After driving for an hour, I stopped at a light, turned right and as I was shifting into 3rd (about 30-35 mph) my MINI started to shudder as if it was running on 2 cylinders. Fortunately I was only 2 miles from home. I limped home, stopped in front and backed into the driveway. The MINI was shaking and a cloud of bluish smoke was coming out the back. I shut it down and opened the bonnet. The turbo cooler was not running, the motor was not hot. Coolant tank full and oil level perfect. Fuel tank is almost full.

Got back in and the motor will not start. Cranks fine, but will not start.

I called MINI and the SA said maybe HP fuel pump. I have no idea but it did run for 2 miles till I got home. Monday I will call and have it towed to the dealer. At least that's free and I am still under warranty.

Any comments to help me bide the time till Monday

 

Blue smoke means oil is being burned, not a good sign...

 

Sounds like a fuel pump

 

Sending good thoughts toward you and your MINI. Hope that it is fixed and taken care of, and you are soon on your way. A sick MINI means a sad owner.

 

Benibiker, I know but I am wondering if maybe one or more cylinders lost spark and the unburned fuel hit the hot exhaust it would cause smoke. I really don't understand these DI motors.

JoanieB, thanks for the good thoughts.

I should know tomorrow and will post. I will call for a tow around 8:00am

 

AustinS hope you get your mini back soon. I just had my 2012 (4,700 miles) ride a flat bed to the dealer. I had a check engine light and what looked like a blue type of smoke from the tail pipe.Thought it was burning oil and my fears were soaring. Turned out to be
a faulty coolant sensor. It was telling my mini that the engine needed to be cooled down and what I thought was smoke was actually condensation pouring out. It was a quick fix and I had my car back pretty quickly. I hope it is something simple-not burning oil or other. Good luck wishing you the best

 

Well, MINI rode to the dealer yesterday on a flatbed and arrived about 10:30. My MA called around 4:00 and said they had been working on it since noon and had no idea what was wrong except that it wasn't the fuel pump. He will call when they know something, hopefully today. Menawhile they loaned me a Mazda 6

 

Mazda 6 Brutal....

 

3:25pm Tuesday and MINI called. It took several hours to diagnose (yesterday afternoon and all day today) but turned out to be a bad #2 fuel injector. They also replaced a "rail" in the timing chain area (I'm not sure about this) and also the timing chain tensioner. And some other things

The MA says my car is running perfectly now. I will go get it in the morning.

After thinking about it, my questions will be:

1. Was this basically a "simple" problem that was difficult to diagnose?
2. Considering how long it took to diagnose, how much would this have cost without warranty coverage?
3. Should I now have the recently recommended $200 "fuel injector service" done soon...and had it been done, would this have not happened...or was the injector just defective and the "service" would not have helped?

Now, at 42 months and 42,000 miles, having been in the shop 8 or 9 times for warranty issues, my quandary is, do I pay $3950 for the extended warranty - after all, I have had a lot of issues - or do I hope for the best, or do I trade for a new Roadster, or sell and then buy a new Roadster?

Oh well, at least owning a MINI is never dull...

 

Never dull, just potentially costly.

That is quite a princely sum for extended warranty.

 

I was recently quoted $2800 from Herb Chambers, Boston, Mass.

DOC

 

Rather than extend the warranty, I'd stick $4K into an account just for out of warranty work. I bet you'd come out ahead in the long run. At least then if it looks like you're gonna be spending more you can sell before you exhaust the account and use it for a down payment on another car. We have drank the "extended warranty" Kool Aid a few times and all but one time, even though there was a bit of suspected "peace of mind", they were significant financial mistakes. I say suspected "peace of mind" because invariably an issue comes up that is either specifically excluded from the warranty coverage or is denied coverage even though it would appear to be covered.

I have been very lucky so far with my MCS. I love owning and driving it and have had a nearly uneventful 24K miles with it. That said, once it is beyond the factory warranty period, if it starts getting expensive or unreliable, I'll just fix it one last time and sell it and get something new. Hopefully it never comes to that. Best of luck with your decision.

 

SPECULATION SPECULATION SPECULATION....

What's the point? Keep calm and go to the dealer. Done.