After installing my VIP CAI, I managed to break the ground wire attached to the valve cover (I guess). Consequently, when I tried to start the car, it fired, ran for a few moments, and DIED. Now, it will crank like there is no tomorrow, but it does NOT fire. What to do?

I am currently trying to see if disconnecting the battery for 15 minutes or more will help. Maybe some sort of a code will be reset.

As luck would have it, I also managed to break the bolt that the ground wire was attached to completely off. Bottom half was still in the metal of the block.

Hopefully, I will be able to get another bolt from Mini. I did manage to get the broken piece out of the metal. I am happy about that.

If anyone has had any experiences with either one of these issues, please speak up. I need all the help I can get.

ChuyLite

 

Please post a pic of this.

 

Sorry. I do not have a camera. However, if you take a look at the back of the engine (when standing in front of the car and facing the rear of the car), look at the gap between the air filter housing and the block. You will notice three bolts left to right. The two outer ones look the same, but the middle one had a small nut on the top which holds on the ground wire. I managed to break off that ground wire, as well as managed to break off that big bolt. Let's not get into attributing blame here (ALL MINE). I obviously will need to re-attach the ground and replace the bolt, but I wish I could figure out how to get the car started again. The bolt I will need to replace has a removable nut on the top, and a fixed nut-like remainder along with a threaded piece which screws down into the aluminum block. Excluding the nut, the remainder of the bolt is one piece down into the block. Luckily, I was able to unscrew the piece that broke off by unscrewing it from the bottom. I hope this makes sense.

Anyway, as far as I know, because of the ground wire coming loose, my trying to crank it, it running roughly for a couple of seconds, it dying, and the subsequent refusal for the car to fire (though it cranks like a champ), I can not get anywhere. I even had to push my car back into the garage.

On a separate note, do you think I can use roadside assistance to get my car towed to a MINI dealership?

By the way, the vehicle is a 2012 CMSA4 Manual. I think it has to be transported on a flatbed.

Advice, solutions, etc.? Any, and I mean any, help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Put the stock airbox on and then call roadside assistance. I can not locate a pic so the only other thing I can tell you if you cant get it to the dealer is to splice the wire and repair it. As far as the bolt try to get it out and get another.

 

Since it is apparetly just a bad groundwire, a simple tempory solution to get the car to somebody with tools should work fine....a aligator clip...maybe two if needed and maybe with a wire...kinda like a short jumpercable should work fine. In some situations,the fix is pretty simple...you just need yo keep the wire firmly attatched electrically....about a million ways to "make it work" depending on your skills and spare parts in your "junk" box in the garage....maybe being a new englander aka, a "YANKEE" (ironic since the yankee basball team plays so far south it is NOT in new england..) i am used to making things work with ehat i have....just think outside the box so to say....and do not do anything iriversable unless it is permanent or on the broken part that will be swapped out.

 

For a temperary fix you could just ground it to another bolt on the motor. i would go back over everything you did and look around where you worked on the car for possibly anything else it might be. once when i was cleaning my rx7 i bumped the boost sensor plug and it came loose. i could not figure what was wrong! it got towed to the dealer where they charged me to plug back up the boost sensor. i felt so dumb. if that doesnt work i would also go for the install the original airbox until its fixed, so mini will not give you any issues about it.

 

Well, MINI apparently fixed the bolt, rewired/reattached the ground wire, checked the computer for faults, and ... NOTHING.

The car will not start. They now say that I may need a new DME module (or something like that). I think that's $1K or so. However, before that, they will run a full diagnostic. They will be charging me $439 or something for that.

Of course, I was told that they had already gotten it running on Wednesday, but then I was informed on Thursday evening (March 21) that they had not. Why lie about it? The car has been at the dealership since 10:30 on Monday, March 18. The entire time I was receiving positive updates. What the ...?

To think that I was going to buy another MINI from that dealership in the next three weeks or so. Not really likely anymore.

Fun, fun for everyone, I guess.

