Hello My MINI friends, a friend of mine just picked up her 06 MINI 2 weeks ago and just sent me this email,

I am soooooo dissappointed. Yesterday, I started my Mini and drove out onto route 53, it was kind of jumpy so I put it into sports drive and within 1/2 mile the the temperature guage was all the way to the right. The digital displays above the steering column where also going crazy and I noticed a lot of smoke coming out of the tail pipe. I immediately stopped the car called Dan my sales guy. By this time the temperature guage was going back to normal. Dan said that I needed to get the car serviced but he thought it was OK to drive as long as the temperature guage remained in the normal range. I cautiously proceeded to my meeting in Oak Brook with no further incident. After, my meetings some 3 hours later, I turn over the ignition and the temperature guage immediately goes to the far right. This time I am finally able to talk with an actual service person and she says don't drive the car anymore we'll tow it and get you a enterprise rent a car.

I am soooo dissappointed. I love my Mini but am so upset. Have you heard of this happenning with other Minis and if so, shat is the prognosis?

 

Can't believe you haven't had a response yet. I've never heard anything like this. Just sit back and wait to see what your dealer says. Keep us posted on how this develops. Your friend needs the support that NAM can offer.

 

Hmmm, haven't heard of that problem. Thats unfortunate though and I'm sure such problems happen from time to time. Hopefully the dealer will take care of everything but if not you could always enter it in the 24 hours of LeMons (no, not LeMans...)

 

Sorry to hear this happened to you. What a lousy way to start a relationship wiht your new car! :(

Let us know what happens and how it all gets resolved. I am sure they will be able to put everything right for you and you can start your life-long relationship with your Mini on a better note.

 

Dan is a genious!!!

Seems I've heard of something catastrophic like this before. Don't worry, they need to sort this out and you'll be good to go. I know these things are disappointing, but they do get resolved and everything blows over. Ask me how I know...

 

wouldn't the temp guage on on the far right mean it's cold not hot? or is the car in question NAV or Chrono and different?

 

Sounds like not enough coolant, which dealer; they should have set you up with a MINI loaner instead of a rental car since you just bought it. Prognosis basically depends on how much damage was done with lack of coolant.

OR

The other issue would be wiring harness (but the smoke wouldn;t add up in that case, even still I'd expect smoke from the engine not exhuast, are you sure that it was emissions and cold weather?) those tend to take a little more time to sort out, but generally no damage is done. Did it go into limp mode? Where you out of the break-in period?

Either way assuming no mods should be a complete warranty repair, I'd say you get the car back in a little over a week if you need to wait on parts to be shipped from overseas. then give your MINI a freash start and motor on to happier days.

 

Thank YOu all for the replys, here is the lasted email from our newest MINI owner;


Well, I went to pick up my Mini today. They test drove it again this AM and failed to receate the problem. So, it must be OK. They washed the car and also gave a $10 gas gift card. Drove it home and it performed perfectly.

I did stop at a beautiful forest preserve and performed a cleansing ritual with burning sage and oils. No kidding. It certainly won't hurt and it made me feel better. I must be nuts....

 

overheating like that, and smoke out the tailpipe, is bad, very very bad. Just saying "can't make it happen again" is no good. They need to see if your power steering fan runs (sometimes this fails, it that circuit overheats) but I'd agree it sounds like not enough coolant, or maybe a sticky thermostat. Either way, the fastest way to kill a motor is to overheat it, so they should be checking that your oil pressure is stil good, and that the engine blow by is still good.

Don't trust these guys at all! Check your oil level, as well as your coolant. Keep a digital camera (one on phones is good enough) so that when it happens again (and things like this never go away for good) you can take picutres of the temp gauge and any smoke or the like.

Also, this is the first visit where the dealer couldn't do anything to fix the problem, so keep a detailed list of the interaction you have with Mini. If everything works out good, no problem, but if not, it will help with your lemon law suite, if everything goes to hell.

Good luck,

Matt

 

DITTO, overheating for even a few moments is BAD, very BAD. Even if you have to pay for it, have at a minimum a compression leak-down test done. That said these synthetic oils are wonderful stuff, like the video where they run the engine with no more oil in it than the residue coating the metal surfaces after draining out the oil, it runs for like a half hour or so before it seizes, Good Luck.

 

The Dr is one of the more educated people here on NAM and I'd agree with everything he said (and added a little emphasis). If the dealer can't replicate the problem that usually means it will return at the worst possible moment. As far as cameras I'd say get a disposable film one and keep it in the glove box or boot cubbie, with film there is simply less question to alteration, and is generally considered the standard for accidents and such when things need to hold up in court.

How many miles are you at? It might be worth your while to drain the oil (into clean pan), change your filter and send the oil off to be anaylized. And watch to see if the new oil is being burned, does it turn dark quickly? When the fan was running was it a high pitch whine or a wooshing sound (one is Power steering and the other is engine cooling? Did you get an SES light? If so what code #s ?