Coming home last night from a night out. My mini randomly stalled at a light 2 mins from my apartment. Thought maybe after having a friend drive it ( I was forced to drive a friends car so she could get home safe. Autotragic :( ) and me driving it might have just been a little hiccup. So I think nothing of it and decided to check it in the morning. I do so and this is what I find.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4UtY...e_gdata_player
Check engine light comes on and is blinking. Doing some reading I feel ive narrowed it down to the Fuel Pump, O2 sensor, Cadalidic Converter/exhaust system. Anyone have any ideas or experience with this? Im supposed to be at work in two hours too lol great start to a saturday.

 

I seriously doubt it's the "Cadalidic Converter". Judging by the amount of engine movement, it looks like it's running on 3 cylinders. Check your spark plug wires and plugs to make sure everything is connected properly.

 

A mechanic friend is coming over and were gonna check the crank, cam and plugs since he has more knowledge than I do.

 

Your best bet is going to be using a scan tool to see what code the CEL is.

 

Does Autozone loan them out? I know they read the codes for free but theres no way i can get my car up to one. Not worth the risk.

 

We were able to get it hooked up and got these codes (p1689, p0303, p0318)

 

I just realized I didnt put any real info on here about my car. Its a 05 MCS 74k miles on it with an Alta CAI. Starting the car it barely comes on I have to pump the gas. When driving it, the car will occasionally shut off. Requiring me to restart the engine and keep going. Its rather loud to. I believe thats from the P0303 code (Cylander 3 misfiring). Doing some research the P1689 is miscalculation on 2/3 throttle and the P0318 is a Rough Road Sensor
"A" Signal Circuit. What I dont get is how this all comes together making my car practically undrivable. Pardon my ignorance but if someone could shed some light on how this comes together that would be great. Thanks in advance! Normally Im a dive in and figure it out myself like with computers and things but not being so knowledgeable about cars I thought best to not dive in this time.

 

I've been an owner since 2002

your car is screwed up

 

Lol just starting it up I came to that conclusion. I unofortunately have to wait till Monday to call Mini

 

Gonna try replacing the spark plugs and clean the throttle body and try a new O ring for it see if that changes a thing.

 

Ugh! Look at that thing shake! And it sounds horrible! My bet is the ignition system. Definitely not your "Cadalidic Converter," (it's Catalytic, FYI) and don't mess with the throttle body either. The throttle has to hold open farther to keep it idling at the right spot because it is running off of only 3 cylinders (also not spelled Cylanders), a whole cylinder is just dead weight. So the throttle miscalculation is due to the computer compensating for that power loss and the dead weight. As for the other sensor, your engine is basically jumping off the mounts at an idle! Of course your MINI thinks its driving on a "rough road!" Depending on where the sensor is located, that will cause it to trip, from the vibrations. I don't know much about that sensor, but my .02 is fix the misfire and these other faults will go away.

 

I got the misfire fixed and the engine stopped shaking still rough idling. Some forum posts on here similar to mine was the software. Hopefully that will be the case. But I got it towed to Mini for their inspection. I noticed the spelling mistakes haha it was early in the morning in frustration.

 

So mini says it needs a new engine 13k estimate. I paid about that for the car less than four months ago. I know I'm screwed probably. Any ideas or suggestions? I'm awaiting a call back from the manager of the dealership I bought it from to see what they might or won't do.

 

What was their reasoning for a new engine?!

 

Oil in the cylinder and the gasket.

 

I'd take it to an independent mechanic and get a second opinion.

 

A new engine is in the realm of $5K plus labor, they're out of their mind telling you $13K for a motor.

 

Dang! A new engine???? That sucks! Sounds like rings and a head gasket might be the gasket your talking about? Not holding compression will cause the engine to work considerably harder as well, I'm sure you probably know that, so it makes sense for your throttle miscalculation. I would look into a reputable independent BMW/MINI shop and see how much they would want for a rebuild on it, that could very well be cheaper than replacing the whole thing, but then again you never know till you ask!

 

Ended up finding a shop to work on it and it turned out to be my exhuast valves. They checked the head and it was fine (Thankfully!). Been running it for the past few weeks and its been good. The shop did warn me that the o2 sensor was going bad and it was cuasing it to show codes but he is clearing them for me untill im able to get it fixed. Glad to finally be back on the road after 3k in labor and parts.

Any recomendations for where to pick up an o2 for cheap?

 

I'd recommend not going back to that Mini service dept, who was that?, if you don't mind answering?

I'm glad you hung in there and found a solution that was more affordable.

 

But any explanation for what exactly caused the problem with the exhaust valves?

 

It was Shaverdi's in Pasadena MD. Not too bad. Turns out the code is a 1237 coming from my alta CAI(According to the shop).Research on here shows it could be some (t)/map sensors or vaccum leak from the BPV. When I get some time off and decent weather I gotta investigate what they didnt put back together right. Before any issues popped up I wasnt getting any codes from it and even during all the major issues that code wasnt popping up.

They werent entirely sure. Some speculated ideas but nothing definitive.