Sounds like your lug nuts may not have been evenly torqued and may be distorting/ flexing the brake rotor. Have it checked at the dealership. This happened to me on a Ford product and they ended up replacing the rotor.

 

My Mini is still in the break-in period, so I haven't had cruise on for a long duration. But just to test the cruise I tried it yesterday and twice it came off cruise on its own. I'm pretty sure I didn't touch any controls. I'll be asking my MA about this tomorrow.

Has anyone had this problem fixed yet?

 

With 1300 miles we have -0- problems or issues at all (the brakes, bearings or cruise control functioning at 100% & it coast like a skate board.). Everything is dandy w/ the R56 expect the odd bit of wind noise comong from the moonroof.
In fact the car is spooky-good.
-Hope you get a quick reply from the dealer.

 

No, but my SA said some of the previous years had a problem with the brake light switch. He told me to bring it in and he'd put it on the computer to read the codes. It's on the low priority list right now--I'm waiting for something else to go wrong to make it worth bringing in. So far there haven't been any other problems, knock on wood.

 

Just a query. Are the cars which are losing cruise control automatics or standard transmissions? MCS or MC?

When it drops out, is it happening when the engine is under a load (i.e. cruise is attempting to hold speed by increasing fuel flow)? If the vacuum drops too low in the intake manifold most cruise control systems will shut down. Just a thought. By the way, the excess load can be from a lot of things. Even a strong head wind. The setting could be too sensitive. Or there could be a vacuum leak.

This does presume the Mini cruise control system monitors vacuum in the intake manifold.

 

Being the mini is all drive-by-wire throttle, I'm presuming the cruise is all electronic and not using vacuum to 'pull the throttle' on its own.

 

I am sure it is not using vacuum to pull the throttle. Just monitoring the vacuum.

It is one way to find out the load on the engine, in conjunction with throttle positioning, and in the case of a turbo, to know when the turbo is online.

There are a number of elements which can be monitored to help the cruise control system make the best choices. Throttle position, intake vacumm/pressure, RPM, current gear selection, even the attitude of the car. Probably others, but I am not sure which ones Mini uses in its system.

I need to order a technical reference manual for the car.

 

My MINI stayed at the dealers for a week while they tried to fix the cruise control. They did all sorts of stuff to see what was wrong, changed out the steering wheel, checked the breaks, etc. When I picked up the car after a week they hadn't actually found the problem, but they said they were clueless about what to do next. Since then (2 weeks ago) my cruise control hasn't dropped out. I am thinking that in their tinkering and testing they accidently fixed the problem. I immediately noticed upon getting my car back that the breaks felt 100% different, so thats what I think the problem was.

 

:impatient I experienced the problem 3 times on a 90 mile interstate ride on 3/19/07. R56 MCS, 6-Speed Manual,
600 miles.

 

Mine also happened when driving longer distances (like 60-90 miles). My service person took my car around for short drives around town with the cc on and couldn't notice the problem, but in my experience it only happens on longer interstate trips. I should also note mine is a MC automatic.

 

Mine's a MCS, 6 speed. It's happening to me during straight and level cruise.

 

Can you elaborate how the breaks were different?

I don't think I want much tinkering done with my Mini to have this minor annoyance fixed. If lots of cars have been effected, I assume Mini will find a fix and relay it the dealers.

I just informed my MA about this and also told him that there are others effected by this also, so let's see what he comes up with.

 

Before I brought the car in, the breakes were super-sensitive. And not just the way a new car should be. You tapped on the breaks and it nearly whiplashed you. After I got the car back the breakes were normal sensitivity. I thought it was the breaks affecting the cruise control because when my cruise dropped my car didn't just slow down gradually, it suddenly went from about 80-60 in a second or two.

For me, I feel like if I paid $550 for cruise contol then it better work 100% of the time.

 

My brakes are fine, so I'm guessing the culprit is something else.

Has anyone else other than hellokelli taken their car to the dealer due to this issue?

My dealer is 70 miles away or else I would have already taken my car in.

 

This might not help, but I had cruise drop out in my 2000 Celica when I would use it for about 25 minutes. Toyota came out quietly with a software fix a few months later that they would only install if you asked for it (it was just a new cruise module). The dealer was clueless, but from an online forum I had the updated part number info etc. The service dept would try to repro on a 5 minute drive, but during the day in heavy traffic they could never keep cruise on for any long duration.
Make sure your service advisor contacts their regional manager with the problem relating to time that the cruise is engaged. It is most likely something that has to be fixed in the part, but they have to know about it before they can fix it.

 

I am not familar with MINI brake boosters, but by description Daffodildab and Hellokelli sounds like brake drag. Since they don't mention a strong pull at speed, I would check the rear brakes or Ebrake.
If they told Daffodildeb the front brakes were wearing fast, track back to the brake booster. If rear, prolly the e brake.

 

I think I'm going to sent Zippeee! in for a checkup. I'll let you know what they find (if anything--intermittant problems can be a real problem!).

 

Mine the cruise is kicking out randomly. At low speeds, High speeds it doesn't seem to matter. I have an appointment next saturday to take it in. Also the DSC on mine will turn itself back on. Not a good problem to have when autocrossing. Hopefully they will have a fix for this quickly. Anyone else seen this with the DSC?

 

do you have DSC? could be that is malfunctioning in some way.

 

Add Ruska to the list...

Used the cruise for the first time today and it dropped out very suddenly twice in 10 miles. It wasn't a slow dropout either, it was almost like hitting the brakes.

6 speed MCS w/ DSC.

 

Despite extended test drives (10-15 miles at a stretch on cruise control), we couldn't get the CC to drop out. There no were codes on the reader. We are just going to have to watch it. BTW, MINI has no service bulletin on this...yet.

John, if you take it in, let me know if you find anything, because yours has the exact same symptoms as mine has. I just know we're going to track it down sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.

 

This is interesting. Has it happened to anyone who does not have DSC? I ordered mine without DSC, but it looks like it will be a bit before I get to actually drive mine.

 

Mine does NOT have DSC and the same exact thing is happening.

 

There went that theory.

 

My Mini doesn't have DSC and it drops out of cruise sporadically.

It's not a huge issue right now because I'm still in the break-in period so I haven't used cruise much. But another 400 miles and this is going to be a problem as I'm a huge cruise user. Hopefully Mini will have figured out something by then.