Its really cold (minus 30c) and i start the mini up and the CEL fires up, says increased emissions. Then I drive on the highway for 2 hours, turn the car off, get a coffee and start up, CEL gone. Drive another three hours and all is well.
Start the car up this morning (It was parked overnight in the cold)and CEL is back and it brought its buddy LIMP MODE........ Super. Also, it is now burbleing and popping like crazy (never ever did this before) and its revving up and down between 1k and 2.2k on the tach. The revving is very consistent up and down, over and over.

Any ideas? I'd rather not go to dealer since after searching forums and such it sounds like this could be a number of things and I hope someone can narrow it down?

Thanks folks..

 

here is video of the madness..
http://youtu.be/R0KQe93nhv8
http://youtu.be/R0KQe93nhv8

 

It sounds similar to what happened the first winter with my dad's 335i. It turned out to be his valvetronic needed resetting. BMW also took off his cold air intake which scoops in air from behind the kidney grills on the BMWs and allowed the engine to bring in warmer engine air. It's been fine ever since (knock on wood). I'm not sure of how the Mini's intake system is put together, but that might be something worth looking into. However when it comes to CELs, you're best off taking it in to the dealer IMO because they can read the codes and fix it right there. That is unless you're without warranty. Also with my dad's car it was only the colder winter months that it acted up. Winnipeg does get pretty cold after all.