I didn't find a similar topic, so I'm starting a new thread here - moderators please move it if there's a better spot.

My 2012 R60 has had several "limp mode" moments over the last couple years.
This usually occurs during rapid acceleration, and sometimes the issue will disappear if the vehicle is parked for about 5 minutes.
Two years ago I had it in to the shop where they replaced ALL of the plugs and ignition coils. 6 months later I had to replace a bad ignition coil again, and then again, and recently - you guessed it - I replaced another one.
They all went out under rapid acceleration and each time the engine would go into "limp mode".
So now I'm starting to wonder - what can I do to correct this issue?
As mentioned, the plugs are new - should I replace them with better ones?
The gaps are correct.
Should I look at changing the wires?
All of the ignition coils that I have used are the "expensive" quality recommended parts.
Something is causing this issue to recur, but I need your collective experience on this one.

Any input is appreciated input

 

well, coils do go bad... but what makes a coil go bad? bad electricity or corrosion which then causes bad electricity. has the same cylinder coil been going bad? or random. have you moved that "bad coil" to another cylinder and get a repeated code/ fault for the new location?


are you tuned? different plugs will react in different ways with different gaps. theres not neccesarilly a one plug does it all at this gap. when pushing more boost, the gap needs to be smaller. are you using iridium plugs? cause you could be cracking the electrode.


also when replacing coils.... are you getting the same brand every time?

 

Each time I've replaced a coil it has been a different location. I have swapped numbers to see if the "bad" coil created the same problem/code i a different location and it did. Everything is stock so far - no tuning. I believe I'm running the Bosch Double Platinum plugs, I would have to check but I know I'm not using iridium. Should I be? Lastly, when I replace the coils, I have been switching brands each time to see if I get more longevity - so far that isn't working.

 

Is the dealer doing the work or an independent shop? Have you read OBD codes ?

 

I had a independent shop replace all the coils/plugs the first time. I took it to mini afterwards (4 hours away) and they gave it a clean bill of health. Since then I have been doing the work myself. I have a cheap scan tool that only shows generic OBD codes. This issue has thrown different codes from 0300 to 0304 (all four cylinders). I also got an 0320 code once (Crankshaft position (CKP) sensor/engine speed (RPM) sensor circuit malfunction) which was strange, but hasn't repeated.

 

Did independent shop use OEM coils? How many miles?

Our 2011 has 51000+ original coils, new plugs at 30,000 just because I wanted to do something.

 

The shop installed Bremi coils after two of the original Bosch coils went bad at 40000 miles. The vehicle was at 70000 miles when I changed the last coil over the weekend. Plugs look clean, wires and caps look good as well - no corrosion or dirt or visible chafing/damage to the wires.

 

In our shop we only use factory MINI coils as we've seen this just like you are having happen before. Also we always replace them in a set of 4.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/direct...9-r60-r61.html

Also another thing we have actually tested is hooking up the car to an old school oscilloscope and measure the output of the coils. We found the aftermarket never put out as much as the original MINI ones. By like 10-20kv

 

Using the factory coils, how frequently are you seeing these replaced? Also, aren't the OEM coils Bosch? When I first replaced mine, the bad coils were Bosch so I just assumed that was OEM...

 

I had the same issue today on my CM 2013 at 40K miles... Having the spark plugs and ignition coils replaced.

 

Are you doing this at the dealer? What were the symptoms? What info did they give you when they decided to recommend replacing? I'm also curious to hear back on which brand they use for replacements.
Please keep us posted!

 

My car is no longer under warranty so no I am not doing this at the dealer (too expensive ). When I started my car this morning, the check engine light came on. My car was idling really rough. I drove it a bit and noticed that it was sputtering when I accelerated from 2nd to 3rd gear. Since it is not good to drive your car when the check engine light comes on, I went to a nearby mechanic that I know has a good reputation. They ran the engine codes for my car to diagnose the problem. I decided to go with BMD for the ignition coil replacement as the OE is Bosch and this seems to be the issue. Not sure if that was a good call but the forums point to this being a common issue and is associated with the original part. Hope this makes sense

 

if a coil goes bad, you can actually visually see your engine shake... since it wont be running on 4 cyl often. when my gf's r56 had this happen, I didn't even need to see anything, I could hear the fact it was running on 3

 

Good point... it was shaking. They also told me that my spark plugs look like they should have been in a car with a lot more milage. What is the issue here with this happening at such a low milage (40K)?

