I just picked up my '07 MCS and drove him 250+ mi back home. I noticed after a while of driving, any time I would have to slow to a stop, the engine would rev up and down, trying to make the car move forward a bit. I also noticed that it idles at much lower rpm's (~500-800) than my MC. Normal? This is my first turbo car.

 

My old style MINI used to do that but not the R56 - however long I've been driving it holds solid at 800rpm without any movement. Might be worth asking your dealer to check it out..

Hope you are loving your MINI otherwise

 

Do you have an automatic? The manual tranny R56's stay at idle when you're stopped and out of gear.

 

Interesting. From your other post and this one, it appears you have an early build 07. You traded your MC and bought from the lot, right?

Congratulation on your MCS, it should give you lots of smiles.

To your question, I have a May build 07 MCSa, I have only noticed the hunting you suggest one time. I do think it is due to a recent fill up from a local Conoco station (less than perfect gas or water content). I have not had a repeat. This was during the summer. I drive my MCSa often and spirited in the mountain twisties.

You might want to ensure your MCS has the latest software upgrade. Do this on your next service call or call the dealer and have them check the records on your MINI.

On the hood scoop grill, I have a partially open grill and intend to open it up with careful dremmeling when I add a CAI versus the panel filter from Alta I have installed. The more air to engine compartment the better.

Somewhere in a recent posting a comment was made that the factory has gone back to a sealed grill, not sure that is accurate, but if so I can not see any reason why. Unless on the 08s they have found another way to bring more air volume into the engine compartment.

If I had your closed grill, I would be getting out my dremmel or other tool of choice.

Don

 

I made that post - I can only tell you it was what my BMW dealership were told when they tried to order the part from the factory. So hopefully that would be pretty accurate.

Btw mines a Jan '07 build

 

Thanks for the information. On my window sticker, it indicated my car arrived at the VDC in Oct of '07, so it's a relatively late build car. Apparently, from what Mini Me GB is saying, MINI had a bit of indecision on whether or not to open the scoop during that year. Since I don't do any auto-x, I'll keep an eye on it, and if it appears to need the extra air, I'll go ahead and remove some holes manually.

As for the revving and software, the OBC displays things almost exactly like my friend's '08 MC. At least, I noticed the difference in the cruise control appearance as opposed to my March build '07 MC, which had the old software. It even has the same interior 'dinging' sound as his '08.

 

Thanks for the commentary, Mini Me GB and RV. Sounds like your software is current. I will have to visit my Denver dealer and see what they say.

If your following the ALTA threads, you will see folks are really all over the air flow through the scoop and the RAS CAI from DDM uses the scoop as the source of air to the CAI. Gets more interesting.

I hope you find the hunting issue RV, I'm thinking it may be automatic specific. I guess I will have to go for a Sunday drive.

 

The automatic tranny is downshifting and going through the gears as you slow down.

 

I realize that. What I'm asking is, is it normal for it to rev up and down when idling or moving at very slow speeds (0-2 mph, like crawling behind someone at a stop light)? I'm going to call the service manager tomorrow and make sure this is normal, because I drove him today for a little while and he was doing the same thing. It's not that big of a deal, just want to make sure everything is A-ok.

 

I should've specified when idling in drive, not in park.

 

I get the same sensation when driving my Wife's 07 MCSA. It seems like the car just wants to go...My wife says the same but we have become accustomed to it. It almost feels like just before you stop the car gives a little extra surge!

 

That's exactly it! I suppose most people here aren't familiar with it because the majority have manuals, but I'm glad to hear it's not unusual!

 

I thought it was just part of this MINI's personality. But I see now we are not alone. To me it seems we have gotten used to it but when we 1st got her it was kind of like trying to break a horse!

 

My '08 MCSa does this. I can make it do it by just putting the weight of my foot on the peddle. Anything much more ot removing my foot completely and RPM is normal/stable. I'm guessing it's a glitch in the drive-by-wire system.

I'm not worried enough about it to place a phone call but would be interested in what anyone else takes the time to find out.

 

Mine does the same thing... but not all the time. i hope it's normal only had the car for 3 weeks.

 

Yea, it's a pretty common issue. There was a thread on it not too long ago. Try doing a search for "surge" or something along those lines.

 

Very glad to hear it's normal. Today on the commute to work, it wasn't doing it very badly, maybe because it was in the 20s all the way! It is still idling well below what my previous MC did, but I can't complain much about that. How did I live without these xenons?! lol

 

BMW started doing something similar to the 5er few years ago. It was to smooth out the stopping. Magazine people thought it was stupid to have the car roll 1-2 feet forward before stopping because you could run into the car in front of you.

 

Surfblue says: I have a size 13 foot. MCS with six speed... I continually find myself putting the brake on and pushing the gas pedal slightly with that same right foot, due to space limitations. When I'm sitting at a stop sign, I'll look at the tach and see it is somewhat above proper idle, then realize that as I'm holding the brake down, I'm also SLIGHTLY pushing the throttle. I hope your problem is as simple as this, but I'd guess not. I do NOT have this problem with my Grinnall Scorpion, and it's pretty tight too.

 

Yeah, my foot isn't *quite* that big. I've never had an issue depressing more than one pedal. I'm betting it's something to do with the way BMW/MINI designed the auto trans with this turbo on it.