Made you look. Today my car kind of began to studder after I started it to warm it up. It sounded like it was going to die, so I gave it some gas. It seemed fine after that. I had the door open when I started it, and the exhaust smelled bad too...I usually can't smell it at all. The MINI's only 5 months old. I called my Dad to get his opinion on it, and he said it was probably just some "bad gas." Has anyone else heard of this? ...or had this happened?

 

Once after I ate some bad burritos in Pheonix...

 

did you just fill it up? I've taken on a bad load of gas/water mix in the past. car did not run well but it ran. As soon as the tank got down to 1/2 I filled it up again.

 

If it was bad gas it would continue to run rough after you gave it some gas. Mine will occassionally do what yours does (once or twice a month). I suspect its a mapping issue that just goes out of wack under specific conditions, but gets reset with a foot full of throttle.

 

Okay, I'm a little hacked. I get into my MINI tonight, it's hard as heck to start. This is about the fourth time this has happened since my last fill-up, but this one was by far the worst. I'm at half a tank, so I figure I'll go fill-up to see if that takes care of the issue...to see if this is really just a case of "bad gas." Well, I'm out and a about, and I have to say, it doesn't feel any better. I get home, pull into my driveway, and the care begins to die. So, I give it some gas. Well, when the RPMs drop, they drop well below normal, and it acts like it wants to die again. As long as you step on the gas a little it seems to settle and be fine without my help. I began to test it. I would give it gas and get it up to around 2,500 RPMs. Then, I would slowly let off. It would begin to die. I didn't let it die, but I'm pretty sure it would have. If you get up to 1,000 RMPs and let off, it settles and idles okay. I did this over and over again...same thing every time. I've had this care for 5 months. I have a Hyundai that was basically my first car. (I had another car first...well it was my parents and that's long story) The deal is; my Hyundai has always ran like a champ...twelve years running, and it starts right up every time. It's never done anything but that...whether it had an inch of ice on it...or whatever else you can think of. Yet, here I am with a brand new car that cost me almost three times as much, and it's having a hard time idling. What's the deal?

 

Have you tried Heat?

 

Thank you YakiMini...I hope this isn't a dumb question, but what's heat?

 

If its a new car and you are having these issues.. why not take it to your dealer?

 

The dealer is more than an hour and half away, and it's hard for me to make it up there with work and all. I've had issues with getting the car in before. The only day that's good for me is usually Saturdays, and the dealer seems to try to avoid Saturdays. I took my car up on a day off for the rear window jet/sprayer (not sure what that's called, but it's leaking and drying on the paint around the emblem), but they didn't have the part. So, they let me come in on a Saturday a few weeks later...but they still didn't have the part. I kind of gave up on that one. It's not easy to make time for that sort of thing. I'll probably have to end up bringing it in for this. My break light seems to be leaking too...there's water under it. I was trying to wait until my first maintenance, so I could take care of everything at once. Why am I still up?

 

Heat is a fuel additive, made to counter the effect of water in the fuel. Found at most any auto parts places.

Question: when this happens, what is the outdoor temperature? I ask because mine would act similarly when the temp was below ~25F.

 

Actually, I checked the temp everytime this has happened. It was around 40 everytime.

 

a) are you running premium?

b) have you always used the same station to fill up? first thing I'd no is try another station if so. this one could have a leak and be getting water or other contaminents in their storage

c) it is also possible that you had the unfortunate experience of filling up when the station was almost out and you drew from the bottom of a dirty storage tank. that can be a bummer cuz you may have gotten a shot of crud in the system.

d) then there is the famous gas test where the dealer will tell you there's too much ethanol in your gas and that causes the problem. to be weighed against the recommendations to use HEAT or similar additives which add alc' to eliminate water :impatient . This too can be solved (maybe) by going to a different station.

I'd try to find the big brand station that seems to move the most gas and buy a couple of tanks from there....and b sure you are running premium (if it is an S anyway)