2014 Clubman S -- Is my ECU or DME failing?
 

Hello,

New member here and I am hopeful to get some thoughts and opinions as to what might be going on with my car. I own a 2014 R55 Clubman S. It is an automatic. Here are the symptoms:

1) Longer cranking cycle to start. It isn't a great length of time, maybe a second or two more, but noticeable nonetheless.
2) Performance in "normal" mode seems a bit more sluggish. I cannot qualify this statement. The car just feels different.
3) Performance in "sport" mode is way off. The supercharger I don't believe is kicking and that backfire I normally hear when de-accelerating is non-existent
4) I may be crazy, but perhaps my fuel consumption has become greater.

This just started 2 days ago and I do not want to kill the car. So far I have cleaned the MAF which did nothing. Before I take it to the dealer I was hoping some of you would provide your $.02.

Thank you!

1. Could be related to old battery or other charging system faults. Could be lots of other things as well.

3. No supercharger, you have a Turbo.

How many miles on car? Original plugs & coils? Original battery?

Would help to know if the car has thrown any OBD codes. Buy a reader or find a local indy repair shop. Wouldn't go to dealer with an out of warranty car, unless money isn't a concern.

ECU or DME rarely involved in these issues. Lots of other stuff to check first.

heidi, heidi, heidi, ho!!

Mini, the car has 66K miles. I purchased 10K miles and 14 months ago. I do not know if the plugs, coils and or battery are original. I'll check when I get home. I'm reasonably inclined mechanically so plugs and battery are no problem. However, I have no idea as to what the "coils" are of which you speak. With a good tutorial I can figure it out. Perhaps you can clarify and point me in the right direction.

With respect to OBD codes.... I had a "kid" at the local O'Reilly plug in some diagnostic code. The only reading he came up with was "no DTC code." I don't know if he hooked it up correctly, had the right scanner/tool or what.

Thank you

a lot of the codes are manufacturer specific and you might need a BMW/MINI reader to find them. Pending codes, historical codes, etc. MINI uses individual coils that fit on each spark plug as opposed to the older style one coil feeds all the plugs. I'd certainly pull all the plugs and inspect them for issues. 66K would be well past time for changing plugs if they are original. But that may not be your issue.

Also be aware that battery swaps on many MINI models require a registration process for which the dealer charges a lot of money usually and you could do it yourself if you had the correct OBD reader, look at ECS tuning for the Schwaben tool or the Foxwell brand elsewhere. Useful to have if you are DIYing the car.

www.newtis.info has step by step instructions for lots of MINI related repairs.

+1 on the plugs.

Pulled and replaced plugs last night. If I had to guess these were the original "Bernu?". Not sure on the spelling atm. Either way, they had seen better days. No oil or signs of fouling. Perhaps some carbon build up and heat damage for sure. Torqued properly, and left the coils for another day.

Good news? The car runs noticeably better. Bad news? I still get that one 1/2 warning on the tachometer. No warning on the center console speedo. I still have a longer crank to start the car as well.

I did get an Autozone to capture a P1338 code with their OBD scanner. Should I trust this reading or invest in my own scanner? I figure I'll bite the bullet and get one from ECS.

Any other thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I would get the schwaben one, i have used the actron one in the past, aka pretty much what autozone lets you use. This is what i found.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ine-codes.html

Honest opinion requested.... Is the Schwaben by Foxwell sufficient for my purposes or should I buy the more expensive model? I believe ECS Tuning owns the brand so this may be a loaded question. Now I may be incorrect in this assumption, and if so I apologize.

I don't mind paying more, if it's worth it, but if I can save $100.00 or so I'd rather.

No problem :) Yep, I used the schwaben one on both my MINIs. We dont own the foxwell brand its a co-developed system with schwaben which is ours. It will work and we have a DIY section for people using the tool. Which is linked back on that page: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d-q-and-a.html
I had issues in the past with the actron unit not showing stuff and not loading at all with my R52 in particular.

So my scanner arrived. It's pretty simple to navigate and the code I get is P1338 with a default suggestion to consult an owners repair manual. What is my next step in the process folks?

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...on-causes.html

the summery of the above thread was to reset adaptation.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/mini-...r-s-p1338.html

the summer of that, pull the valve cover and take a look at the timing chain and the timing.

also newtis.info has plenty of info

Ok, so thats the only code you are getting after you cleared all of them?




https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...on-causes.html





" I reset them using ISTA/D. And the faults have not returned."

only other thing would be to check the vanos solenoid, pull it out and see if its clogged.

Yes that "was" the only code showing.

A strange thing happened on the way home and that is CEL (tach only) disappeared. No code being read when I got home. Divine intervention? Maybe that vanos solenoid is just a wee bit clogged? I never pulled it.

If things will never go astray again I'm fine to leave it all... Somehow I think this isn't over.