself, I used to turn off the DSC because I hated the way it cut power in wheelspin situations. I would nail the throttle to merge into traffic and the engine cuts power! To avoid this, I just shut off the DSC. I used to do this on my MCS and still do it on my 540i. Wheelspin is fun when you know how to handle the car!

 

i think you should have the strength to "interface." :smile: you could've been in big trouble, as the beast and others have said.

also, be wary of driving through big puddles and lakes of water. the poor design of the MINI intake can cause water to get sucked into the engine which is really bad news! my friend drove a company MINI through a huge lake in mapunapuna and it blew the engine. i think there's a thread on water and the MINI someplace on NAM.

good luck and drive safely!

>>
>>Well, I'll be hornswoggled! My owner's manual says EXACTLY what The Beastmaster said. I wonder if I have the strength to interface with MINI of Hawaii one more time on an unpleasant issue....
>>
>>MINIBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
>>
>>
>>
>>


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>>also, be wary of driving through big puddles and lakes of water. the poor design of the MINI intake can cause water to get sucked into the engine which is really bad news! my friend drove a company MINI through a huge lake in mapunapuna and it blew the engine. i think there's a thread on water and the MINI someplace on NAM.

I would not necessarily call the intake design poor but it is true that one must be careful not to allow water into the intake. The MINI sits pretty low. Avoid driving through standing water greater than about 18 to 20 inches deep.

Threads of the past on-
Driving in the rain
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...mp;topic=19105
and what can happen if water gets in your engine!
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...mp;topic=15692


Poor Ron U. in his flooded auto parts store at Mapunapuna in Dec 03.
Just outside his store lurks the huge and deep Hawaiian loch ness puddle.

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>>I am surprised at how many people don't bother to learn about the car before they buy it. There is so much information to be found at the Mini USA website and other sites such as this one, you can even download the owners manual, I know I did when ordering my car, during the long wait for delivery what else is there to do?
>>
>>retroom

What else is there to do? You wanna a list? Work, live, other stuff. I didn't have to wait for my MINI, it was there waiting for me

MINIBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

>>read the book

Well, ya know, The Beastmaster already suggested that to me and in much
more polite manner. But thanks for the reinforcement....

MINIBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

>>I'm glad you posted here and we got that cleared up. If not, it could have been a VERY DANGEROUS situation for you. I mean if you expected technology to look after your safety and it was turned off, you could have gotten into an accident.

I am glad too! Thank you for taking the time to explain something which is very important and I didn't understand.

:smile:

MINIBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

L,

Yikes - just read this thread. It's going to be another stormy day so if you have to drive down that road again, drive safely!

D

 

minibzzz, sorry didn't mean to be snippy- I'm just amazed by the questions asked on line about basic operations of our MINIs, that are covered clearly in the owners manual.
now after a year of ownership i question most everything that MINI of HI says about my car and why they can't duplicate the problem or fix it.

 

From the 2004 Tail of the Dragon Gallery we have the "real Yellow submarine MINI"



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