Hi,
I've had my mini about 7 months it is a 2006 Mini cooper S and just in the last couple of weeks it has started to just stumble for a second or two when I start it in the morning. Does it need a service, new oil...? ( I know nothing about cars!) And does anyone have a recommendation for a good service garage in Boston? I have heard terrible things about Herb Chambers... appreciate any advice out there

thanks
Lulu

 

Sounds like you may just be having bad gas issues. Read this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...hlight=bad+gas. You can also find out more by searching the forum with the key words "bad gas."

 

I have an '09 that was sputtering and choking in the mornings but it didn't ever register an error code. One day in my parking garage on the way home it backfired like a 1973 Vega or some old heap so I called my local dealer. They diagnosed it immediately as the high-pressure fuel pump. I dropped it off and they replaced it - no problems since. You might want to try that for starters.

Good luck.

 

Please dis-regard that statement...that owner has a gen2 car, it is totally different...turbo and direct injected, not supercharged and injected... With different motors, computers, etc,
Greasy's in Worchester ( sorry about the spelling) knows mini's quite well...and just moved to a new bigger shop...you might need some routine matainace...might be overdue for plugs or something along those lines.
Welcome to NAM, and be sure to update!!

 

To expand on this - I had the same issues as you in my 03... I ran seafoam through it, and got a major improvement.

Then I updated the spark plug wires and got a smaller improvement upon the seafoam...

Finally, I got my brisk plugs in the mail, and got another decent improvement. My car runs extremely well now... I have ~87500 on the ODO now...

 

All good, simple, inexpensive things a good mechanic should do for you, or you can ask for them to be done. If you don't have a lot of experance with cars, and even if you do, starting a good relationship with a non-dealer mechanic, with mini experance will pay dividends. It certainly has for me ( and I am pretty handy working on my car, but none of us ever stops learning right!).
I drive about 1 hour, maybe an hour and a quarter to see Pete at Greasy's, it is not a fancy shop ( he just moved, so it is a work in progreess), but it is a good, honest shop, that knows Mini's VERY well, and it is a bit of a hang-out location for many folks from the massmotoringclub.com, another site where many local motoring events get arranged, and many are mini centric.

 

Thanks everyone, I will definitely check out some of these recs. Greasy's too!

Lulu.