Today I had my first warning light come on. It happened three times during my 40 mile drive to work in stop and go traffic. For those with the car, it's the symbol on page 101 of the manual, second one up from the bottom. Here's the description of what the warning light means:

"Energy Recovery limited due to hot high voltage battery"

"Be ready to brake at all times as the vehicle is not decelerated as is usual during energy recovery"

You lose the Regen function when light is on.

Outside temp was 74, left a cool garage before starting my drive. Battery temp was 91 when light came on.

Performance of the car didn't go down and it drove like normal....only the Regen stopped working.

I've been told that running the AC will help cool the battery as the cool air will go into the vents behind the front seats. Will try that and see what happens.

MINI E #140

 

Oh no, first problems already! It will be interesting to see if this is standard for all the cars, or is variable from one car to another.

Hopefully the 10 mph "limp" mode is set to trigger at a much higher battery temp than 90 or 100 degrees. My garage gets to over 110 in the summer, and of course the interior temperatures of any car gets much higher than that when it is closed up and parked out in the sun all day.

 

Another problem reported by a west coast driver on Facebook:

Had an interesting thing happen yesterday, while sitting at a stoplight after having driven 40 some miles, the light turned green, I press accelerator and nothing happened!
Amid Honking horns I press Emergency Flashers and assess the problem. There was an 'N' in the digital readout on the charge indicator.
Quick look at the manual (good idea to keep it handy)
N="drivers door open, automatically puts shift in Neutral."
The door was closed tightly. So I pressed STOP pulled the Key out reinserted it and pressed START - Everything worked fine and I was on my way again.

Don't know what caused it as all doors were shut, just a heads up, I think recycling did the trick whatever caused it.

 

The warning light mentioned earlier was on again today. Car going in for service on Monday at 6:30 A.M. More details on my blog:

http://electricminicooper.blogspot.com/

 

This was left as a comment on our blog today. Joel left no contact info so I don't have a way to followup with him for more details:

Joel has left a new comment on your post "First problem with MINI E :(":

Got my car from Long Beach on Tuesday. After a drive up a 2 mile hill a new light came on. Battery temp 105. Now it won't take a charge. Still have 36 mi to get to Long Beach. I guess they'll have two to service on Monday.

http://electricminicooper.blogspot.com/

 

Just received some sad news about our MINI E. It needs to be taken to Oxnard, CA for further evaluation and won't be back until next Thursday or Friday (June 18th or 19th). I'm awaiting to hear about a lease adjustment or extension on the lease. I'd really like a full year with the MINI E. More details as I get them.

An update...Joel's MINI E also heading for Oxnard with ours. He's having an issue with the car not being able to charge and had the warning light that shows a cord with a line through it. His car also from Long Beach MINI.

http://electricminicooper.blogspot.com/

 

Jethro - very frustrating - I feel for you, man. I guess the only silver lining (for the rest of us, if not for you) here is that given the tech's reactions, it seems to be a problem with your particular vehicle, and not some design defect of the whole fleet - I hope . . . .

Here's hoping it's nothing more complicated than a faulty or misaligned temperature sensor. I had a similar problem with a faulty wheel-velocity sensor when I first picked up my X5 - damn thing thought the wheel was spinning out of control and kept engaging the stability control as I was driving - unnerving . . .

 

#140 was acting quite strange this evening. Car was parked all day and I decided to give my Cousin a test drive before calling it a day. We started off with 100% charge and traveled about 1 mile with no problem. I then took the car up to 40mph and then punched it...wanting to demonstrate the quick pick up even while moving....I immediately heard a loud pop and noticed that the car had switched to neutral and the triangle next to the miles traveled had lit up...similar to how it does when the battery warning light comes on at 29% charge. While still moving I moved the gear shift to neutral (it still showed "D" even though the display showed "N") and then back to drive and the car appeared to be back to normal. However the triangle stayed lit up. We then stopped, turned off the car, waited a minute and then started it again. Triangle was gone and all seemed well. Took off again and whamo, happened again at approx 40 mph...once I punched it, a loud pop and then the neutral light was lit up again. We repeated this a total of 4 times over the course of our 3 mile test drive. This is the first time I've ever had this problem. We'll see if I can repeat it tomorrow.

 

Todd, sorry to hear you are having more problems. Hopefully your latest won't require the car to go back to Oxnard again.

I had a major problem yesterday too. I had just accelerated onto the freeway and suddenly lost all motor power. The battery warning symbol came on which is a "malfunction in the high voltage system" (second symbol from the bottom on page 102 of the manual). This wasn't the battery temperature warning that I mentioned getting in other posts.

I coasted to stop on the shoulder and tried numerous times to get the car to "reboot" but with no luck. Mini Assistance sent a tow truck within 20 minutes and flat-bedded the car back to my house. I called the dealer while I was waiting and was told to call service on Monday and they will likely come get the car.

Here are a few details: The car had a full charge overnight, I had driven about 3 miles from home to the freeway, battery temp was 95 degrees and the outside temp was 84 degrees. I had accelerated to about 60 mph and I thought I heard a little "pop" when the motor quit but my wife didn't hear or feel anything.

Hopefully nothing terminal and I can get the car back quickly!

 

Hi Stan....Wow, sorry to hear about your problem too. Maybe they'll both be in Oxnard at the same time...LOL. I shot a little video of the problem, we've been experiencing since yesterday. Here's the link to the YouTube video we shot a few minutes ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDEQrWGr2LE

My previous post mentioned a "Pop" sound when the car went into "N" but it's actually more of a clunk. I was able to duplicate it 5 times today....basically every time I punch it from around 40mph it happens. This last time actually caused the horn to honk. I spoke to the dealer and will be taking the car in on either Monday or Tuesday. Will keep you posted.

