While coming home from work today the service engine light came on - 03 Cooper 74000 and some miles -it started running a little ragged - then the letters EP appeared below the odomotor reading. I started losing speed - could not maintain more than 50 mph. I pulled over and sat for a minute - started back on the highway and pulled into a rest stop - shut off the engine and looked in the owners manual trying to figure out what the EP stood for. After sitting for 5 minutes - the car started right up - service engine light still on but no EP. I drove the rest of the way home (40 miles) with the service engine light on.

I read in the owners manual that the service engine light indicates an emission problem. One of the oxygen sensors was replaced under warranty around 50K. Hopefully it is nothing serious as I am slated for an expensive power steering pump replacement next week.

 

If possible, you should take it to a local parts store like AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts or any that offer free OBD-II scanning. That should give you a good idea of what you're up against.

 

exactly same thing happened to me today...turned the car off and turned it back on....runs fine...service light still on......

 

Add me to the list of lights on...

Ours is still under warranty but the dealer is 100 miles away...gonna hit the advance auto on the way home to see what is up...I was wondering if there was some scheduled maintenance or something Mini wants done...ours has just over 44K miles...

Good luck with yours...I'm not sure what's up with ours...I do know that when first started until warmed up...she runs a litte rough and stumbles a litte...maybe a clue for mine...

Edit: Just had my wife go to Advance Auto with the Mini...code turns out to be an O2 sensor...funny thing is that after the scan the CEL went off! While that is good (and bad since I'm still under warranty)...at least I can keep an eye on it from here forward...these darn sensors seem to trip at what seems to be small atmospheric changes...although yesterday was a very stable day...so I'll just watch this now...

If it doesn't re-create in the next 5K miles...how hard is changing the O2 sensor on this thing?...

 

Once the "service engine soon" comes on, it will not go off until that error message is physically deleted. As stated above you can go to a place that offer OBD for free to see the error code.

I went to an Autozone, had to put a deposit down to borrow the OBC scanner, walked to my mini 5 feet away, plugged it in, it did a little scan and popped up the error message. Once you see want is wrong, you have the option to delete the error. You probably don't want to delete it if you are taking it into the dealer though,

Then walked right back it, returned the scanner and no charges were put through. They don't charge you to use they.

 

I beg to differ. The SEL light came on our 03' the other weekend while traveling, stopped checked everything I could and found nothing. Continued on with no changes in the drive or performance of the car. The next day my wife was driving to work and called and said the SEL just went off on it's own. Sure enough, got home and it was gone. 1 week later here I was driving it around town and it came on and went off all in the matter of 20 miles. It is now off and I will be going after work today to check the codes. I have a feeling it's an 02 sensor or something along those lines that is getting and intermittent fault.

 

I've previously had the SEL come on right after a fuel up...which is VERY common occurance for the SEL...

This code will 'self clear' after 3 or 4 on/off key cycles provided you have corrected the fuel cap issue (make sure it is seated properly)...

So some codes do self clear in my experience as well...in particular the fuel cap one...

joe.