Cold Weather Starts
 

So I started my car in cold weather for the first time today, and it sounded like garbage! To the point that I thought it was messed up. However, after a few minutes of warming up it was purring like normal. Is this normal?

I'm wondering the same thing. First cold weather start last night and I actually freaked out when the car bucked a bit and sounded as if it was able to stall. :eek2:

In the cold, my MCS does sometimes stall out. It sometimes takes a button push or two to get it going.

Mine did sound funny a few days ago when it dropped into 30 something degrees. I thought it was cool. I love having a car with a warranty!

Damn and that's normal??? I convinced myself it had more to do with the fact that my MINI now has mods on it, opposed to the temperature outside. :razz:

Try a tank of Shell petrol and see if that helps eliminate the problem.

Well at least its not me. Mine wasn't about to stall, but it sounded horrible. Guess I'm gonna have to get used to it...

Odd.. Mine did the very same thing this morning. Kind of a ruff throttley sound for a few minutes, then fine.

It was only 31 here this morning and mine started fine. Although, I have it in the garage where it was probably a few degrees warmer. As soon I headed off down the road, I got my little snowflake warning. Too bad it wouldn't automatically turn on the heated seats for me once it detects the temp. Now that would be the ultimate in laziness.

Funny, I put Shell in it on Friday and was wondering if I did the right thing after seeing the "10% ethanol" sign at the pump. The owner's manual said 10% would not void the warranty, but I read it more as "it's sorta OK if you put this stuff in" not as "we recommend it".

But when I started the car in the garage this morning in 30 degree temp, it started fine. just to be safe I let it run for a few minutes while I grabbed my bag, etc. I also had the snowflake warning, which sent me in a panicky scramble for the owners manual.

No fear in regards to the Snowflake symbol - it's just telling you to it's cold enough for the rood to have ice on it. Generally comes on at around 36-37 F.

Do those engine block heaters help? How about those fuel additives I see all the time for cold starts/weather?

I don't have a mini yet, but I plan on buying one soon. Unfortunately, it will be left in my driveway because my garage is full with other cars


Oh, and I'm in Canada...yea it gets cold :no:

Check the faults and fixes forum. Lots of noisey cold start reports there. Same trhing on MINI2.

I had my cam chain tensioner replaced at 9000 miles. Piston wasn't getting enough oil and was allowing the cam chain to rattle around and make a bunch of noise for the first few minutes on start-up. BAD!

There's some debate whether parking nose-up or nose down makes a difference, too. Informal polls at MINI2 seem to suggest more people ecperience the problem whan parking nose down. Who knows. :confused:

My advice... if it rattles badly for more than a minute before quiting down, get it checked out ASAP. There's some expectation of rattling for a few seconds... until oil pressure builds up in the tensioner... but once it does, it should quiet down & you should just hear the normal sounds of fuel injecter solonoids clicking away. Continued rattling (2-3 minutes before going away) is a sign to get it checked ASAP.

Wierd Starts
 

My car had rough starts when I first go it, that was in the summer. Now that we have gotten colder I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Break in?
 

To all the people that are having ruff cold starts.

Are you still in break in period?

I just finished before it got cold in the morning and mine sounds fine. I still let it run for a few mins though.

edit: I also park nose up. so that could be it.

This summer I was on the northern California coast parked nose down on a steep incline 40 F morning ,it sounded like there was no oil in it when I started it .Mine had over 4000 miles on it when it did this .Now that winter is coming we'll here more of this like last year .http://www.mini2.com/forum/2nd-gen-f...when-cold.html A scary read just in time for Halloween !

All I have around here is 10% ethanol.

Oh, and I've got 7,800 miles on mine, so there goes the break-in theory

I have about 5500 miles, and I park 100% level at home and work

I don't think this is specific to MINIs
 

My BMW 328I has a similar problem. On cold mornings, the car starts fine but rattles a bit (as if it felt the cold through its spine:roll: ) if I sit in idle for more than a minute (usually while waiting for signal).

But, that doesn't happen at any other time other than mornigns. My dealer recommended switching to 89 gas instead of 91 gas and I think that really helped. So, I usually put in 89 during winter.

-Jetta

Why would 89 help? (thats a whole lot cheaper than 93!)

I'm wondering the same thing... My MA also said that they put 89 in all the cars in stock and the ones that arrive after being ordered, but I just figured it's a dealer tactic to save money.

Listen to the video on the first post ^^^^^ and tell me theres no problem .

Please tell me that's a leaf blower running, not a MINI :eek:

I didnt believe it either until mine did it .

I am just past it: at 3100mi.

I heard this same sound from my July build MCS. Sounds like a horrible diesel! The video on the other forum is exactly what I heard. Disappeared after the engine warmed up.

The turbo theory in the other thread was an interesting one... Anybody had this problem with an MC?