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Hello! I joined the Mini world last weekend when I purchased a 2005 JCW MC (125K miles on clock). The individual I purchased it from was a mini enthusiast and performed regular maintenance throughout the car's life (as documented by the folder full of maintenance info/receipts). I am coming from the e46 world (330ci currently) so I don't know as much about the Mini yet but I'm trying to research and pick up as much info as I can.
However, I had a scary moment yesterday morning as I cranked the car before heading to work. When I started the car, the engine was making this horrible, loud noise. In a panic (thinking supercharger about to explode or something), I turned the key off BUT the motor kept running. I tried turning the key back to start and off again and nothing....engine (or just supercharger, was too loud to determine) was still running. I quickly popped the hood and the SC was acting weird. As I thought of what to do, it slowing starting dying as an engine would if was running out of gas. I stood there in shock for a minute as I thought about what just happened. I decided only thing to do is see if the car will start again and what might happened. I waited another couple of minutes and reluctantly turned the key.....mini fired right up like nothing was wrong or ever happened. Just to be sure I turned the car off and started again. Again, fired right up. With it acting normal I proceeded on my 120 mile round trip work commute for the day. All was fine. This morning....again all appears fine. There are no check engine lights or anything. The SC was serviced (oiled?) in late 2017. LOL, I'm scared to ask what might have happened but know I need to. So, any thoughts from anyone? I really don't have any more info to give, especially since it hasn't been replicated since. Sorry for the big pic below, not sure how to size it. Thanks for the help!
But would the crank pulley continue to spin/turn when engine/key is turned to off. This continue for a good 15 seconds after the key was in the off position.
I'm from the BMW world as well, E46 and E39 era and I can tell you that INPA does indeed work on the MINI, PA Soft might as well but I'm not sure BMW Specific programs like DIS would work on it. INPA will be a useful tool to get, and they are pretty readily available these days at reasonable cost.
As far as what happened, that is a mystery. With ignition off, car should indeed just shut off. My guess - and totally guessing - is an ignition issue, possibly from the ignition switch of something.
I'm from the BMW world as well, E46 and E39 era and I can tell you that INPA does indeed work on the MINI, PA Soft might as well but I'm not sure BMW Specific programs like DIS would work on it. INPA will be a useful tool to get, and they are pretty readily available these days at reasonable cost.
As far as what happened, that is a mystery. With ignition off, car should indeed just shut off. My guess - and totally guessing - is an ignition issue, possibly from the ignition switch of something.
Thx for the info! Fortunately, it has not happened again. It was really strange to say the least.
Agreed with @PhoenixMini . I immediately thought a faulty ignition switch may be to blame. They’re semi-notorious on first-gen years, and can fail intermittently over time instead of one and done.
If you’re interested in investigating yours further, I took a few pics of tearing my own ignition switch down to find a fault preventing my starter motor from engaging.
Agreed with @PhoenixMini . I immediately thought a faulty ignition switch may be to blame. They’re semi-notorious on first-gen years, and can fail intermittently over time instead of one and done.
If you’re interested in investigating yours further, I took a few pics of tearing my own ignition switch down to find a fault preventing my starter motor from engaging.
Thank you for the response. I will definitely look in to your thread. Though I'm worried about the fact it didn't shut off, I'm more concerned about why in the world the supercharger was doing what it was doing. It's like it was possessed for a brief moment. Running on its own almost...
Hasn't done it since thank goodness. I've put about 750 miles on it since. Fingers crossed.
@harleyrob Not turning off is definitely an unnerving thing to happen! Although nothing to do with the supercharger itself could cause your symptoms. The SC is simply driven by the serpentine belt, so anything the supercharger does, the engine does it first. Your symptoms need both fuel and ignition systems to work (or not work) together.. and there aren’t many things that control both. The ignition switch is one, ECU is another.
It may be a hard thing to confirm you’ve fixed when you can’t replicate the issue reliably, but with the ignition switch, there’s a change the issue may be visibly noticeable.
Did you ask the previous owner? If he’s a MINI enthusiast, he’ll hopefully be cool about it and maybe even help troubleshoot.
