I have a 3 day old 2010 Cooper S R56 with 150 miles on it, and I have already experienced a problem. The heat is noticed as soon as I open the hood, even after driving for just 5 minutes, its very hot under the hood. I have never had a turbo engine, in fact I have only ever had 1 vehicle before so maybe its normal in the Mini but its much hotter than I thought it should be.

The main concern I am having though is that today, after driving for about an hour I got home and was unloading the car of groceries. When I turned on the car to go park it, it immediately died. Ive had the ipod charging and playing the whole time and the music cranked, but even so its hard to imagine that this is drawing enough battery power to kill my car. I havent left the car on when I am not in it at all, not even for the unloading of groceries. The car died upon starting twice in a row. I had to turn off the stereo and start the car, and it really sounded like it might die, but didnt that time. Is this a problem I need to take in to the dealer to get looked at, or call them out even (unfortunately the nearest dealer to me is about 1hour 20mins) or am is the ipod really sucking that much juice by being on constantly?

 

Battery=Warranty. Heat 220F is normal so that will feel pretty warm. Depending on where you are it might be a little higher or lower. I have seen mine running 222F here lately but, that is because we have had 100F weather here in Jacksonville, Fl for about a week and a half now. All I do is when I see it running that warm is that right before I turn it off I get out and let the heater run full blast for about 3 to 5 minutes and it will drop the temp to around 210 to 215.

 

Coming from a 1990 Cadillac Deville with V8 I thought it ran hot too, but after talking to other Mini owners I found it to be normal operation. The engine heat is one of the reasons people have been having problems with warping hood scoops. Anyway, I have never had a problem with my battery and an iPod does not suck that much juice so I think you need to contact your dealer because that should not be happening.

 

I just had a loaner that would die right before it would reach idle after starting it. I would have to give it gas to keep it running. I really doubt it's the battery....

 

If the car "died upon starting" - do you mean it had trouble turning over, or turned over fine then died? If the latter, then the battery clearly isn't the issue. You could have a bad HPFP (high pressure fuel pump). Search the forums and you'll get the scoop. If it's turning over slowly or not at all, then perhaps the battery is defective. Neither is unheard of in a new car, especially the HPFP, which has been a very troublesome part.

 

Regardless of the cause it needs to go back to the dealer. It's a brand new car. Should not happen and it's the dealers responsibility to correct the problem.

Pat

 

I agree, sounds like the HPFP. If it was the battery the car wouldn't start at all. Take it in. Temp, yep, being a turbo there's lots of heat, pretty normal.

 

A dealer trip

btw: the Turbo iteself creates tons of heat, and the snail is located up front so a blast of heat when opening the bonnet is not surprising.

 

R56 MCS comes with factory turbo timer, which will keep the cooling fan running (after the engine is shut down) until the turbo is cool. During this period the cooling fan is running on battery power.

My quick guess is you have a bad battery, which can't keep up with your hot engine .

 

I could be wrong, but it sounds like the same issue I've been having as well as another on the forums. Drive for a while, stop, when re starting, it dies, have to give it gas. We must have all been in the same built time frame as we seem to have the same problem and our cars are only a week or so old. I'm calling the dealer today to have it checked out.
It's a brand new car and it is constantly stalling after it sits for a few minutes. Other than that, it's a great car, loving the pep!

 

FYI ... "normal" street temps are approximately 220 degrees. The cooling ssystem doesn't have a traditional mechanical thermostat. Instead, as btwdriver noted before, it has a "a large electronic device that kind of resembles a heart."

There are two settings programmed into it, the first settings tries to keep the car at 221 (ECU temp) when under "normal" driving. The second setting tries to reduce the car temp to 180 under spirited driving. So, if you push the car hard while it's already hot, the temps will actually drop.