I just got a call from the service department at the dealer saying there's a recall out for Tristan, he needs a new Catalytic Converter. I hadn't noticed any chatter about a recall coming, though I see a few threads about bad CATs from 07. I haven't had any of the symptoms, like a check engine light, not sure what other symptoms would be.

Anyone else heard of a recall? What other problems would you have with a bad CAT?

Tristan's going to need a front brake job soon, so I'll wait til that comes up and get this done at the same time.

 

Thats weird cause I just took my car in yesterday and they didn't say anything

 

Might've been for a specific build date.

 

My '07 Cooper goes in tomorrow for this recall.

 

the recall is for 2007 cooper not the s and some 2008 models any one in south florida call so i can get it replaced for you 954-935-1844 joe

 

I just left my 07 Mini in for its 2 year service yesterday in West Palm Beach Florida, they informed he that they would have to replace the cat and do some electronic upgrade/ testing, as there was a recall on it. They gave me a loaner Mini. Mine is a April build. I have not had any problems with it.

 

Tristan was also an April build, his 2 year anniversary was last week. I didn't need a 2 year service as the computer counted him down in January. I wonder if they're just waiting for them to come in for 2 year services and bother you if you don't need one.

 

We got a letter about this, does that mean I have to take it in? The letter was pretty vague.

 

I would wait for your next service date.

 

The system MINI uses to track services is pretty good, it automatically calls up all the issues needed to be done on your car. I just happened to take my car in for a hood scoop replacement last year on the first day of the exhaust tip replacement issue. My SA said that the previous day she had pulled my car's records and it hadn't appeared, but by 7am that morning the exhaust issue was there.

If nothing is wrong with your car right now, wait until your next regular service.

 

That might be years away - we've only got about 4k miles on it. It seldom gets driven.

 

It shouldn't be more than a year away, you should get at least the annual oil change. If you're never got an oil change you're over due for one.

I got the recall notice yesterday, it says the CAT may "deteriorate causing an increased level of vehicle emissions."

It also says you may fail a smog check if you don't get it done and also that in California big brother is watching you and they require proof of the work at some point.

Finally it says that if you don't do it it may void your emissions warranty.

 

I just got a notice, too. It was in for service a couple of weeks ago and obviously they didn't know about it then. I wonder about their system as I had it in for annual oil change in December and they told me the brake fluid change signal came on while they were test driving it. Turned a half day service into a full day one. If this hadn't happened until after I left the dealership, would have had to make a followup appointment. With the dealer 150 miles away, that would have been a major hassle.

 

What happened with your brake system was the "on condition" maintenance function in your car. I talked to my SA about this when I first took my car in for some minor warranty work. The car monitors how it's being driven and makes decisions about when various systems need maintenance.

Separate to that is the dealer's access to minitis.net. That's used to distribute technical information including service bulletins, recalls, general service information and the like. TIS handles the information side of maintenance, and the car decides when the work needs to be done.

The two systems are brought together when the dealer reads your key fob and the computer builds the work order. The problem with this system is what happened to you. The key fob appears not to capture and/or tell TIS how much more time before the "on condition" items need work, so there's always the possibility that any "on condition" item might get flagged just after the car got serviced for another item. I would expect that the dealer has a way of anticipating this, but I don't have enough experience with the system to say what that might be.

As for the converter recall, you can't fault the dealer for not issuing it to you before it was published.

 

I took my baby in for a service yesterday and they told me the catalytic converter may have been recalled, they just found out last week... it's for 2007 Mini's but not all of them. I've got Bumblebee for the week, I'm loving the manual transmission in her... making me want to change cars badly.

 

Just got the recall for my 2007 non-s; I was considering taking it in for a couple of things anyway(10 second uneven idle at cold start, light bulb failure light but no failed light bulbs i can find, recalcitrant sunroof);

German engineering tempered with english car idiosyncracy. Maybe they'll give me a cooper s loaner...

 

It's been about a zillion years since they changed over to catalytic converters, but as I recall we were told back then there would be a "rotten egg" (hydrogen sulfide) smell.

Your engine might not run at all, if things really got bad. We had a fellow stall in front of our house last year--he'd punched nail holes in his converter, and he couldn't keep the engine lit...wound up towing it away.

 

I got Tristan's converter done yesterday, together with the front brakes, and fix the hatch handle which had stopped working.

However, after driving a few miles he suddenly dinged a check engine code. We've left him back at the dealer so they can look at him on Monday. The code (acording to my Scangauge) is a P0036, which is a failure in the heater control circuit for the 02 sensor. That seem like a common code that happens after some engine mods, and the engine hasn't been put back together quite right. It seems they didn't do the cat swap right, not exactly confidence inspiring.

 

Did you say 'seldom gets driven"?

You have a MINI? Are you sure??

 

I still haven't received anything. I'm out of the service portion of the warranty, so I won't be going in for anything that would normally catch it. I guess I'll stop by and have them read the key.

Is this a Cooper thing, or an S thing? I have a week 3 S, so I'm really surprised I've heard nothing.

 

In order to change the cat they have to remove the whole front end. When I installed my supersprint header I tried squeezing it out but the long head studs get in the way. In addition those o2 sensors are very fragile especially the ceramic lower monitor sensor.

 

I think its a Cooper thing, so it wouldn't apply to you. Also it seems to be only for a narrow range of production dates (around April).

 

Yay! I don't want my front end taken off.

 

I have a May 07 build cooper. My cat threw a CEL light last summer and was replaced.

 

The diagnosis of the check engine light was the 02 sensor wasn't plugged in quite right.