I called Mini yesterday and asked if the 2004's have still the stumble ?....Well of course the girl answered What Stumble ? and quickly put me on hold as I said ask some of your colleagues there...WELL OFFICIAL STUMBLE NEWS STRAIGHT FROM MINI ....." Some will have it and some will not !!!....I asked for one of the won't have its BUT there again if I ask for it I may not get it !!.......Well this is exciting..It's like being in vegas !!...She loves me, she loves me not, She loves me she loves me not, She loves me she loves me not....OH NO !!...She loves me not !!.....Off to the stumble board..Bye !!...Now which stumble board ?...e ne me ni my ni mo.............................

 

The answer is at this point there is no clearly understood reason for the stumble in the MCS. Some have it and some do not but it seems that many that were built after about April 2003 do have it.

You can try to test drive your car before you buy it but there is no guarantee that it will be stumble free at purchase and no guarantee it will remain stumble free- some do get it after 700+ miles.

Some people have reported that the latest software update for the ECU helps to lessen the stumble but it is still being worked on by MINI/BMW and by other aftermarket sources like PowerChip computer ECUs.

MINI/BMW claims a fix is in the works and will be released in December of 2003. Some of us are skeptical.

 

Actually, MINI/BMW will not commit to a date. They say they HOPE to have a fix by December 2003. They also said a fix was coming SOON back in May 2003.

I'd recommend if you order an MCS, test drive it thoroughly before signing. If it stumbles, reject it. Save yourself the grief. You wouldn't buy a watch that lost 5 minutes an hour, no matter how cool it looks, would you?

Good luck with getting a properly running car.

See ya,
JS

 

I think your advice about test driving the mcs before purchasing to look for the stumble is good however...I doubt that I will have the discipline to do reject the car if there is one having waited so long for it to arrive.I will get carried away by the new car smell, great features and the fact that it is finally mine!
And I will wonder if the stumble could be fixed in the next few months so that driving with the problem would be short term given the "promises" by mini for a solution...
My dealers is 200 miles away so I do plan to stay in the area a day for a shakedown cruise as the Navy says...to see if there is tweaking to be done, coolant leaks, etc...but reject the baby for a stumble...I am not that disciplined I fear!


:smile:

 

>>I think your advice about test driving the mcs before purchasing to look for the stumble is good however...I doubt that I will have the discipline to do reject the car if there is one having waited so long for it to arrive.I will get carried away by the new car smell, great features and the fact that it is finally mine!
>> And I will wonder if the stumble could be fixed in the next few months so that driving with the problem would be short term given the "promises" by mini for a solution...
>>My dealers is 200 miles away so I do plan to stay in the area a day for a shakedown cruise as the Navy says...to see if there is tweaking to be done, coolant leaks, etc...but reject the baby for a stumble...I am not that disciplined I fear!

Here is my present approach to the stumble issue for new buyers. I have a 2003 early build (10/02) MCS with no stumble. I have tried for a week to get it and the yo-yo to reveal themselves to me but it is simply not there. So some MCS will run fine- everybody that drives my car that also own MCS say that it runs really smooth. I cannot find fault with my ECU after 6800 miles.

Stumble exists. No one has ventured to say how common the problem is. I'd guess much less than one third. Some mods can improve or lessen it. Intake, upgraded ignition coil/wires, and ECU upgrade (NOT software upgrade from MINI) have shown promise. In time I think that MINI will fix it and that some aftermarket ECU companies will also come up with a solution-a version to fix the stumble if present in modded cars with ECU upgrades so that those MINIs don't have to go back to the MINI dealers to ask for a software upgrade then turn around and ask for a reload of the ECU upgrade aftermarket software.

Since stumble occurs at about 1900 rpm and in first gear then try to get by that point as gracefully as you can which means get to 2300 to 2800 and shift to second. Go for it. Go for broke, Drive it like you stole it! Have fun.

 

Nice, I just tryed to post on one of 2c4s topics and it was deleted while I was typing. I read this before with his comments, now they are gone, funny.

I've heard this talk of a fix too, but as everyone else, I'll believe it when I see it. I just hope mine comes stumble free in october.

EDITED PER CHITOWN_COOPs NOTICE. LOL.
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2004 EB/EB MCS || premium|front fogs|xenons|silver x-lites|gray space cloth|anthracite dash|hk|gray mats|british flag vavle caps|roadblock || OCTOBER!