Hello All.

I am the proud owner of a 05 mini s. Chili Red. However, it's been a long month and I am starting to wonder about the longevity of our beloved Mini. This evening I get a frantic call from my wife ( the mini is her DD ) that the mini had over heated. She pulled the car over into a near by tire discounters and I arrived about 15 minutes later. Road side assistance told us to stay with her car and that it could be as long as 90 minutes . Well we waited for over two hours and still no show. My wife calls mini road side and they tell us they were on a two hour delay and can not find a driver for us. Well after some brain storming we get the women from mini road side to call an independent shop and about 45 minutes later we have the mini on a roll back and off on it's sad journey to Mini at the BMW store here in cincy. We started the car to drive it onto the roll back and it took 5 cranks and ran like it had a bad miss. I just don't know.

History- Our beloved Mini has been great till Nov 4th. It was diagnosed with rear main seal leak and also needed some breaks.

5 days later we get the car back for 12 hours only to return it with a clutch problem ( some spring failed ). I don't think they even test drove it.

Now this... What should I look for when dealing with an over heated mini? Block warping? Heads warping? How do I deal with the dealership?

Would this be a good time for a trade in

Some advice is needed.

Thank you,
Cannon454

 

Any ideas? Has anyone else ever had similar problems?

 

Overheating isnt that big a deal if you dont let it get out of hand. This could be something as simple as a sticky thermostat. Other than suggesting that you not freak out i cant do much else to help, sorry.

 

hmm... The last time it was in they replaced the thermostat housing. Could this have caused anything?

 

By "overheating" do you mean:
> fan came on?
> the gauge went into the "hot" zone?
> coolant system pressurized past its limits and burst a hose or something?
> car went into "limp" mode after one or both of the above?
The car is only 2 years old, but how many miles?

Did the brake system sensor not work properly, or were the front pads just "about" to need replacement?

During the 12 "good" hours after the repair and before the clutch trouble, did the car behave "normally"? If so, it is probably just coincidental.

Sometimes, "when it rains, it pours!" Why don't you see how it comes back after the clutch fix. If it continues to break, then it might be more than "bad luck."

Oh, and AAA membership is the best $60 I spend every year. I don't know how MINI arranges its "road-side service" fulfillment, but the Auto Club has always been on the spot, fast, courteous, and a great value.

To me, the worst thing in the story you related was MINI's failure to meet what I would call minimal standards for a road-side assistance plan, given that the car did not break down in the boonies, but right in the middle of "civilization." Sounds to me as though MINI skrimps on their contracting with sufficient tow services to get the job done properly.

 

Overheating - The car went into the red and started to blink. I don't know about limp mode but three hours later it barely started. Then the next morning the dealership said they had a tough time getting the Mini started. I don't know if the starting problems and the overheating are related.

Brake System - They replaced the front break pads.

Clutch - There were no "good hours" my wife drove it from the dealership after the repair and the clutch was not engaging properly. It just took us 12 hours to get it back to the dealership. I blelieve someone at the dealership dropped the ball on this one. However, Mini did correct the problem the next day. I was just irked that they allowed her to drive off with the problem being existent.

UPDATE - We picked up our loaner yesterday and MINI has yet to find an issue with the car. A Technition did drive the car home and will let us know if the problem persists, we also spoke with our service consultant about the issues with road side assistance. He was a astounded and had never heard of it being that bad, longest wait he had encountered was 50 minutes. I expect the best from MINI service and the road side assistance was extremely disappointing.

 

Longest wait they have heard of my ***!!! I waited 4hrs one night for roadside assistance. I finally gave up and called my police freind, he got me hooked up in 20min with his tow company and on the was home I even passed the be-otch that was "in route" to pick me up 2.5hrs ago. Be-otch.

 

I just got off the phone with our service rep. The car overheated again last night on the technition that took the car home. However, they still can't find a problem. They are going to start ordering parts and going from there.

Hmmph. No mini for christmas.

 

On the back of my MINI roadside assistance card it says MINI provides their assistance through triple AAA so that would kinda be a waste of moolah

 

If this is an "S" model, it could be a supercharger problem, the s'charger runs the water pump as well......how did it run before it started overheating? Did it seem normal then?

 

yes it is an "s"

 

It also seemed to run fine except on cold mornings when it would stall out after the first crank

 

Did they mess with the thermostat housing right before the overheating problem? They could have put the thermostat in backwards, or, on some cars, if you put it in upside down it can cause a problem. There is a little "rattle valve " on the thermostat of some cars that has to be right-side up for it to work properly.

 

If you only have and drive a MINI that is under warranty, that's swell. AAA covers you no matter what you are driving at any given time.

To me, it sort of feels like having a "get out of jail free" card.

I wonder which customer gets served first if there is a "tie" between a AAA member call and a "MINI Roadside Assistance" call?

 

If your dealer can't fix a simple problem like this maybe you should try another Mini Dealer.

 

So, what was wrong? Did you get it back yet?

 

We got the mini back last night. The issue seemed to be the connection between a sensor and the computer. I sounds like they had to replace the connector and the sensor. I have yet to read the statement from MINI, my wife picked the car up last night and we were hosting a dinner party. I will look closer at the receipt this afternoon. MINI did their very best to accommodate two frustrated owners. Hopefully this fixes the issue, if not we will see about possibly changing dealers.

 

Please post specifics if you can, my Mini is sitting undriveable right now, and i have had similar issues, I.E. overheating. I replaced the water pump and thermol, but the overheating persists. thank you

 

With the rear main seal leak did you ever run very low on oil? That could cause some warping in the head or exhaust.