High Pressure Fuel Pump Failure Symptoms (2011 N18)
 

2011 R55 Clubman S, 6 spd, N18, Shell and/or Chevron 93 fuel.

After doing extensive research on this issue I've narrowed my problem down to the infamous (supposedly solved in 2011) HPFP failures. There's a good mini shop in town so I won't have to take it to the stealership and get hosed.

Here are my symptoms:

Cold start (sitting overnight, sometimes after just 2 hours) - start the car, idles for about 2 seconds before starting with rough idle, misfiring, rich exhaust.
After about 4 seconds the yellow Engine Management symbol comes on the LCD screen. (Along with the CEL, although the CEL has stayed on since this problem started and has remained on since I get misfire condition almost every day.)
I rev it a little to try and get a normal idle, revs rough and continues above symptoms. Sometimes this clears the Engine Management symbol and the car goes right into a normal idle like nothing is wrong (CEL still on).
Most of the time, and this has been more frequent, I get it to idle decently enough to start driving, and about 3 blocks from my house the Engine Management symbol goes away and the car instantly runs like it's new.
Sometimes I go to the store for 20 min and it repeats all this, sometimes it doesn't. Other times I'll go somewhere for 2 hours and it repeats all this again, sometimes it doesn't. It has never done this in the middle of a trip. Once it clears, I'm golden for the rest of that trip.
It has been getting consistently worse and become a regular issue. I'm getting about 27.3 average mpg around town. Seems like it should be a little better. Otherwise I have no problems with the car. I'd like to get this fixed before it leaves me stranded, just making sure I'm looking in the right direction.

Mine is acting the same way! Very Annoying! Stealership told me its all due to carbon buildup. Not sure what to believe at this point. They want $750 to do a cleaning. Sounds like a big $$$$$$$ maker for them!

Most of the reports I've seen, and mine was this way, was of increasing difficulty starting. In some cases it would get to the point where it wouldn't start at all. Not sure I'd pin it on the HPFP quite yet.

the pump is under warranty, and completely free at the dealer, why not? I'm on my second pump in my '11 MCS


symptoms may vary, I never had a problem starting it or driving it. the half power symbol would appear then disappear on its own, every time that comes on there's a fault code stored that explains the reason- that is the key to figuring out the problem. find someone with a quality scanner (snap-on) to read the subcode faults(you dont need a check engine light on, half power light stores its own codes). I did this on my own, took it to dealer, said it has stored code and half power warning for low pressure fuel, they replaced pump no questions asked. $0.

I thought it was carbon at first, and it still may be, but they were supposed to have fixed the carbon issue in 2011+ models by reconfiguring the PCV setup as they did. I tried to Seafoam it, but have been unsuccessful thus far at finding a way to do it on the new PCV setup without buying a fogging kit. Lots of advice on here and other forums but nothing definitive for 2011+ models with new PCV setup.

I had it scanned at Autozone when the CEL first came on and before the Engine Management light ever showed itself. They could only tell me the basic codes behind the CEL, and those were for a series of misfires 1 time I had attributed to bad gas months ago.

I was not aware they were honoring the extended warranty past 2010 models - great to know, I'm going to call the dealership today.

Update - Now the Engine Management symbol (still orange) is on all the time but the car still has full power.

Took it to an independent Mini/BMW shop today. Codes showed for low fuel pressure and related misfires. Called the dealership, they said they couldn't do anything and referred me to MINI USA. Called MINI USA and they said to have it scanned at the Mini Dealership for documentation before they could look into covering the repair or not.

If its a intermittent problem then its defs the HPFP. I have a 2011 also and had mine replaced 5,000 miles ago, haven't had a problem since. I noticed when my HPFP started to go, i could recreate the problem by going down a steep hill. Also had all the symptoms you mentioned.

Did you get MINI to warranty it? The dealership told me they wouldn't because "there's no problems with the 2011 fuel pumps" :lol:

Didn't have to pay a dime.. my mini was at 49,000k :grin:

How many miles are on your MINI? If it is under 60k miles that is a warranty issue. If it is over well sorry you are kind of screwed because I am pretty sure the HFPF warranty that was extended was for the 2007-2010.

I'm just under 59,000. Standard Mini warranty is 4 years/50,000. And you are correct, the extended warranty was only until 2010. Clearly the issue didn't get resolved with 2011 as many of us still have it. I wouldn't be surprised if they did another extended warranty for 2011+ but enough people have to complain to make that happen.

To those that have had their HPFP go bad did you ever hear a harmonic sound at startup? I heard it for the first time this morning and have a video on my Galaxy S5, I just can't figure out to be able to play from my Galaxy S5, Windows 7 cant play it.

I haven't heard any unusual sounds at startup. All the sounds I hear have been the same since I got the car.

Been a while, thought I'd update this thread. I called MiniUSA to ask that they cover the HPFP replacement. They told me 3-5 days for an answer. This turned into 3+ weeks of no communication, leaving messages, and hearing excuses as to why the rep would not call me back. They finally called and said Mini would not cover the repair because "there's no problems with the new fuel pumps". Ha. They said the dealership would give me a discount on the repair and to contact them. After calling the dealership several times and leaving messages they finally called back and offered me 15% off parts and labor. I decided to take it to D'Elegance in Largo, FL. (Great guy, knows alot and does great work). I'd much rather give work to a good local shop than the dealership any day. He had it fixed in a few hours. Car runs stronger now than it ever has since I bought it.

Funny how Mini knew that the dealer even offers a discount, why would they offer a discount if it's not a defect. Typical Mini USA avoiding responsibility for a well known defect, the 2007-2009 MCS are a defect meaning the entire car.

A quick search of every mini forum out there proves that the HPFP problem never actually went away. How this hasn't been forced into a extended warranty issue like the last gen is beyond me. But mini knows they have a following and people will keep buying the cars so they don't care.

The problem isn't solved, by the way: The HPFP in my 2013 MCS failed several months ago at less than 10k miles. But instead of difficulty starting, my first indication was that the engine suddenly lost power and sounded & felt like one cylinder wasn't firing. I managed to nurse it along for the 2 miles home and barely made it up the driveway. It took the dealership 2 days to determine what was wrong and several more days to get the new pump and install it.