Yup everyone, I had to take Brutus in for a ECU update, version 42.1 is what it's called.

Took the ride to get registered and they hit me with " And where is you emmisons recall notice Sir?" DMV did not have that bit of info. on my renewal slip, lady tells me it's because of a computer glitch in Sacramento.

Long story, (7hrs at BMW) short 42.1 is loaded and Brutus has stuttered twice already after coming to a stop and idleing down. Most noticable difference besides that is how dead the accel. pedal feels now, especially in 6th. Feels like I have to press it down farther to get going.

Kind a sucks, but we'll see what happens after I disconnect the battery for awhile, reconnect then take it on a run somewhere. Worked before, hopefull it will work again.

James

 

Bad news about the 42.1 cure. Shouldn't it have made the engine run better or maybe yours was fine prior to the fix. I didn't get a recall notice either and, anyway, have been reluctant to show up at SF BMW-MINI. It's like passing through airport security and being singled out for a strip search. Ouch.

 

James, sorry to hear of your recent misfortune. Hopefully the computer will relearn your lead-foot driving habits and Brutus will be his normal self in no time.

 

I'm curious, is there any way you can ask the dealer to not upgrade your computer, because my dealership is pretty good about that. They didn't upgrade mine until I specifically asked, because I was hoping I'd fix the cold-start problems I was having. An update later, the car still does it sometimes, but it's not every morning like it was before.

 

I think you can if your car has the more recent revision.
Mine had a v33 so i heard it was a requirement. but it also had
cold stumble and the dredded warm stumble so I just got it done
the other week.

Car drives very smooth now. :smile: I got a SES a day after the
update, I cleared it, and haven't gotten it back.

 

I was at the dealer today and discussed this with the service manager.

He did say that he would not change the software version if I told him not to take care of the recall.

After we discussed it for a while and went out to my car, I finally suspected that I might have been living with a rough idle and less than stellar throttle response ever since the car was new. I decided to let them go ahead and do it and I must say that I am rather pleased. My idle is better and the car feels more together than ever.

 

We're almost there already.

 

Our MINI has been great for the last 3years, I believe because I did make it a point to ask the dealers to leave the ECU alone the couple of time I did have to take it in. Because it's a emmisions recall, the DMV notes that it hasn't been done and will get ya the next time you go in for registration.

James

 

In California we are on a 5-year smog for a new car.
James - why did you have to bring yours in?

 

I recieved in the mail that emmission recall notice from the dealer at the beginning of the year, read thru it and decided not to take it in until I had too. Figured I had a couple more years to go until the update would be nessessary for registering my car. I knew taking it to them was going to tweak it out some how.

Go the register the car at AAA, handover my paperwork, pay for registration and then I'm told that I cannot register my car because of a emmisions recall that needs to completed by the Dealer first.

Asked her why that wasn't noted on my registration papers, she blamed a computer glitch in Sacramento.

James

 

In your case it is water under the bridge (so-to-speak), but I wonder what would have happened if you had sent a check to DMV by Certified Mail? You would have proof of sending in the registration fee timely, proof they had received the registration fee, and since there was no notice on your registration that you needed to have an emission service performed, you would be in the clear if you got pulled over for an expired tag.

 

Shame about your Ver 42.1

I had it put on last week and it has eliminated the idle yo-yo I had been getting since delivery...