This morning it was around 3 degrees here in mid-Michigan, and my week-old MCS had to sit outside all night. I discovered immediately that the window-drop-when-you-open-the-door thingie didn't work, and the interior lights did not go off when I got in and closed the door. After driving to work, the light operates properly again, but the windows still don't function like they should. Anyone seen anything similar?

 

try to role down the window (and then role it back up unless you need the fresh air ). Could be the window is stuck in the frame with the frost. If it does not come down some the door may not shut properly.

The light not going off might be an indication the door was not shut all the way. More likely though - the cold just has every thing stuck. My car (03 MC) is always out side. It doesn't get as cold here (N.Va), but it did drop down to the teens last night. From time I have seen some of what you are discribing. Small amounts of ice are most often is the cause of the problem.

 

same thing that happned to me today. I had to let my car sit with the heat on for a good 20 mins before the windows finally came down. Very annoying, but hey... I love the car otherwise. I guess I just have to wake up 20mins early everyday to get to work on time.

 

I did not experience those problems here in SE Michigan. The cold did however affect driveability. I started the car, let idle for almost 2 minutes, proceeded/tried to drive slowly, but the car drove like it was starving for fuel (slight hesistation). I stopped and let the car idle another 30 seconds. Drove off again (slowly, kept rpms under 2300k). Car was fine. Except for the fact it is covered in salt!

 

turn off DSC in the snow.

 

I went shopping yesterday and my door started acting up. It did this last year, too. Today I couldn't get the door to close. Turns out that the cable for the inside door release was frozen. To get out I had to pull quite hard, then the door wouldn't latch closed. I took it to MCM and they replaced the cable, and while in the waiting room, two others showed up with the same problem.

 

DSC is designed for traction, why shut it off? The only time shutting it off might make any sense is in deep snow, but for plowed roads, it's certainly advantageous to have it on.

 

Wouldn't turning it off lose your basic traction control too? Your wheels will spin out of control.

 

can you expand on this??...

 

You should only turn DSC off when starting for a stop in heavy snow, as soon as you get going turn it back on. The reason to turn it off is that when you are starting off in heavy snow and you wheels start to loose traction DSC will start to do its thing but in doing so it applys brake to the wheel that is slipping the normal thing you as the driver does is to apply more pressure to the accelorator, then DSC applies more brake and before you know the engine is dying on you, so if you turn it off to start out then back on when you are rolling every thing will be fine.

Now if you understand that this is what is happening you could leave DSC on and don't try to compensate for its doing "meaning do not apply more pressure to the accelerator" its job you would also be fine.

 

The DSC can be very dangerous. A couple times last year i pulled out and stuttered so bad i thought i was gonna get broadsided. I would recommend shutting it off when pulling from a stop.

Also my window was like that today also. Here in Jersey it was 9 degrees. But why would i care? (wait for 20 min?!) Why on earth would u want to roll down the window in sub-freezing weather.

 

Hi this is my first time posting and i have a '04 MCS. Today i had the same problem with the window, but i also had a problem getting the car in to gear. The shiftcable was frozen and it took about 30 min. to thaw out but it was still hard to shift for a little bit. Has anyone else had this problem or is it just my car.

 

My driver side door is frozen, I hope the pasanger door won't freeze.

 

Sometimes its good to crawl through the hatch, really gives the guys at work a nice laugh.

On the shift cable issue, I had this as well, feels like shifting in frozen molasses for like 20 minutes. Turns out, I had to have the shifter cables replaced (warranty, of course). After that, all is well.

 

If your doors seems frozen it may be snow or ice built up in the outside door handle.
If the handle can not go all the way back when you release it,from snow stuck in it,the internals will not cycle to let you open the door,inside or outside latches.
To fix this hold the outside handle in the open position,and use a snow brush to clean out the snow.And look in there,and if you see a build up of snow,ice,use a small pick type tool to pick it out with.Sounds goofy,but I had this problem last winter,and after many trips to the dealer,and no help from MINI CA.,my tech. figured this out.
Now I clean the outside handles every time it snows.No problems since,and it takes seconds to do.There were problems with the cables icing in some cars,seems they were not lubed right from the factory.My doors never freeze shut.

 

The best thing to do sometimes in a snowy situation is to accelerate out of bad situation....let go of the brake and then slam on the gas.

Example....today my brother in his R32 (which is only AWD when it has to be) lost control when he hit a patch of ice/snow. His car has the same technology as our DSC. He began sliding sideways going about 15-20mph. He gassed hard hoping AWD would kick in fully but ... DSC kicked in instead decreasing power and he slammed into the curb. Causin him to damage his BBS RC rims which he was on the way of taking off for the winter. Replacement of one rim...cost him $750

To turn DSC on or not to turn DSC on... that is the question!

Theres a thread on it btw..

 

[QUOTE=Pat_Cooper]
To turn DSC on or not to turn DSC on... that is the question!
[QUOTE]

I always turn mine off in the snow. I feel like I have more control and I know what to expect.

The lincon navagator (I think thats the correct one) has something simular to the DSC, and some magazine testers went to test it on some sand dunes, and it had to get towed out because every time the wheel spun it would cut power to that tire. Hence it couldnt move. So at least turn the DSC off at stop signs so you can get going again.

Nik

 

Finally got a chance to drive the mini in sub-zero weather, and things are already not working. Just wondering if anybody else have the same issues:

1. The window doesn't dip when I open the door. Found that out when I was closing the door and something didn't sound right. And there it is...the door wouldn't close. Now I have to manually lower the window and close it back using the key. I tried to "reset" the window by holding the window button up for 10 seconds but it didn't fix the problem. It's not "that" big of a deal, but I just a pain in the butt.

2. The factory alarm crapped out too. When I lock the door, the doors lock, but no beeping sound. The alarm light didn't come on either. I guess the car doesn't have the protection now.

I'm not sure if this only happens when the weather is cold, or is there something wrong to my car. I will bring the car back to the dealer and have them check it out, but I got a feeling that things are going to work at the dealer....of course.

If you care to share similar experience, please do so.

Thanks in advance.

 

We had a below-zero day in Detroit a few days ago. My MCS has never had problems with cold temps; it just starts quicker! There were a few below-zero days my MINI soldiered through last winter too; again no problems.


Sorry to hear of your problems, maybe a battery reset will help

 

that window problem is unavoidable....the window freezes up and it wont shut correctly.

I basically wake up 20mins early, start my car, jump in the shower, get dressed for work and shes all warmed up and windows roll down.

Nothing you can really do about it.

 

Shea,

If the door doesn't fully close, the alarm will not beep when you lock the door, and the I don't believe the alarm light will flash. That's what happens if something is not fully closed. Perhaps your first problem is causing the alarm issue. I once tried to set the alarm, and it would not beep and the light didn't flash, ended up the boot was not closed all the way.

 

If the problem keep repeating after the windows have 'thawed', you can do the window initializing procedure to help the system get an idea once again where the window is in it's travel.

Raise the window and keep the switch in the up position for at least 5 seconds after it stops.

 

Mine the same, most cars are harder to start in the cold, ours are harder to start in the heat.

 

If your windows freeze how do you open the door? Won't the door trim stop the door from opening? Or do you crawl through the trunk?

 

the door opens fine...its just a plastic brim.....i just open it and then close the door as much as i can and then heat hte car up.