I have had a rental since my MCS was towed in on Dec 18 for the same problem.

No ETA on the "fix" which I believe is a euphemism for "spring".

John at Mini Winnipeg has given excellent service to me, and offered the rental (Mazda 3) - as for the MCS, it sits in his lot with the others waiting for warmer weather....

Cheers

 

Cold snap this week in the mid-continent, cross your fingers, (-35F wind chill tomorrow)(And don't give me grief about wind chll not affecting cars, wind chill (or wind only) increasing heat loss so that a car will reach ambient quicker).

 

Since having the intake manifold replaced I have had the engine light come on twice. The first time the car reved once, the light came on, then it went out right away and everything was fine. The second time the light came on and went out right away, no reving that I noticed. Still waiting for it to happen full fledged, it's -20F today.

 

Thanks for your update EKG....keeping my fingers crossed for you :P

 

First really cold day since the redesigned intake manifold was installed, it was -4 F here in Iowa today when I started the MINI. No problem at all. So far, so good.

 

count me in too. 1st time. mccs '09. ~4k miles. drove 108 miles (100 @ 55 mph or higher...and yes it was on a highway ) parked and got gas, drove 5 miles city, parked, mccs sat for 8 hours in zero to minus single digit degrees, pushed the start button, and just like what ekg describes above...engine started, engine warning light comes on, engine revs once, engine light goes out, no noticeable problems driving.

glad i saw this thread about a week ago or i prolly woulda freaked out.

 

Same problem happened to my '08 Clubman S. No engine power in cold temperatures. Sent to MINI dealer once to fix, where they found ice in the turbo bypass. They cleaned it out and resealed it and whatever. Same thing happened a week later.

They work with the MINI engineers to figure out why there is moisture getting into the crank case and then freezing. Supposedly there is a vent on the intake manifold to prevent this?

Long story short, they changed the intake manifold. This is something that apparently has just be redesigned my MINI and is not even technically available yet. They had to get the part directly from the engineers. So far, one week later, no problems. The real test will be this week when it drops below 0ºF.

 

odd thing is, this is at least the 2nd, if not 3rd cold snap this winter here in wi...last one, car sat for at least 10 hours after driving just over a mile, and just before that it sat for about an hour after driving only 4 miles...no hint of a problem. this cold snap is a bit more severe than the last one due to wind chill factor, but raw temps are basically the same.

my former 96 mazda mx-6 never had a problem starting in the winter. not once in 12 years.

 

It appears a few of you have had the intake manifold upgrade, and seem to seeing some positive results in this frigid weather. Before I go ahead and request the same upgrade, I'd like to confirm the part number matches below:

Thank you all

 

Well it's a no go on the intake manifold. Just started the car after work last night to the same vegas style warning lights flashing and the engine reving and the little to no power. I have another appointment on Friday to bring the car back into the dealership (not that I have faith they can do anything about it). I really wish Mini would come up with a fix for this. They are leaving me very little options here.

 

Mine did this today.

-11 ambient temperature, car sits in an unheated garage.

started, got the half-filled engine light, revs were uneven, seemed to stumble.

let it run for 2-3 minutes, shut it off and tried again, this time got check engine light, some backfiring, and shut it off for good.

drove my wifes car to work instead.

so, should I bother calling roadside assistance or just go back home and start the car and let it run until it warms up, then take it on a spirited drive to try to really warm everything up?

I have a 17 mile commute, FWIW. Drove the car straight home and parked it last night.

08 MCS with 6500 miles.

 

I would try it when you get home and let it run for 15 minutes, shut it off and back on again. Eventually it should clear and run fine. If it's this same issue, you shouldn't need roadside assistance. Though I'd bring the car in and have them run their little computer deal on it so they have it recorded that you have this issue.

Maybe someday they'll have a fix?

 

For the last two days here in Ohio I have witnessed the identical problem on cold start up. I suspect I will again tomorrow as the temperature is already -4F and my 07 MCS sits outside so the 09 Clubbie S can sit it the unheated garage. I am thinking about parking my 67 Austin Cooper S and 68 Morris Traveller under covers outdoors so the 07 will start ok in the mornings. The two old ones will start, but I am not going to drive them in the salt!

