I just got off the phone with Laurence over at Universal MINI. I brought my 2003 Cooper S in for a DSC/SES engine problem this morning, which after reading some threads here, appear to be the result of a bad MAP and TMAP sensor (correct me if I'm wrong)..

He said that because my car has aftermarket bits (15% pulley, CAI, that he can see), he said that they could not work on it, even outside of the warranty period.. Has anyone had this happen at Universal, or any dealer in the SoCal area?

It seems strange to me that they wouldn't even touch a car with these mods, even to gain pure profit from service!

I'm picking the car up with the same problem, does anyone have a recommendation on a local shop that will work on my modded MINI that knows of this problem and how to fix it quickly? I would love to be able to buy the relevant parts and install them myself as well, simply because this is my only car and I'm the only driver.

 

I've heard GREAT things about this shop.
Steve's Preformance Mini
Telephone
818-891-6109
FAX
818-891-6433
Street address
16205 Nordhoff Street, North Hills, Ca 91343

 

Actually, I went to Steve, and he said I should go to Universal since they would be able to fix this problem with no hassle ("talk to Laurence, talk to Tony, he'll set you up", but that didn't work). If it's simply a plug and play part, I would like to do it myself! I'll definitely contact Steve again though for other service bits that he might be able to provide.

Maybe this topic might be more relevant in the SoCal or Beneath the Bonnet forum?

 

Only reason I can think of is if it wasn't CARB legal mods (I know CA has weird laws with that stuff) Call up the other shop or Bentley+ OBD scanner+ Socket set+afternoon

Did you lights come on at high revs, this is a common issue with high boost levels out doing the MAP sensor. If such is the case just erase the code and move on.

 

I have the Bentley manual, and I have some confidence in working on my car, so if I know what parts to replace, I'd do it. The problems occur when DSC is off (DSC light is on). It kicks the engine into SES mode. And then clicking the DSC toggle won't turn the DSC back on, and the SES light is on permanently, and the engine is consistently lagging behind throttle control. The problem starts from 3k rpms and up.

 

Do have an OBD scanner or can stop by an Autozone and pull not erase the code (I'm assuming you're going to get a MAP sensor code from what the dealer told you). "Lagging in throttle control" is that like an over done yo-yo or is the power just not there.

Any other mods beyond a 15% and CAI?

Also if you decide to give a shop a try (not everybody wants to go pop the bonnet in the middle of the work week) most BMW shops will take good care of a MINI from what I hear.

 

Yep. A little bit of engine work.. 15% pulley, CAI, colder IK22 plugs, Powerchips ECU. I have a coil pack and wires, but I'm not putting those in until I get this sensor problem fixed. I just purchased a OBDII reader for the car, so I'll jump into the afternoon fixing marathon when that comes.

On the BMW front, I went to the neighborhood one, and they won't touch them.. It's all very weird on BMW/MINIs part.. My car's out of warranty, but I'm willing to pay someone to diagnose the problem, and they don't want to service me? Crappy way for customer relations. It is the middle of the week before the long weekend, but is there no more work ethic?

 

It is totally wrong for the dealers not to want to service your car, especially now that it's out of warranty.

I sure someone in your neck of the woods has a part to at least clear the codes. That might be all it takes to get you back on the road motoring again.

Good luck!

 

i had all kinda of mods on my MCS and the dealer worked on mine with no problem. But im all the way over in MD so i know CA. has all that CARB law crap. Sounds like they just didnt feel like doing it.

 

You may just want to go ahead and talk to Johnny at www.johnnysautoclinic.com

They are over in San Pedro and I know the boys over at m7 use him to do work.

I know I have talked to him over the phone and he has helped me with some SES/EML problems in the past.

Considering I am in SC and you are CA that is saying alot that I would call a guy over there for help.

I am sure Johnny will treat you right considering youa re out of warranty.

good luck and tell your dealler to pi$$ off.....

 

Alrighty.. I picked my car up this morning and asked about their reason behind not working on my car. He said that if they were to work on it, they would be held liable because of aftermarket work that I had done? Has anyone in California (I'm sure there are a bunch) that this has happened to? He said it was a MINI USA specific thing, and not their dealership, which I find hard to believe. I'll be writing MINI formally and asking for their reason behind this. If I had a stock car, they wouldn't mind working on it. Has anyone encountered this reasoning??

I told him that if I would have to bring my MINI to an independent car mechanic, and he said, yes, you do. ???

Personally, I think that 1)the mechanics are incompetent and don't want the hassle of trying to figure out and work through the problem or 2)the litigation aspect of doing mechanical aftermarket work isn't something that MINI USA wants to deal with.

