Well I bought the cold weather manifold from ECS Tuning, and had it installed by a free-lance mechanic out of his home garage. The mechanic said it took 4 hours but his rates are really reasonable so it wasn't as expensive as it could have been. He mentioned that it was difficult to remove the old manifold because of the piping and he was worried about breaking the plastic throttle body. He also said there was some strange looking greasy frozen sludge that had to be cleaned out.


So far no more problems, but it's only been a few days since he installed it, although we have had -20C weather and usually I'd have problems when it's that cold.


Oh yes I bought an UltraGauge too and it's pretty slick.

 

Again thanks for the update and the order.

 

I had some luck, (12 days), by pouring 1/2 pint of Sea Foam into
PCV vacuum hose. The next week I re-routed the cold air intake
to the top of the exhaust manifold, (using 3" flex stove pipe).
I also plugged the crankcase breather hose preventing any condensation
from getting into intake. AND I STILL CAN'T DRIVE IT!
Next idea tomorrow.......................

 

JEEZ, the car runs so nice, too. I almost think the way to go
is to find out where the signal is coming from that reverts it to "Limp Mode",
and CLIP that daggone wire. Or pull a fuse or something.

 

So it sounds like a first couple re-designs of the intake manifold did not fix the problem. Has anyone had any success with the new intake manifold?
Part #: 11-61-4-584-240
http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2008-C...B16A/ES1875402

Has anyone got mini to pay for part or all of the manifold swap for cars that are out of warranty? They should since this is a design flaw.

 

I think someone got MINI to pay half. I'm dreading driving tomorrow as my car sat all weekend in my garage, but it was like -20 today in Michigan.

 

I have a 2010 and it went down to -4 last night and I got in the car this morning and yup rough idle and the yellow engine light...let it run with the crazy idle for about 15 minutes then shut it down. Started it back up and it was fine ...idle was fine and light was gone. I had read that there was a problem when these cars sit in the cold, so I half expected it. Kind of bummed though ...so if it keeps happening I'll have to pick up the cold weather manifold and be done with this.

 

Intake simply bolts on. Take it off, clean it and it'll be good. Esp since Spring is coming as it takes 3 months of cold to plug back up

 

sKinal.......I would not know where to begin! Lol...I am not a stupid man but when it comes to auto mechanics ...(other than changing oil), That is where I draw the line. I sure don't want to screw the vehicle up more than it is. The post above said his garage mechanic took 4 hours to replace one! I'm sure it would take me double that to clean it. I will probably have My Indy replace the intake and hope it takes care of the problem.

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...different.html


There is some more info here. That's all the info I have. Seem like every time we get sub arctic temp in the states this issue pops up. Thanks

 

Hello everyone... I recently boyght a MCS 2011 from a used car dealer (not a mini dealer). It just happened for the 3rd time in one month that the half full check engone light comes on and after i turned off the car and turned back on. It dissapears.... Its really frustrating. I live in corpus christi texas. There is no mini cooper dealership here. So i call the one in san antonio and i have free towing to take my car to that dealership and run a scan for 69$. My question is since the check engine light is not anymore reflected in the dashboard. Will they be still able to get the codes?? Should i worry about this check engine light comi g on and off? Can i do something with the car from the dealer i bought it from? Thanks... I've had the car for one month! I love it but that thing is taking my sleep away... I just turn off the car and back on. And it goes back to full power and everything normal...

 

Even if the CEL turns off, there is still a stored code. Whatever the problem is, it's intermittent. If it was me, I'd get the code pulled and an estimate for repair. I would shop around for a good independent in your area that works on Minis.

Lastly, after 30 days I'd be surprised if the selling dealer will help out unless there is a stated warranty.

 

+1 on stored codes, they can run a full scan at the MINI dealership. Once you get the codes you can go from there.

 

Thanks for the tips. I sent it today to the San Antonio dealership to run a scan and take out the codes. depending on what they say I think to contact the dealer where I bought the car from and since he is a dealer he must have a mechanic. If there is something that needs to be changed or fixed he can absorb that labor and maybe we can come up with a deal for the part (Which I hope is not the case) Here in texas is sunny feels like tropical summer so I don't think my issue has something to do with the weather but anyways... I'll keep u posted.

Salibazo

 

I know this is a very old and dormant thread, however I was hoping someone could answer a question about this.

Does the R56 have codes that would not be able to be read by a commercially available OBD II reader?

I have a yellow "limp mode" light on mine however there are no codes available when I used several different OBD readers. The CEL light is also not coming on (accept the normal startup light).

The car feels like the power is lacking but it is by no means in what I would call limp mode. I'm changed the plugs and made sure the oil is full and still can't figure out what is causing the light. I assume that if there was an issue with one of the coil packs there would be a misfire code from the OBD...

 

Are you getting a CEL (Check Engine Light)? If so, you have a stored code. If it is a BMW/Mini specific code, a generic ODB code reader won't see it. You'll need to take your Mini to a dealer or Mini specialist to get it read..

 

+ MINI can read codes , they can even read things like shorts and problem code with PDC sensor and ABS sensors. Just have them read them, you don't have to have them fixed there.

 

Thanks for the tip. I will call them and see if I need to wait for an appointment fr them to do that. Right now it looks like they are booked up until next tuesday. :-(

That doesn't leave me much time to get anything fixed before we head out for Minis on the Mack.

 

Tell them you have a CEL light on "limp mode" and you worry about driving it and I bet they can get you in sooner.

 

Does carbon buildup cause limp mode? Not sure if I should be looking for a walnut blaster shop. :-/

Edit: I stopped at Mini of STL on my way home and explained what was happening. Service guy told me that can't to anything without an appointment and they can't get me in quicker. They didn't have time (didn't want to) to read the codes now and tell me anything.
He also said to just drive it around like normal "unless it doesn't feel right" until I could get it in. He said there are hundreds of things that can cause that light to come on but not actually put the car in true "limp mode".
Extremely frustrating to say the least. Time to find a good independent shop in STL, Mo.

 

Sorry , next closest one looks like pretty far away. Thought they could get you in faster Carbon can throw a CEL if its bad enough. Might be worth to stop by a local auto parts place that can use an actron unit and read the codes. Worth a shot.

 

Yep, I tried that route as well and both readers at O'Reilly (Bosch) and at Advanced (Actron auto scanner plus) reported back "No fault code". I guess I am stuck waiting for the dealer to use the fancy diagnostics machine to see what is causing it.

 

Ok, just wanted to make sure all things were tried.

 

Thanks for that! I was hoping you would keep pulling other things out of your hat that would magically fix everything. :-D

 

Well it turned out to be worse than I thought... I took the car of Mini of STL and they told me it needed carbon blasting but could wait. Got it home and it went into full limp mode.
Took the car down to Bimmers R Us and had Greg look at it.
He got the same fault code and smoked the valve cover finding a vacuum leak. Replaced the valve cover and still codes. They also found 2 vacuum hoses on the manifold(?) that were disconnected for some reason.
Proceeded to Carbon blast (the before & after pics are crazy) but still tossing P2D52, P2DC0 super knock codes and P2DB codes. Pulled the valve again and check the actual timing and found that whoever installed the chain installed it off by 4 degrees.
Fixed that but still throwing codes.