I climbed in shivering, pushed in the clutch pressed the start button and there it was, the dreaded engine warning light staring right at me. The one with a line through it. Do not drive car, thats what it says in the manual. The engine was sputtering and the tach was bouncing up and down. I tried to drive but the car was in limp mode, very very slow, tach stuck below 2000. I swithed it off, turned it on agian. Car sounded just terrible. Turned off , turned on again still terrible. i let it run for a bit , it died on me. waited 10 secs pressed the button again and then it sounded ok. I still have the engine light on but its the one that says you can drive conservatively until able to reach dealer. I'm now booked in for Friday. The car only has 4000 km on it. Until now it has been awesome. I'm thinking it temp related as its bloody freezing . Hope its nothing serious...........

 

I hope it turns out alright for you, and that it's just a matter of your MINI protesting against the freezing temp. Brrrrrrrr


If it makes you feel any better, I'd refuse to run at -10 degrees too.

 

yeah , she's probably pissed off having to sit outside in the snow all day. I 'm sure the dealer will put a smile back on her face.

 

yea at temps that cold you need a block heater.

 

My R53 started @ -15C this morning with no drama. MINI tests these cars in northern Canada, unless its a quality control issue I'm not thinking it was the temps.

Do you have an OBDII reader? (Given your story I'm not reccomending driving to autozone for their free read)

At least you're under warranty still and all will be covered.

 

you'd think the mini could handle it, the crappy g5 parked next to me started without a glitch.

 

Just had to dig it out. Garage door seems to break at the worst of times, but I got by just fine.

 

^^Wow!!! I feel your pain. I don't have a garage (college campus) so any time we get a large amount of snow that's what I come outside to.

 

-10°C isn't that cold. Not that that helps your engine issues, but many MINIs deal with cold worse than that regularly.

0°F here this morning (-18°C). Headed for -10°F tonight (-23°C).

 

I agree; it's hella-cold here this morning and icy. I got to work without a hiccup.

I know what it is. It's the metric system. Yup.
Switch everything to US-spec and the car will be fine...

 

Could it be a fuel problem? I know that when faced with similar cold snaps in the past I would use a product like "Heet" when filling up from time to time.

Won't condensation / moisture in the fuel freeze up causing similar problems?

 

I had roughly the same problem this morning.

It was 14°F in Kennesaw Georgia this morning according to my Mini's thermometer. When I first started the car, the rpms jumped to about 1500. It then idled back down and I could feel the engine stumbling. Quickly after that it stalled. On the second try I could feel it trying to stall again, so I held the rpms at 1500rpm to keep it from stalling so the engine would warm up. After a minute or so, I let my foot off the accelerator pedal at the car was idling fine just below 1000rpm.

I hope this isn't something I need to do every time it’s cold out. The Mini has idled rough in the past when it’s been in the low 20's.

Is this something I need to call the service department about?

 

I don't think it would hurt to call MoSA and ask; they're usually good about calling you back.

Given the amount of humidity in the area recently, it's not too far-flung to think that there's alot of moisture in the engine. Since my car was garaged overnight, it woke up right away and had no problems.
The fuel injection on this car is about the most sophisticated system in the world right now; a little ice in there might be wreaking havoc...

Somebody mentioned a block heater? Maybe a hair dryer or electric blanket?
I feel sorry for you folks without a garage. But it still might be the metric system; I'm not ready to rule that out...

 

I posted this somewhere else, but this thread is probably more appropriate. The MINI is my first car so I don't have anything to compare it to. Is it especially sensitive to the cold??? I've read so many threads and experienced myself how much it tends to struggle after being left overnight in cold weather. Is this an issue for vehicles in general, or is it greater with the MINI as a result of its advanced electronics (direct injection and the like)?

 

This morning it was 5 degrees out, and unless I kept my foot on the gas at around 1k RPMs the car would stall (while warming up at idle). After a minute or two I could finally move, but I found it very annoying.

 

Could be the quality of the gas. Could be water in the lines. I really believe with the problems we're having in the gasoline area, there is some pretty crappy fuel out there.

My final answer C: Bad fuel!

And ditto the metric system. Causes more car problems than can ever be imagined! Good luck and I hope you get it corrected quickly. Keep us posted after your visit to the dealership.

 

Yeah, the same thing happened to me. I revved it a little to hard by mistake the first time and you could see and smell some of the unburned gasoline. It was almost like the throttle was sticky and wouldn't open. The engine was that hesitant.

I'm thinking that because the cylinders are so cold, it basically creates a lean condition because the air charge is so dense that there isn't enough fuel being injected, so the engine dies. Once the cylinders have come up in temp, only then can it idle. That is why most cars have a fast idle on a "cold" start. BMW may need to change the cold idle settings in the ECU if this problem is more wide spread.

 

My cars garaged at night and starts ok in the morning, must admit it does sound funny sometimes when its a cold one. But this incident last night was serious, its deifinatley cold related becuase once I managed to get her ticking over and generating heat the car ran fine. I'm pretty sure the dealer will just reset the egine light and send me on my way tomorrow. I'll keep you all posted on the outcome,

 

I'm with the "bad gasoline" crowd, put some "Heet" in the tank and you also might try regular gas instead of premium. I did that with my '03 MCS and it's been starting much better in the cold weather we've been having, 10* F yesterday am.

The car should start fine in any weather including cold...................

 

I'm not too sure about the bad gas theory, as I only go to name-brand stations. I'll try dumping some dry-gas in, but this is a wide spread issue that has been talked about throughout NAM and MINI2.

 

7F/-14C here this morning. Started instantly, drove off immediately, no trouble. Seat heater very helpful.

"Bad fuel" may or may not be the issue. From experience, I can say that MINI's engine diagnostics are able to report certain problems with fuel, and the service technician can perform additional fuel analysis if justified -- such as a simple field test for ethanol percentage by volume. But a CEL combined with stall/rough idle could be almost anything. I've had it be both fuel and VANOS solenoid. Others have reported a wide variety of problems with this same set of symptoms. A little searching will show you many different possibilites. You'll know for sure tomorrow.

 

It isn't necessarily "bad" gas. It could just be moisture in the gas/lines. The cold weather will amplify the problem.

 

For those that had a hard start this morning, how low were you on gas? I had nearly an empty tank and had to fill up this morning.

 

2 lights below full

 

....a trick i used to use back in the days of using mineral-based oil and having to leave the car in the bitter cold.....a long extention cord and a 60-75 watt light bulb resting against the block....at times i laid a blanket over the engine before i closed the lid....always worked for me.....you don't need alot of heat to ward off that kind of problem.....