 

Update! - Apparently, MINI managed to get the car started, but it runs horribly. Though the DME was replaced, along with the entire wiring harness, the engine is throwing up all kinds of codes. Tomorrow we begin the 7th week since it has been with MINI. Any suggestions? I viewed replacing the DME as a last ditch effort, but that appears to be the start of a whole load of other issues. I really like the car, but if MINI can't even fix their own vehicles, what is one to do? I know that someone else on this forum had a broken ground wire to the engine block (i.e., what started this whole issue) at one point, but that person seems to have fallen off the grid. Any suggestions, comments, feedback, etc., would be greatly appreciated.

 

They've had your car for 7 weeks? Why haven't you asked them to buy it back from you and/or give you another? Being a 2012 model, it is still in warranty, isn't it?

 

Yea I agree. In 7 weeks they could have almost had another mini made and on its way to delivery by now. I hope they gave you a loaner mini!!!

 

I visited with MINI today, and I was told that once the DME and wiring harness were replaced, the car started, ran rough, but threw up any number of error codes, including cam position sensor, 4wd error, 02 sensor, etc. They are now having to check each and every one of them out to find the one, if any, which is faulty. I can't believe there isn't a quicker way to find the problem. Of course, I am no expert on MINIs.

 

Hi, I may have also broken this wire uninstalling the VIP CAI and my engine ran for about 100 miles before dieing.

The MINI dealer has had it for a few days now and says a broken wire shorted out the DME.

Did they ever get back to you or fix the problem?

 

bguarino,

Keep in mind that this fiasco ended for me almost two (2) years ago.

I am happy to report that after my Countryman All4 was in the shop for over 7 weeks, they finally managed to get it running. I was so happy. It seemed to run fine, but they replaced a whole slew of electronics to get it to idle smoothly. They then explained that they did not guarantee that other components might not fail as a delayed result of the initial broken wire. They essentially suggested to me that NO (yes, you read that right) electrical components on the entire vehicle would probably be covered by the warranty anymore, as they could probably trace it back to the broken wire or explain it that way. Further, they explained that there were still some error codes stored in the system which at that time were not sufficient to throw a CEL, but probably would pretty soon.

The bill out the door was over $6K, there were no discounts for essentially replacing all kinds of things by trial and error, the labor cost was insane, and some tech got to learn how to fix a MINI and play around on my dime. The service department really seemed to have no idea how to fix the car. They may have accidentally figured it out.

During the process, the service adviser would give me updates which are bold faced lies (e.g., he told me during the first days that everything was fixed, and it turned out that they had not even convinced it to fire yet). I asked him about his aversion to honesty, and he told me to move on.

Lastly, I received a toll violation in the mail a while later. I had allegedly blown through several tolls without paying. I don't drive on tollways very often, and for that matter, on the dates the four (4) violations occurred, my car was at MINI. Yes, they had it. I spoke to the service manager, and he informed me that he was the only one authorized to test drive the cars in service after repairs (or something stupid like that). He assured me that his service staff would never do that. As I knew that the vehicle was driven while at MINI, I asked him if he had ever driven my car. He said NO. Therefore... his claim that none of the personnel would have driven my car was a LIE.

I am very very sad to report that my faith in the car was shot. There is no way I was going to keep a vehicle that would not be covered under warranty for every single electrical issue that might arise, from light bulbs to cam position sensors.

I even thought about trading that car in and replacing it with another Countryman. The trade-in was atrocious. I ended up trading it in on a BMW, managing to get $2K more on the trade than with MINI. Same dealership, just different building on the property.

The upshot is that they did manage to outwardly fix the problem, but under the surface, who knows? The person who bought the car probably got a CEL or two. At least it was under some sort of warranty.

Good luck, my friend. I now drive an Audi.

 

Thanks for the fast reply.

My SA has been very hard to get a hold of and very positive these past two days each time hinting the repairs are almost done and I should have it soon. Actually on the first day he said it was just a fuel pump issue, then on day 2 it was the DME, then today it's the DME and a broken ground wire and the manager needs to talk to me because it's not covered under warranty. So a bit of the run around.

I also was in the process of buying a BMW and trading the MINI when this all went down. The MINI gave me a scare a few months ago when it died on the highway (bad spark plug according to dealer) and that convinced me to look around.

 

I find it hard to believe that a single bad ground wire would fry an entire DME...

Sort of makes me want to add a spare ground just for the hell of it... lol.