...and my dealer says they cannot take a look at my car until October 4. Should I be worried?

The car still runs. The only thing I can detect is the engine may sound a bit rougher than before, whatever that means...

 

same history for me



R56 Sucks


Overheating problems..

2 weeks later my car is in my home..

 

Tell the dealer that Oct 4 is just fine, as long as they provide a free loaner, as you will not drive the car displaying a CEL.

 

if they are not providing a loner use another MINI dealer if possible.

 

You have an MC, right? The CEL is common with them if they haven't had the computer update. I drove one with the CEL before the update was available and the dealer said don't worry about it unless it's not running.

BTW, there are lots of threads on this...

 

My understanding is that as long as the CEL isn't blinking, you're not hurting anything.

Even if it's some kind of malfunction, you are maybe just failing emissions standards or something, but it won't hurt your engine.

I drove mine with the CEL popping on and off for 2 months while the dealer waited for the software upgrade to stop it.

I wouldn't lose a minute's sleep over it.

 

Ditto what Kasey said.

 

I had the Software update and now, after one full tank's worth of driving, the CEL is randomly coming on again. Smelled a little hot, and the fan didn't come on when I shut it off. But it's random. Plus sometimes it comes on and it does the warning "ding" and sometimes it comes on and keeps "ding"-ing, even after I shut off the car and take out the key!

 

does MINI USA even have a loaner program? I was always told that they didn't....

 

I think it's up to the dealer. Mine does.

 

My light came on once. The dash went black, no instruments worked. But the car ran normally, so I kept driving. The next day everything returned to normal. It was about three days before the dealer could put the car on their computer, and it did not show any codes. No further problems since. Car runs normally--which is to say, great.

good luck,

Joe

 

So the CEL kept coming on, even after the software update. It seemed like it was doing it when gas was at 1/2 tank or less. So we took it back in, and they said 1 - the car had to have all of its software modules reprogrammed (WTF??) and 2 - the CEL comes on if the gas cap is not quite on tight.

So now we'll make triple-sure to get that gas cap on RIGHT.

 

I assume you're tightening it past where the clicks start?