People have asked if I drove through a puddle when this happened....no, nice sunny California day.

Almost 1900 miles and despite this little set back, I'm loving the MINI E and look forward to its return.

 

Picking up #140 tonight. I was told our mysterious gold box was replaced. Tech said he'd seen 4 others with exact same problem. (see earlier post for details and video) Looking forward to getting car back. Been driving a standard MINI gas version. While nice, I miss the quiet smooth quickness of the E. Hopefully our last visit to the dealer for a while.

 

#059 is alive again! I just drove it the 70 miles home from the dealer with no problems at all. I did stay between 60 and 70 mph when traffic allowed, and I stayed in the right lane in case the motor quit suddenly again.

One of the "flying doctors" fixed it at the dealership. Here is the text of the work order I received:

PEU cooling fan and motor cooling fan disconnected. Re-secured both connectors, rechecked cooling fans operation. Also found shrink wrap missing from distribution box connector. Replaced shrink wrap. Erased faults.

I suppose the fan connectors came off suddenly? I know the fans worked before because I could hear them when I parked after driving the car and during charging. So I didn't need a new "gold box" after all.

Glad it is home!

 

I spoke too soon.

As I mentioned in my post above, I picked up 059 yesterday and made it home without problems. This morning I noticed it only charged to 70% and my display had the 'car on a lift' symbol and the warning triangle, which according to the manual means an electronics failure. Also, I only get neutral, no reverse or drive. So, looks like it has to go back again :-(

 

Todd & Stan,
How would lemon law apply to the MINI Es? Jeff - any idea?

Take a look at this logic (?). We are paying top dollars (plus an arm & a leg), and we put up w/ problems that would be recalled by lemon law? Or is the MINI E considered a test vehicle and not subjected to CA lemon law? Anyone?

Here's one link I found at office of the CA Attorney General: http://www.ag.ca.gov/consumers/general/lemon.php

 

My NJ one would apply as a normal vehicle. I had to check if it was a 'normal' car before I could get it insured, it was a pain. Again NJ only, I would assume CA is the same.

 

OK, so you are all posting bad things, HOW FLIPPEN COOL is it to drive the electro - mini?

 

Dude, the subject of the thread is "Mini E Problems/Issues" . . . what did you expect?

It's freakin' AWESOME to drive the Mini E. You don't see much about that because most of us would rather drive than write. But here's something I posted on the Facebook Mini E site after I got the chance to drive a regular gas Cooper and the Mini E on the same stretch of twisty road. Sums it up for me. And I'm talking just the driving experience itself, not all the environmental do-good stuff that goes along with it. Or stopping to buy gas.



ORTEGA HIGHWAY A/B COMPARISON

So last weekend I had a regular ICE Mini Cooper (not the "S" just the standard) as a loaner while Electra was waiting on her brain transplant. So in the interest of science (oh the sacrifices we make) I took ICE Mini for a good run on Ortega Highway (for you East Coasters and northern LA County types - Ortega is our PCH/Angeles Crest surrogate. For those who don't know what PCH or Angeles Crest is - what the HECK are you doing driving a Mini?). Anyway, loads of good fun as expected on this twisty mountain road.

So, with a SoCal-perfect sunny day and Jeff Beck blasting away on the stereo, I did the same thing today with Electra, to finish the controlled experiment. Whew. Where do I start. It's been 3 hours and I'm still coming off the high.

Okay, so the basic Cooper is a little underpowered at least in comparison to the "S" or JCW versions. But it did come with the "tiptronic" paddle shifters so with a little work you could always keep it in a good power zone. But to me that's a DISTRACTION, not an essential part of the driving experience.
With the Mini E, it's ALWAYS in the right gear - always! And no need to downshift in the curves either - that's automatic too thanks to regen. So all you have to do is concentrate on choosing your line through the curves, and working the "gas" pedal. This brain-to-road direct connection, coupled with the lack of engine noise/vibration - JB doesn't need any help shaking the car - makes for the most visceral driving experience I've ever felt - and I'm not just talking cars here, as my other favorite toy is another two-seater with little luggage space - my motorcycle. This is one step removed from gliding along the road in some sort of ultra-responsive and quiet hovercraft.

I know an "S" or JCW would narrow this comparison - but at this point I'm completely sold on this wonderful car.

 

Yes. Driving electric rules.

 

To keep things on a positive note, I picked up #059 last night from Monrovia and all seems to be working fine. Jose said I have a new peu. I said I'm sorry, it must have been the brussel sprouts I had at lunch. He said no, my car got a new brain! For those who don't know, peu = power electronic unit, housed in the gold suitcase under the hood. Turn-around was only 2 days and all the work was done at the dealer. Now I've got to put some miles on the car.

 

Stan - thanks for posting that picture of the AC PEU and the actual motor on your blog

http://web.me.com/soareyes/Stans_Min...New_Brain.html

I'd seen that "cutaway" view of the entire car before, but never the closeup of the motor itself which is also invisible by looking under the bonnet. 200+ Hp from such a tiny motor! Once again the inherent efficiencies of electric versus gas-powered engines shows itself. Now just gotta get those damn batteries about 2/3 smaller, lighter and cheaper, and maybe 1/3 more range, and we're there.