My wife drove her mini home in a snowstorm and plowed through about 8-10 inches of snow for about five miles. Said she smelled some funny stuff and noticed her brake pedal went to the floor. I concurred with her findings. I parked car in garage overnight and problem went away. Could the traction control have overheated the brakes, boiled fluid, etc.

Next step, bleeding brakes. Bentley manual says you cannot bleed brakes unless you have dealer tools. Is that absurd or true. I'm ready to hook up my motive pressure bleeder and just do it.

 

Get a some aquarium hose, heat up one end to fit ove the bleeder and you wont need the dealer tools.

However it sounds an awful lot like snow or ice got between the rotor and the pads, and 8in of ice is certainly deep enough to get in the wheels and brakes. Esp if being warmed up the issue went away.

How old is the fluid? Another possibility is moisture in the lines froze causing issues inwhichcase bleeding is definately needed.

 

IMO I think you've nailed the diagnosis. Just bleed the brakes as you would normally do. If the fluid is old the boiling point will be lower than that of a fresh fill.

 

I've heard the MINI responds well to gravity bleeding as well. If you have the time, this could be the easiest way.

I don't think this issue was caused by DSC overheating the brakes but the funny smell she noticed does make me a little suspicious. You could try having her turn it off for a day or two and see what happens.

 

Thanks gang. I'll bleed the brakes this week and see how she does. Age of brake fluid is unknown.