 

depends on the spark plug. some wear faster than others

 

Was there ever a solution, I am having this same issue and it is driving me bonkers.
I will buy Delphi coils and fancy NGK later this week to check but as of now im at a loss.

 

My 2012 Countryman does the same thing. I read an article from a mechanic who did an outstanding job troubleshooting repeating coil failures.
I found the link to the article.

https://www.vehicleservicepros.com/s...roubleshooting

He did the troubleshooting on a VW with coils and a distributor but the method is the same. The coils in our Mini's are overheating then self-destructing. There are a few reasons that could cause this: 1) Too lean of fuel mixture 2) Not enough air getting into the cylinders and 3) electrical issues. The mechanic found on the VW many things wrong but it came down to checking the wave form of the electrical signal going to the coils. The coil self-destructs when the car starts to mis-fire. The mis-fires cause the ECU is getting bad air/fuel readings from its sensors. Once this happens the ECU starts to compensate for the overheating condition by leaving the coil "open" or "on" longer to make sure the fuel is burning completely causing the coil to overheat even more. This starts a cascade event until the coil burns up.
Someone here said they got a Crank Sensor errors. That is certainly one of the sensors the ECU uses to determine when to fire each cylinder so change it out. They are cheap and easy to get to. Then look at the MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor. As this sensor fails it feed incorrect airflow info to the ECU and the ECU starts to compensate. It starts with backfires, mis-fires or hesitation under power. It usually very quickly devolves into a limp-home mode situation. MAFs are about $135. The mechanic on the VW said he found the MAF for the VW had gone bad (NOTE: It had just been changed by a different mechanic, so be aware this may happen) starting the cascading events leading to coil failure. I just changed my MAF and have not had to replace another coil yet. The mechanic on the VW had the same results. It won't always be the MAF but I would swap that out to see if it resolves your problem. If the car is full-out stalling, and the car engine is dying, then it may be the ECU needs replacing. As the coils fail there are times, rare but it happens, that when the coil fails it shorts internally. That short may lead back to the ECU shorting a portion of the ECU.
If you are just getting the regular " Car starts to mis-fire, hesitation under power, then engine light, then limp-home mode" and changing the coil fixes the issue, you probably have a bad Crank Position Sensor or a bad MAF. Swap them both out for less than $300. Just one guy's 2-cents.

UPDATE 3/1/2022 - The MAF did not fix the coil problem. I am starting to have issues again. I think the issue is with air/fuel mixture issues but with new MAF (thought the car was running better) I am at a loss. I don't think this is a CPS issue since I am not getting errors for that sensor. If anyone has any ideas what this is please let me know. IN the mean time I will continue to troubleshoot and post my findings.

UPDATE 6/2/2022 - The MAF DID fix the coil problem. I ended up having one more coil failure right after changing the MAF then no more. The last one to fail must have already started to degrade due to the bad MAF. Since that last failure I have had no more. Just like the article (see attached link) where the mechanic found that MAF to be at fault for the coil failures in the VW, it was the source of my failures as well.

 

I’ve had this issue with the failing ignition codes literally since I drove it home brand new from the dealer in 2013. I’ve had the coils replaced numerous times, including today, so I decided to do some research. I haven’t read every post on here so this may have been mentioned, but I wanted to tell folks what I found.

Mini claims they sent a letter to all original owners of these vehicles informing them of an Extended Limited Warranty specifically regarding the coils. I don’t believe I ever received this letter and I’ve lived in the same house for 20 years. The letter says they will also reimburse for previously replaced coils even if it wasn’t done at a dealer.

I’m just going to buy four new coils and replace them myself and probably a couple extra to keep in the car. My question is which ones should I buy? My German auto shop mechanic says they all fail at the same rate and he doesn’t believe the OEM last any longer than the others. Can someone recommend some that they’ve used and gotten the most use out of? Thanks!

 

@Cohnhead: FWIW, I just did the 60k spark plug change on my 2016 R60 and decided to proactively change the coils too. I assume it was the first one and the plugs were Champion and the coils were Delphi. Went back in with Beru and Delphi from Out Motoring.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4621413

As I wrote in the link above, I found out that the lever lock on top of the coil doesn't push the connector on all the way -- poor assumption on my part I guess.