So...leave work, hop on interstate, everything is great. Then traffic. Great. Then traffic slows to a crawl. 10-15 mph...then stop...then back to 10-15 then stop. Had been reading through just about everything I could find on MCS's so I turned off the A/C and rolled the windows down and sun roof open (figured if I was going to be there awhile I might as well get some sun.)

Everything seemed fine...no odd noises, no odd smells or anything. Then I look over and notice the temp is slowly creeping up (it had been sitting at the half way mark and was now between the half and 3/4) so I started trying to move to the shoulder and keep an eye on the temp.

As I make it to the shoulder the temp is up to the 3/4 mark and the red battery light blinks on...then off as I start moving forward again. Once I get to the shoulder I slowly start speeding up to get some air moving through the engine and the temp starts going down quickly. Back to the normal half way mark. I thought Okay, cool. maybe the coolant is just a little low, it is hot outside today.


When I stopped it only sounded like a misfire if anything. so I waited a bit...5 min I think and restarted the car, fired right up, slight misfire for about 10 seconds then sounds normal but service engine light now on, all other lights now off.

Started the car this morning and slight rattle on pass side of engine for maybe 20 seconds after start up. Drove to work and everything seems and sounds fine but CEL still on.

Sorry for the long read. But any clues or where to start other than coolant level?

 

The fact you said the RED BATTERY light came on.....and you had a shudder and temp issue makes me think the crank damper failed....
Low coolant may have been preexisting from a different issue....

 

P.S.
when a crank damp fails....it often slips than grabs as the rubber fails...
That might be why it seemed OK after it sat.
If you run the ac and rev it under load....it should happen again...maybe for the last time before total failure.

 

If you don't have a good OBC reader, now is the time to get one, or borrow one. Pull the codes, see what the computer recorded. Then work from there. But the basics, check coolant level, condition of oil, obvious signs of recent leaking, for good measure take a volt meter and check your battery voltage without the car running (for example 11.3 volts) then start the car and check again it should be reading about 14 volts or so.

If you are real ambitious check your electric fans, make sure they are working and not frozen/locked up.

Without knowing the condition of these things I would guess maybe the ECM started to get hot and was freaking out a bit. This is only a guess. Heat and electronics don't mix well. And with your R53 the ECM is located on the outboard side of the air cleaner, do if your fan is not running... Temps will rise and possible ECM hysterics.

+1 for Crank Dampener, when they go it looks like everything is working... But... From under the car looking at the Crank Dampener (Hymonic Ballancer) look for signs of rubber bits, like pencile sharpener shaving size around the area of your Crank pulley.

Good luck.

Motor on!

 

Coolant is pretty low so that and code are the first steps.

And another note, when we bought the car it came with "all" the service records. I put all in quotes because its mainly oil changes. I dont see anything about ANYTHING else.

So short of digging through every thread here what should be my top priorities for changing things that are known to go bad? Like the belt and damper, spark plugs, coil pack, motor mounts...et al?

 

I'd bet a stale donut it is your crank damper on its way out. How many miles on your MINI?

 

Miles is a bit over 100k.

Just run across the street to the gas station and when I started it no more CEL...but now there is a slight ticking noise coming from the pass side that speeds up and slows down with rpms. And with everything I've search and read seems like it is the damper.

Also seems like a light weight non-damping pulley is a bad idea, the ATI damper is a good idea but it aint cheep, and the best idea might be the OD ATI damper...if your going to do it...do it right I guess.