Car has 5,000 miles. City traffic driving and WHAM ! there is a huge clang in the trans and the central display goes crazy w/ a directive to drive slow, not to shift gears (?) or expect normal acceleration etc. etc.

The icon of a Mini on a garage lift is also shown.

The car healed itself and now the dealer can't find the cause and I cannot live with the uncertainty.


Anyone else experience this situation ?

 

 

I wouldn't plan any cross country trips anytime soon. Seriously, if the mini dealer can't figure it out, you probably won't get many ideas from members on this board.

 

What type of codes came up? Also they are sure its the tranny?

 

I don't know much beyond what I reported......frankly with all the sounds and the display lighting up with the VERY sober statement of limitations on driving, ( and of course it self locking into a very high gear hence the slow acceleration caveat on the screen) I was really freaked out.

Is it the tranny ? Personally, I think it is the electronic control of the transmission.

Thanks for your response.

 

I just hope they find the problem for you..I would be totally freaking out too.. But if its the tranny I would say its electrical also.. If it was mechanical I just don't think it would disappear.. maybe if they clear or replace the control module for the tranny it would be fine.. Good luck with it and let us know the outcome!

 

Agree that if your dealer can't find any fault codes and can't replicate, there's not much you can do. I'm thinking a computer CPU fault that corrected itself.

Personally, while it's still under warranty, maintenance plan, and MINI roadside assistance, I'd drive it aggressively, put it in and out of sport mode, manual shifting, paddle shifting, etc. around your home (or near your dealer) to see if it will repeat itself or there is anything strange happening again. If not, I wouldn't keep worrying about it.

You're on record with MINI for reporting the problem if it does recur in the future. Sorry for your problem, and hope you can put it behind you.

 

Are you sure you didn't hit an unseen object or a giant pothole? That warning will come on if the car has a big impact. I had it happen one time that I hit a pothole in the city. After the car was stopped (and I inspected for any mechanical damage), the warning re-set itself and there was no permanent damage. That was like 15 or 20k miles ago.

Edited to add: Mine is a manual, and I didn't have the directive not to shift, but I had the other symptoms, including the MINI lift warning.

 

Have you ever spilled a drink in the cup holder?

 

i have an 07s auto and experienced somewhat similar issues, but don't remember receiving the 'mini lift' warning, but some kind of warning did turn up, and this was within the 2nd year of ownership. the car would get stuck in gear after driving over rough roads, had to pull over, turn off car and turn it back on to reset.

the issue with mine was some of the wires in the wiring harness (i think to the transmission) was rubbed until a part of a couple wires were exposed, and whenever the wires came in contact with a metal part of the car, the issue occurred.

it took a couple of visits to the service dept to try n find what caused the issue, but i believe all they did was wrap the wires with some electrical tape and then wrapped the wiring harness too. haven't had an issue since.

i wouldn't recommend trying to find the wiring harness yourself, just let the service dept do it as they need to take off a lot of pieces to find the bare wire.

edit: also i couldn't shift when the issue occurred, the car wouldn't allow me to do so. i use to drive with sport mode on and in manual mode for a long time. now just manual mode only with sport button off.

 

OK guys, the car now has 17K miles on it and the failure has occurred three times. Fortunately all three times I have been within VERY LOW speed driving distance of my dealer and twice with the original fault showing. The service writer is quite candid with me and says that about 30% of the autortrans cars of that model year ('13) have similar problems


Long story made short- I have been without my car for over a month now, and the stories vary from replacing modules, waiting for more parts, endless programming difficulties....you name it !


The good news is that the dealer provides me with a bright and shiny new car everytime my loaner gets dirty.


On a more serious note, I am happy to live in California where the car can be lemon lawed, with the dealer picking up all the attorney's fees.


I'll keep you posted on how it goes. It has been a sad experience as my history with Mini goes back to buying a 1275 S brand new. Sigh.

 

The 30% comment from the SA is suspect, maybe he/she is just trying to make you feel better. So far you're the only one with this complaint and if the failures are that high you would:

1.) see more postings on this forum

2.) MINI would be trying hard to determine the cause for failure.

Still sucks for you though. Hopefully they locate the fault soon.

 

Yeah sorry that you're having to go through this. Thankfully my '13 S A/T hasn't had anything abnormal with the tranny thus far. I've just rolled over 14k mostly highway miles.

Running the Sport mode gets me the orange engine light (most often) and red thermometer (less often). Turning off the Sport mode eliminates the warning indicators for some inexplicable reason...

IMO there's no good business reason for Mini to scare the B-jesus out of their customers with these random bizarre warnings that don't actually get logged. There is better equipment to install at right around the same price point.

Honestly think that it might be better to NOT have any of the electronic warning indicators in vehicles that are quirky like this. Warning lights and messages from the car are a major distraction while in traffic - creating a safety risk. While I love the information flow in my turbo'd BMW's (engine oil level, etc), for the Mini there is no info flow except for panic lights.

