I was driving down a neighborhood street yesterday in my '06 Works car, and It just shut off. I was going maybe 20 mph, coasting in 2nd, and went to accelerate and got nothing. I looked down and the CEL was on and the car was off, while rolling.

I had just driven the car about 3 miles, and was heading home, when it happened. No hard driving or anything.

Oh, and the road is straight and the tank was 1/4 full.

I coasted to a stop and thought "what in the?....".

So, I turn the ingition off and back on, and it started right up. Drove it home the remaining 15 blocks.

Has this ever happened to you???

 

i have also had this happen twice to my '06 MCSa. what gives.

 

This happened to me under hard acceleration and it was a bad bypass valve that threw the car into limp mode. That doesn't sound exactly like your problem, but you never know.

mb

 

Mine was randomly going into limp mode (CEL on). Turned out to be a shorted engine harness. Again, doesn't sound like the same thing since yours shut down entirely.

 

No joke. I was able to limp in idle to a shoulder. Barely almost rear ended by the truck and another car entering the highway. It was some sort of electrical problem with the wireless throttle.

 

That happened to me x2. Took 06 MCS automatic to dealer of course couldnt find anything...somethng is going on.....

 

Just remember, dead and limp mode are two different things. The original poster said his car went dead. A lot of responses are for cars going into limp mode.

JCW Driver. I think I'd take it in. If the engine threw a code they'll figure out the root cause.

 

Took the car into Rasmussen MINI in Portland (a very solid service department overall, but occasionally make mistakes).

They just scratched thier heads. No code thrown, no nothing.

Also, the car started right up after the incident. I drove it directly home and parked it in the garage, and it did not come out until yesterday (was out of town). I drove it to the dealership and it was fine as well. But they found no trace.

It makes me nervous for sure. Oh and the car has about 3400 miles on it, not that it makes a difference.

 

That would bug me to no end. Sounds like youve got a Gremlin

 

It certainly does.

I'll be royally pissed if the car strands me somewhere.

Especially if I can't get cell service, t ocall for assistance, which is common throughout much of the areas we conduct PDX MINI club tours in the Oregon backcountry.

 

Did you check the battery cables.
Maybe one is a bit loose.

 

Even if the car stalled, for whatever reason...the check engine light was on due to ignition being on with no RPM detected. Thats why no code were stored. Be hard to track down unless it gets more consistent.

Sorry I couldn't help..

Chad

 

I can't be helpful with this one, but I can certainly sympathize! Eeek, scary!

 

Blimey did this once - before most of my mods - same symptoms almost exactly. Started right back up and no problems since...

 

I had the same problem that seemed to occur only when the AC was running. When I pushed in the clutch and the RPMs would drop, they would fall too low and the engine would die. I went to the dealership and they said I needed a software upgrade (??) however it's happening again about 3 years later. I took it back to the dealer and they can't replicate, so they are unable to find the problem. It does struggle badly when idling with the AC on.

 

Hi, I am new to the forum, and I joined to find out if anyone else was having the same problems, as me. I bought my car in Decemeber of 2005, from The Mini Center of San Antonio, and I noticed that my car did not accelerate as quickly or willingly as the JCW car that I test drove. I didn't think too much of it until my car began to sputter and cough on cold starts, about 8 months into ownership. Then, it began to stall, and stall in the same way you described: coasting to a stop, clutch in, and all of a sudden, the engine was gone. The car started without problem.

Since I live in Austin, it's a bit of a hike, to San Antonio, to find out that no codes would appear, upon being scanned. It was a hunch, later to find out how right I was. I called them, and they said that the sputtering was common, because South Texas has bad gas. The stalling continued, randomly, doing it between 8 and 10 times in the past year.

I just picked my car up from Mini in San Antonio, after two months of being there. I don't need to describe how disgusted I am with the dealership and Mini of North America for not standing behind their product, insofar as I intimating that I didn't know how to drive a manual transmission. They ultimately replaced the engine bypass valve which solved the acceleration issues, but not the stalling. They found no codes, the stalling never occurred while they had it, and ironically, the car stalled right as I was about to exit the dealership's parking not.

I adore my car, and am heart broken to have lost trust in it. According to Mini, there is nothing wrong with it, since they can't find anything. If anyone would like to hear the rest of the story, just ask. Any feed back or suggestions?

 

Sorry to hear you're having as many problems as you are. The sputtering thing is something that most mini owners have dealt with over the years, up until about 06.

With regard to a random shut off while driving, I've had none since that day (in July). I did take to the dealer and of course it did not replicate. Nothing they could do per se, until it was a problem that actually happened while they had it. But it's not exhibited one bit of behavior like that since.

As far as dealer service department performance... not all dealers are created equal, and it sounds like yours is not one of the good ones. Or it at least has some lazy people who assume it's your fault before asking questions. Our local dealer is quite reputable. They do make mistakes occasionally, but overall they are very good.

The service department is headed up by a highly experienced person who does have a passion for the car, which helps.

Still a mystery as to why my car stalled out that day.

 

JCW Driver, thanks for the response. I am going to continue to drive it, and see if it continues to stall. Hopefully, the bypass valve replacement will take care of it. I am still skeptical. I also spoke to some friends, regarding pursuing the lemon law, and yes, the time in the garage met the minimum number of days, but the judge will most likely throw out the case, since there aren't even codes to substantiate my claim. Time will well. Have a great weekend.

 

I am (I hope) on the tail end of a repair nightmare lasting for many months. Most of it due to random and persistent problems with the car going into limp mode, or not starting at all. We went through the litany of possibilities: throttle bodies, bypass valve, and two things BMW wont tell me they tried. In the end I made a fuss and got them to replace the wiring harness. Seems like it did the trick.

I'll post the timeline of my repairs for my "posessed" Mini.