I think my Mini brakes down once a month these days.

2006 S - 107K miles - When under load (uphill, accelerating) the Service Engine and EML lights come on (sometimes DSC also) and the car bucks violently. I nursed it home, barely. If I pushed the car it would get to about 35MPH on a flat road and fail to accelerate anymore. This occurred about 4K miles ago during one quick trip and went away. I have a Foxwell scanner and the issue is the lights come on, then go out at idle. No code seems to stay in to read.

With that said, I did find a Cam Sensor P code (forgot the exact code) in the "Pending Codes" if I put it in simple ODBII reading mode. I went ahead and ordered a cam pos sensor. The codes keep clearing and nothing pulls up on the Foxwell in ODBII reading or MINI specific reading modes.

1 - Does this sound like the cam pos sensor?
2 - Does anyone know how to use the Foxwell to test the sensor or read live data while the car is faulting? I have the MINI software installed on the FoxWell (NT510 I believe)

 

Try turning your DSC off right after startup [light on dash (circle with triangle inside it) should be lit when it's off]. You'll need to do this every time you start the car (first-world problems!). DSC, as a safety factor, modulates your fuel delivery and can starve your engine. I would wager that your Service Engine and EML lights come on because your engine is almost dying. From a forum member, I purchased an upgraded switch panel that not only provides dual window up/down but automatically turns off DSC upon startup - smartest thing I've done to my MC40 because I was having the same problem. Please let the forum know if turning it off solves your issue.

 

Sry... I shouild have posted to "Problems"

Anyways... thank you! I drove up a hill and the car started bucking and I disabled the DSC while that was occuring and it instantly stopped.

I'd like it to work properly, any idea what would cause this. Obviously the car thinks it needs to turn on control. I have noticed it kicking in when taking turns fast, but not so fast that I would think it would need to be triggered. One note that may be a reason, the prior owner NEGLECTED the car. It has 4 different brand tires on it. Some are new, some worn a bit. More importantly, one tire is a 215 and the other three re stock 205s. Perhaps that is my answer? Perhaps they have worn too far out of spec for the computer to compensate.

 

Glad it solved your problem. I was having the same issue for months after I bought my '04 MC40 - very aggravating to say the least. I have no idea why it works and honestly just backed into the solution (DSC off) by trying different things. I threw the problem out to the Forum at the time and no one could tell me why the DSC causes the stumble but it's evidently a prevalent issue on certain models. It's a PITA to remember to turn it off each time you start the car but it's a heck of a lot better than dealing with the sudden deceleration. There are circuit boards available that you wire into/behind your switch panel that will auto-disable DSC on startup. That's what I did and love it. However, I live in Texas and don't really need to worry about season-long ice/snow causing an out-of-control skid (which is what the DSC is designed to protect you from).

 

F.Y.I. The Forum member who provided the switch board goes by "socalva". You might want to touch base with him. That's who I bought mine from, it works great and I've never looked back.

 

Not sure, but i would think that if there are different size tires on the front axle, that it would make the computer think one tire is going faster than the other and try to correct it by triggering DSC.