 

I find that bull. I work in the wash bay at Cinci MINI and see all the MINI's being worked on daily. There are always modded MINI's in there....and just last week there was an MCS in there that was basically a full blown race car, yet they were still working on it (not sure what though). And another member's MINI was in there a couple of days ago, and he has pulley, ALTA CAI, Coil pack, wires, etc....yet they still worked on his.

It might be just a CA thing like others have said....or it could be the dealer just giving you crap. Write MINI USA and see if it's true. And also ask if it's CA only.

-Cody

 

That's complete BS! I've had my car worked on by the dealer even with my mods (I'm still under warranty) and the only issue I've had is when they need to charge me for removing (and re-installing) a mod to gain access to the factory part which is entirely fair. I would think that being outside of warranty would resolve any issue, CARB or otherwise.

 

lol what a way for me to make my first post...

Either way I just thought i would throw this in here. There is a local dealership here that refuses to work on my car because of emmissions and street legality issues. They simply do not want to get involved because if i get pulled over in teh future for some stupid mod i do to my car they don't want to get the call that they had done illegal work to my car.

I tried to reason with the dealer that all the stuff is legal and besides even if it were questionable i had done the work myself. He said however that once you get caught voided emmissions standards they start calling and harrassing any one that worked on teh car in general.

I'm not really defending them because i think it's stupid too but they could just be covering their buttoxes. Either way the car is not under warrenty so it shouldn't matter.

 

IT must vary from dealer to dealer. I know Momentum in Houston typically wont work on a modified MINI. I think the only exception is for JCW and Dinan packages. I was talking with my MA one time about it. He said that MINIUSA can be very strict about what they will reimburse a dealer for. So it could be the dealership had been burned by modified MINIs that were still under warranty and MINIUSA would not cover the repairs.

 

I'm in CA and have had Steve's do work on my car. He's excellent...

Regarding dealerships and service (warranty or not), it seems to vary from dealer to dealer. It may be because of their level of expertise, if they're only just out of MINI training (which most of them are) you can't expect them to be able to handle all the aftermarket mods; they probably just get scared and look for reasons not to do it.

Try South Bay Mini before you give up, they have a huge performance package set with FireBall Tim and they support it with warranty as long as they install it. I suspect they look at mods with a lot more liberality because of it.

Also, check out Southern California Mini Maniacs board ( http://www.scmm.org/ ), there is lots of first hand information including specific dealer ratings in their Clubhouse forum area. You may see me there, too.

[edit] I've just checked South Bay Mini's ratings on the Maniacs board, there are older experiences discussed and mixed reviews. Still worth a call to SBM, but use good judgement.

Good luck!

-- VBG

 

It sounds to me like a common case of overboost.

Start and stop the car 5 times, it should clear the code.

If you boost too high (I do it every time i step on the gas, I have a monor boost issue, TOO MUCH OF IT! ) It throws P0108 (overboost) and trips the DSC and SES lights. The DSC light will be un able to turn off until the car has been turned off.

 

Sadly this is becoming a pretty common excuse among SoCal dealers. For awhile there were a few hopeful MINI dealers that were mod friendly but recent experiences with them have shown they are just as money hungry, and mod unfriendly as any other. One club member was having problems with her clutch. She took it to the dealer and they said because she had Super Blue brake fluid they wouldn't touch the car unless they replaced everything that might pose a liability, i.e. the job cost $4000.

So we drained the Super Blue, put it in BMW OEM fluid, took it to another dealer, and it was all fixed under warranty as it should have been for a new 2005 MCS with 10,000 miles on it.

You might consider doing the same, atleast for the CAI if you're having issues.

Richard

 

Welp.. I took my car to South Bay MINI, and the service tech said that it is a case of overboost, and it is doing what you describe (throwing p0108). Unfortunately, starting and stopping the car five times does not clear the code, and they want $150/hr to delve deeper into it, simply because of my 15% pulley. Boo. I've had that for 30,000 miles, it's not the silly pulley.

In the Beneath The Bonnet section there's a discussion on replacing the TMAP and MAP sensors, which sounds like the next plan to permanently fix this problem. Any other ideas?

 

Powerchips ECU <-- whats this?? Might be the cause.

 

You play, you pay.

 

Here in Illinois ive always heard that Patrick MINI is mod friendly, now i dont know about Knauz or Jacobs, but my MA even told me that they dont care if add any mods to my MCS

 

Powerchips ECU > bought from Randy Webb before he started doing his own Unichip program. It was installed the same time as my pulley, it's been flawless.

Yep, pay to play, for sure. 150 bones isn't chump change though. However, I wouldn't mind paying it if some of the techs weren't incompetent and take forever to fix things.