And frankly it's unnerving when getting behind the wheel of a car that you can't predict. You never really know what the car is going to give you on any given day. Besides the safety concern, unpredictability is the biggest issue. Can't really KNOW whether or not you'll be stranded in the center lane of interstate 10 during rush hour traffic, or left high and dry in the middle of nowhere (with no cellular signal of course).

@bevel450. Please keep us in the loop when/if they ever do track down and resolve the intermittent electrical issue.

 

Wow, I get no errors when in sport mode and I'm always in sport mode.

 

Good question then eh? I have a whole bunch, being a first-time Mini owner. For example, why would your meth-fed pocket rocket run Sport mode w/o any heat issues (and/or whatever throws the engine warning light), while my stock unit pops random panic lights with quite a bit of frequency?

Another question is whether or not you take yours to the track at all, or just run it hard now and then like I do. My wife is the primary driver, and her foot isn't anywhere near as heavy as mine. So when I do take the MCS out for a spin it's usually pretty sportive (I like to tap the paddle shifters around the 4.5k RPM mark).

Problem is that after I get done, whoever starts the car next gets engine warning lights. And when we're out shopping in the hot Texas sun, waiting in the parking lot for a space near the entrance for example, if I've got Sport activated the red engine temp (thermometer) turns on in the center of the tach. I discovered by pure random chance that turning off Sport mode actually alleviates the alert. Is that a low speed cooling problem? Do I need to replace my thermostat with a 150 degree unit (if they even make them for the Mini)? Or more likely do I need to upgrade my intercooler so it has more capacity and flows better? Does the Sport mode increase turbo boost pressure whether it's under load or not?

I've had numerous turbo cars and motorcycles for about two decades, but this is the first time I've run into this kind of randomness. Not that turbo'd motors don't have their individual idiosyncrasies, but small stuff like NOT BEING ABLE TO CHECK MY OIL LEVEL makes me frustrated. And spending $75 on a Craven dipstick isn't high on my list of best thought-out solutions. Moreover, I'm concerned that if I use the techniques outlined here on the board (ex. like filing down my dipstick) I'll void my manufacturer warranty somehow.

Maybe my view is myopic, but I'm a technology guy and not an ASE certified mechanic with loads of tools, space, hydrolic lift and a general eagerness to hoist up the car to fix "stuff" on it.

Any ideas for what could be causing my nuisances?

 

you're on limp-in mode, when this happens, limp it to the closest dealer and have them work on it, you're in warranty, dont worry, BMW will fix it

sounds like it could have been the TCU going nuts though, just next time it happens, take it straight to the dealer, dont wait to do it

 

Yep, I'm with luigi. What you are describing is not normal, something is wrong with your mini. You're under warranty? My next stop would be the dealer. If you are seeing the red CEL, and keep driving, you could toast the engine and possibly get a warranty fix denial.

And yes, I also found the dipstick next to impossible to read. Considering the risk, I bit the bullet and got the cravenstick. It works as advertised..

 

I drive my car fairly normal most of the time (average 27 mpg - all city driving) and hard for brief periods. I've never tracked the car and probably never will. The methanol drastically reduces intake, in-cylinder and exhaust gas temperatures.

With regard to the sport button, in 2013 models, it does activate the secondary 180F thermostat. In sport mode you should be running cooler. The normal thermostat is ~220F. I wonder if it is actually shutting all thermostats and that you temperature alarms are real - you need to assume that they are. Do you have the ability to monitor actual temps via the OBD2 port?

Whatever the reason it needs to be fixed.

 

ODB2 reading? Not at this point, as I haven't actually gotten that far. I know there are Android-enabled apps that'll read a reasonably priced port transponder. Will need to look into that.

As for an update, today while driving relatively calmly I decided to test my theory about there being something fishy when in Sport mode. So as I got off the highway on one of those 1/2 mile long exit ramps I popped on Sport and whoosh - out came a big white puffy cloud of smoke. Then when I pulled up at the signal (red light) it basically engulfed the car with billowing white smoke.

Turning off Sport as I accelerated away (light turned green) I noticed that the smoke tapered off and disappeared within 1/4 mile by the time I got to the next light. At the second light, w/o Sport engaged, no smoke either at idle nor when I accelerated away.

So yeah I'm spooked. Called the dealership to see about bringing it in for a check-up this afternoon. Was told they have no loaner vehicles for the next three weeks. Scheduled it but made it clear that I'm not happy about having to figure out how the wife will get around while the BMW is with me and she's got no loaner...

Little while after that I had to make a quick trip for the kids, and guess what happened - the engine light came on. When I stopped the car, and restarted the motor, light turned off.

So I called the dealership again to schedule the service. However, due to the fact that I can't seem to get past my mental block around reading the oil dipstick (), I'm taking it over to the shop tomorrow morning to at least validate how much oil is actually in the pan. Would hate to blow this little motor up unnecessarily.

 

where is the smoke coming from? exhaust pipe? engine bay?

what color is the smoke? blue? grey? black? white?
is there coolant in your oil or vise versa?

i have an idea as to what's wrong, either you need a short block or you need a new turbo

btw you should have the info for all of those questions since the dealer will need to pass that to the technician in order for him to finish your car quickly

Best of luck though brother