 

My MCS is in a garage every night and still has this issue. I've had this issue anywhere from 30+ degrees to -20F. :/

 

Ive got 08 MC S Clubman same problem a day ago and today. Just going to wait for temps to get above 30 degrees and if the problem doesnt go away i ll call mini and have them come and get it. CJ

 

My first post on NAM. Interesting thread. I'm sitting here at the office near Chicago. Temp is -12F outside. Waiting for my son to pick me up becasue my R56 has the problems described above. Surges at idle. Top speed about 30mph, which doesn't cut it on the interstate. Parked the car back at the office, waiting for ride, and warmer weather to retrieve it. I'll have to ask my dealer if they have a fix for this yet.

 

FWIW, I got home, started the car, and let it idle (very roughly) for about five minutes, (check engine light on). Then I drove off at a low speed. Stopped and restarted the engine at the end of the road, car runs fine. Check engine light still on, though.

It was -4 when I got home. I'll drive it to work tomorrow and schedule a service appointment for next week.

 

those having the problem over and over again, have you called Mini USA/Canada Customer Service to let them know of the problems? This is Mini/BMW's problem which should be addressed by them to us owners.

PLEASE KEEP CALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE everytime this happens so they know how bad it is and how it affects us all! I only wish they could speed up the testing to find the solution....

 

Im posting to document my issue as well. Went to Dave and Buster in Addison, IL for about 3.5hrs, got in the car start it up and engine rpm was jumping up and down. Engine light came on and stayed on. I couldn't get the car to go past 12mph. After about 10 mins getting the engine warmed up, the car ran fine but the light stayed on. It was about -14 degrees and the car is an 09 MCS with 498 miles. Gonna schedule an appt to get fixed first thing in the morning.

 

Having CEL and rought idle the past week as well. Going in for assessement tomorrow. I've been driving my truck this week as the lack of a decent idle makes driving the MCS a pain.

 

-20 this morning, mine (unsurprisingly) did it again. a few minutes of rough idle, then a restart, and it runs normally.

still have CEL, and got a tire pressure warning light on the way to work too. tires are all okay, but probably the extreme cold lowered the pressure enough to throw it, is my guess.

 

Yup -34F at my house this morning so of course it happened again, this time for only a moment. But I already had the failure in the computer and an appointment at the dealership so it went in this morning.

I have a new SA and I've left the Manager a message. The info from the SA is about the same, no fix from Mini yet, the dealership mechanics are working on their own fix since Mini is apparently not terribly concerned. A bit more of this and I imagine we'll all have lemons. Not sure what the next step is, waiting for a call back from the manager.

 

BSUCardinalfan:

Sorry to disagree with you, but you should have 33 PSI (or whatever it says on you driver's door post) in your tires before you move the car in the morning. If the temperature has dropped significantly, your TPMS is telling you that you should check and adjust tire pressure. Because runflats look good means nothing. And just because the tire pressure increases after driving the car for awhile doesn't mean you are fine. It should increase, but it shouldn't start increasing from a cold start at less than 33 PSI.

 

right. I'm sure the tires were slightly below the trigger since I didn't add air and it was -20 this morning. I know that none are flat, though. I reset the light about halfway to work when I stopped for coffee, and it did not return.

I did just check all of the pressures about 4 days ago. I get the light occasionally when the temperature swings because I run 30 or 31 in the front and 33 or 34 in the rear anyway, and the system doesn't like it.

 

It's happening to my Waldo...an MC. It was a high of -2 here yesterday. It was fine in the morning when it was -12, but then last night, got in the car and the yellow engine light with half of the engine filled in was alternating with the Low Tire warning. The engine was running pretty rough. Started driving off and realized I had no throttle response. Drove that way for a few blocks and pulled to the side of the road. Shut the car off and restarted, and then it was fine. Light went away.

This morning...-13 below again. Starts really rough, engine light comes on right away. I let it idle for probably 5 minutes in the drive, then drove off. Had reduced power for probably a mile. It slowly was allowing the speed to increase, and by the time I made it to the interstate, it seemed to be fine. The engine light remained on even after it was performing normally.

The car sat for probably an hour, at which time it started normally and had no light come back on. We're supposed to get to a whopping 10 degrees here today, so it'll be interesting to see what happens this evening when heading home. Supposed to be back to normal temps this weekend (highs of near freezing), so it'll be interesting to see what happens the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately I'm 150 miles from a dealership, so it's not exactly convenient to drop it off!

I also have a very short commute, so that seems to be consistent with what the engineers are saying (even though many of you here have a LONG commute and are having the same problem!)