I'm getting a little worried. I do a lot of driving ( have over 12k miles and car is 6 months old) and my CM has been at the dealership 3 times since I bought it. 1st time it was leaking oil (Oil pump Soleniod Leaking). The most recent issue is the thermostat. It also was leaking coolant and did not indicate the bottle was empty. I'm going to do my research about the California Lemon laws after I post this. Any advice? Thanks in advance.

 

As long as they've fixed the problem each time I wouldn't call it a lemon just because it recurs. Give the car a chance.

 

Did yours have trouble starting or did it stumble when it had the thermostat issue? They have replaced my thermostat for a 'no start' condition.

 

SA told me today that if the car has trouble starting, doesn't start, if the fan runs excessively when the engine should be cool, or if the fan changes speed back and forth then you could have a defective sensor in the thermostat. What happens is the sensor sends bogus temperature info to the computer thus confusing it. If you think you are having this problem you can view the engine temperature with the MINI Connected - Driving Excitement app. Your engine temperature should slowly climb up and or down and not wildly fluctuate. It should be cold when you start the car and gradually warm up. They will replace the whole thermostat to fix this, but the revision level of the part is still the same. I really hope this is not a design issue in which the problem may reappear. Hopefully I just got the bad luck of the draw with a defective part.

 

kunzman,
Thanks for the advice regarding using the MINI Connected- Driving excitement app. My car was running the fan exessively in cool conditions.

Unfortunately, my car is at the dealership for the 3rd time with a bad thermostat and was leaking coolant (bottle completely empty and no CEL regarding low coolant). My SA has told me he notified MINI and will know more tomorrow. I have lost faith and will be sending a letter to MINI USA in hopes they will buy it back. Wish me luck.

 

.

 

I just had my two month old CM in to be serviced after a backfire incident. They replaced the thermostat, and encouraged me to use higher octane fuel. Not sure if those two are related, but will follow advice.

 

The OP stated the car didn't let him know the coolant was out or low.
This is another incident where if everyone would do the simple thing of checking oil and coolant level at least weekly, alot of issues could be cut off before they get bad.
It's called maintenance.
And I really believe most newer cars with all the electronics in them are going to have issues.
My wife's Nissan Juke turbo has already had 1 recall and the other day her brake boost malfunctioned temporarily. It hasn't happened again but probably will or
something else. Just bring it in and have it fixed.

 

This is 2012, we are way past having to check coolant and oil levels weekly.

In the case of the thermostat there is obviously a design issue that so far MINI has not fixed. I have yet been able to find out from anyone where a different thermostat part number was put on as a replacement. MINI has just been putting on another one hoping the problem would not reappear.

Once they do find the root cause and have a fix for it they need to do a recall. A no-start "walk home" condition is not good on any car, but particularly a new one.

 

What octane were you previously using?

I have been using nothing but 92 or 93 since I bought it and no backfire issues.
Thermostat replaced due to no-start though in December.

 

This is a design flaw, pure and simple. Checking oil or coolant levels has nothing to do with the failure. Anyone who thinks otherwise has no understanding of what is occuring.

 

What he said regarding the thermostat!

The backfire issue though that Speedy had may be low octane related.

 

Didn't mean to burn anyones britches but with these common issues/defects, whatever you want to call them I just think it's good sense to be proactive.
Yes, it would be nice if MiniUSA would find a part maker that could make parts last longer but I don't see that in the near future either. So, I'll continue to monitor my junk pieces in hopes of cutting off problems before they become real serious.

 

MINI in USA is getting parts from same manufacturers. Anyway its is the car company's responsibility to manage their supply base. I bought my new car from MINI, not its suppliers.

What bugs me most with the thermostat issue is the lack of any response from MINI other than swapping parts. At this point I would be okay hearing them say they know they have a problem and are working to root cause it. I sent two emails from the Owner's Lounge site and have not got any response back. It's funny as their email entry form even has a drop down to mark your message "urgent" and even provides a spot to provide your phone and return email address. Providing such an avenue for feedback then ignoring it is pathetic customer service.

 

Totally agree with you on that. I've quite responding to them because of the same lack of return response. That is pretty pathetic.
Agree, we all bought the car because it's a Mini and not because of the manufacturers of the parts but if Mini would look at the issues with these parts and do something it would be nice. I just have a gut feeling that things just aren't built like they used to be, period. My old 1999 Mazda pu has been almost trouble free for 13 years, I don't forsee my Mini being that good. Oh well, it's still fun to drive.
I bring up checking things weekly because that is what it takes to determine any issues. They kind of leave it to the buyer, unfortuniety.

