Hello Evereyone, I am new here hoping someone knows or has an idea of what could be going on with my Mini. Please bear with me it is a bit long. I have a 2010 Mini Base, 88,000 miles.

the first indication of problems occured about 3 weeks ago, maybe 4, after putting in gas the car stalled when backing out of the station and would not start for 30 minutes. After starting it seemed to run ok but maybe a little sluggish.

Last week I had my brakes and rotors replaced by a local shop, not a dealership. So that very evening it began to idle a bit rough just once, and it was like a soft shudder, then immediately the check engince light came on. I drove back home without incident except the check engine light stayed on.

I called the shop that did the brakes and told them the light was on and about the idle and he said to bring it in and he would check the codes with a scanner. When I checked the codes myself and it was a CC ID 031. The next day after waiting 3 hours he did not know what was wrong. The scanner read "lean on bank 1" and he said this is a vacumn leak somewhere.

Since then the idle has become rougher and it has stalled at lights, but seems to be running ok except it does not seem to have the power it had before all this started happening. Today it stalled again at a light. Also this weekend the gas cap light flashed twice so I replaced the gas cap. Well today the gas cap warning light came on again even after replacing it and making sure it was tight. Then the warning light came on that my passenger air bags were turned off. This light would come on and go off.

I am at the point where I am afraid to drive my car for not knowing what is going to happen next. Another thing a friend noticed was a drop or 2 of brake fluid on the driver floor mat directly under the brake pedal. He said there could be a leak causing the vacumn issue and may need a brake booster and master cylinder. I would greatly appreciate any ideas or thoughts on what might be going on. Thanks for reading all of this.

 

Well written and descriptive of what you are experiencing. Not to insult you but it sounds like you typically drive cars, not work on them. If this is the case you need to focus you efforts on finding someone to work on it that you can trust. Because(captain obvious again) you are going to pay for their services. Fixing a car is not like going to Walmart and buying any given product. Every car make/model has unique troubleshooting challenges when not working. If I have hit the mark, look to the local car community, i.e. local mini clubs, cars and coffee, etc to find a knowledgeable, trustworthy mechanic that understands your year/make/model.


Otherwise it sounds like you have a several unrelated or possibly related problems:
1. Airbag light - simplest thing is to check connections under the seat. Bear in mind if you put anything of weight in the passenger seat without the seat belt buckled it may do exactly what you are seeing. I see it every morning on the way to work. I put my backpack in the passenger seat.
2. Idle/stalling - first thing to check is all vacuum hoses, then plugs & coils. If brake booster is leaking it will cause/contribute to this.
3. Brake booster - Because you "may" have a master cylinder leak, pull the vacuum hose from the brake booster and look for fluid on the inside of the line. Master cylinder could still be leaking if there is none but if it is there the master cyl is definitely leaking. Brake fluid in the booster will eat the vacuum seals. Also start the car and stick your head up past the brake pedal and listen - do you hear a hissing, if you stop the engine while your head is up there you may hear it as well. Hiss coming from near where the brake pedal arm disappears into the fire means brake booster is, or soon will be toast.
4. Brake fluid leak- find out first, it may just be spilled fluid from the brake work. Check the master cylinder level, bearing in mind it should not be excessively low. Wipe everything from the master cylinder/booster and all surfaces below it down to the ground . Go drive it in a quiet area and do a lot of braking. Check everything again looking for new fluid.

Long term vacuum leak is like a sinus infection, it creates more problems over time and causes increasingly worse engine performance. With the exception of brake booster its usually pretty easy to fix once you have identified the culprit.

Good Luck
Bruce

 

Find an indy shop with a quality scan tool, lots of random unexplained lights can be caused by a battery problem.

Have the battery tested.

If you hold the car off of idle at around 3000 rpm does it smooth out and run fine? Vacuum leaks are most prominent at idle.

 

Did you have the MINI tested for a vacuum leak when the shop suggested there might be one? They should be able to hook up a smoke tester to see if they can find one. I'd start there since that is what they suggested with the code they found. Did they tell you exactly that P code it was? P0171?