Hello everyone, so I'm having a bit of an issue with the mini. A couple days ago the mini started having serious power loss. The car starts up perfectly fine, however when I accelerate there is almost no power. It seems to go about 10 mph then will not go over that. I have to press the pedal hard and suddenly the power rushes back and the car takes off. Even when driving highway speeds the car will do the same speed no problem but if I try to accelerate the car has no power until the pedal is pushed hard. I should also mention that when I press the pedal I can hear the car trying to make power but nothing is delivered.


Some other symptoms which aren't constant are that the car sputters at idle almost like it's about to stall and it seems to be back firing a little more than usual.


At first I thought it might be the BPV because the car has always had a yoyo effect in 2nd gear but I tested the spring and it seems to be working fine.


It's a daily driver so I wouldn't think the injectors are that gummed up. It's possible even the coil pack and wires have gone bad which is something I need to test. The only other thing I can think of would be the fuel filter. I've done a little bit a research and it seems that a bad filter can cause all of the symptoms the car is having. I just wanted to see if anyone else has had this issue in the past or knows anything about it.






Thanks,
Roo

 

Sounds like the throttle body sticking or the throttle body itself, have you pulled the throttle bottle out and cleaned it ?

Also have you had a throttle position sensor code thrown or any code. 13541503358

https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/13541503358/

 

I haven't been able to tear anything apart. I'm going to remove that and bpv this weekend and see what condition they're in. Check engine light is on, but I didn't get any codes when I used the obd2 reader.

 

I maybe would have thought BPV too. How many miles are on it? When's the last time you did a general tune up? As some just additional ideas, maybe check and make sure no hoses are loose and that there aren't any leaks in the system. I did run across this thread here on NAM where his sluggish problem was a result of needing a new supercharger belt.

 

I had some serious power issues when I first got mine, ended up being a combo of an old fuel pump and fuel filter, the diaphragm on the dinan throttle body and the bpv. got those figured out and she runs great besides my lack of boost from my bad tensioner.

 

There are 133xxx miles on it right now. Last tune up was under a year ago. Funny enough I have a brand new 15% pulley and belt sitting in a box I hope to have installed in the next few months.

 

Nice! If you need help with the fuel pump and fuel filter we have a DIY here that may be of some assistance. Otherwise, let us know what you find after you check over everything.

 

I actually already have that open in another tab right now. Thanks for the insight. I'll do some testing and get back with the results!

 

the gen 1 minis had a problem with the cooling system on the fuel pump, and they prematurely wore out. mine had 140k on it when I replaced, I didn't think a fuel pump could cause so much of an issue, always started, always drove fine, just had random hiccups where it got harder and harder to drive. it got bad enough that it wouldn't start. it took a few months to get that bad, at first it was just a tiny hesitation, then it was a few seconds of death, then it was a few seconds of death with a minute before it would happen again, to finally didn't want to go anymore.

 

Well, I ended up dropping "Minnie Driver" off at the shop. If it is the throttle body or the BPV I could have replaced that myself but seeing that it was really causing some issues I figured it was best to not drive it in the mean time. So now I wait to hear back from more able hands than mine.

 

Thanks for the update, let us know how it goes.

 

I heard back from the garage and it turns out it was the oxygen sensor. During the car diagnostic they also found a dead cell in the battery. Both have been replaced and they said the car was running great(I haven't picked it up yet).

There was always a yo-yo effect in second gear which I figured was the BPV but they said they didn't notice it when they test drove it so maybe that was being caused by the sensor as well.

They also mentioned I may want to change the valve cover gasket soon which I should be able to take care of no problem. Either way I'm happy the problem was found and fixed so I can get back to motoring on!

 

Awesome, Roo! Glad everything is fixed up and your MINI is running much better. Thanks for updating the thread and be sure to let me know if you need anything.

 

Thanks for the update. Glad things are fixed.