 

The problem is that, with this defect, there is NOTHING you can do to prevent a total failure of the car to operate. On my car, the failure occurred at random, with a full cooling system, and everything in good operating condition. It simply decided not to start one morning, and it caused me to waste an entire day getting it towed to the dealer, and repaired. To hear that they are replacing the defective component with more of the same, is totally frustrating. The dealer is doing what they can with the information they get from Mini. Mini is IGNORING the problem, just like it has with the defective trim. I tried going up the ladder on the trim pieces, and all it got me was more of the same pieces, and NO response from Mini whatsoever. As much as I like this car, this is the last Mini I will ever own.

Mark

 

Here is my third email from Owners' Lounge that I just sent:

"This will be the third email as there has been no response on my two prior ones.

What is the status on correcting this problem other than just swapping out parts? There are numerous cases on the NAM site where some owners have had multiple failures of the thermostat (sensor). There are at least 4 threads in this forum all relating to this.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nd-issues-357/

It is bad enough to have this issue, but lack of communication on what is being done to permanently resolve it makes it even worse."

I doubt I will get a response, but if I do I will post it.

 

2012 CM ALL4 here with 3,000 miles. Fan started running like crazy after a few short trips today (none over 50mph, and it's 35 degrees F outside), and now it won't start at all. Waiting for roadside assistance now.

 

That is probably going to be the temp sensor.. It won't start because it's telling the ECU that the car is overheated. Protection point but if just the senor, still a PITA.
Sorry about that.

 

Yeah, I'm beyond chapped. My wife is ~30 weeks pregnant, and I bought this car primarily so we'd have something we could rely on. Worst case scenario, we have friends and family in the area we can call, but it's just an added stressor that I didn't need.

 

I have been using 89 octane, per the manual's "minimum AKI rating", as my MA said mid-range was sufficient, and I wasn't very interested in a performance car. I had not seen any compelling reasons (including researching some threads on NAM) to use a higher octane until this incident. I have been using ExxonMobil fuel (my preference, due to a prior incident with my Toyota RAV4), but am contemplating a switch to BP. I'm pretty sure there are no ExxonMobil stations with an octane rating over 91 around here.

 

Congrats on the pregnancy. Don't give up on the ole Mini too soon. Newer technology can certainly be annoying but I honestly think you can be up against the same types of problems on any brand of newer car.
Sometimes I wish we could all go back in time when things weren't quite as complicated.
Hang in there and let us know when the new one arrives.

 

My Thermostat went last week. Started car cold, warmed up for 2 minutes and warning lamp came on regarding engine overheating, then engine malfunction light came on with reduced power. Limped home and had it towed. Thermostat is was. Automobile mags longterm tester had the thermostat go as well. Automobile mag is just ripping the All4 when it comes to problems and an editorial in the May issue doesn't fair well for MINI either.

 

We bought a new Clubman a year ago yesterday.. Its nearing 20k on the clock. Its in the shop for the third time for ..you guessed it, thermostat sensor issues. Whats worse, we live in central Maine and the nearest dealer is Peabody Mass (or Bedford NH). Dealership has been very responsive, but I've got say,ordering a manual tranny Ford Focus Titanium is beginning to sound like the solution as I fear the costs once the warrantee terms. Please tell us their is a long term fix!

 

Oh, I hate to hear this! We just ordered a CM, and we own an '03 MCS where there's a well documented problem with the electric power steering pumps failing prematurely on 2002-2005 model year cars. I don't know what kind of failure could be more dangerous, and it's an expensive repair too. BMW cannot deny they are well aware of the problem, but amazingly, they never recalled the cars! They redesigned the pump, but they supply the redesigned pump at the CUSTOMER'S expense when the original fails. The Canadian government has forced BMW to recall the cars that were sold in Canada, as well as offer an extended warranty of 12 years/200,000 km on the pumps. But our government has done NOTHING despite that hundreds and hundreds of people have complained on NHTSA's website. Maybe when someone dies in an accident they will act. Even worse, the fact that BMW has not stepped up in their own and admitted to the issue says something about their morals. Obviously they cannot deny they don't know about this. Their attorneys are likely advising them not to reply on the thermostat issue, because a reply might be used against them in a lawsuit.