I agree with you 09CooperS however I must warn you that dealing with BMW/MINI Toronto is a nightmare. They are probably the worst dealership I've ever dealt with in regards to diagnosing a problem. I had the window dipper issue that they reported "Could not re-create problem, window is up to original spec". Within a week I took it to MINI Markham and the problem was fixed within 24 hours.

I think you are best to try either MINI Markham or even MINI Vaughan as another forum member has suggested. I have heard that the service assistants at Vaughan do take things very seriously and treat every reported issue as genuine (unlike other dealerships that make you feel like a criminal).

 

I was so upset with my car and BMW/MINI for this problem that i sold my car this past weekend. I talked to the service manager at the MINI dealer and he basically told me that their was nothing they could do and that i would just have to deal with it. At that point i said **** it and opted to buy a new car. MINI need to fix this problem it isn't ok to let water/moisture into the engine. And it isn't ok for them to take 2 years to fix it. I loved my MINI but didn't want a car that wouldn't run in 15 degree weather. I'm very disappointed and upset about this whole situation.

 

have any of you just got a block heater so solve this problem or maybe an oil pan heater its a cheep tem fix till bmw finds out the cause and the one time mine did this it was because my turbo was not spooling up.

 

There is a blurb about the sticking thottle body issue in the new issue of Woofcast 286:

http://www.whiteroofradio.com/
Moving on to throttle body sticking in cold weather. Gabe is pretty sure he has the fix, but you will have to listen to find out what it is.

They start talking about the throttle body issue about 26 minutes into the pod cast.

First off... it's more wide spread than thought...

Never mind... just listened to it and they don't have a fix...

 

AkFarina - I think the problem goes deeper than that but I do feel the mini should have had a block heater installed at the factory. We have had some pretty cold temperatures up here in Canada and the heater would have helped.

andcbii I do feel for you - it's a shame its come to the point that you have to sell the car to get rid of the problem. I probably will try to convince my daughter to sell her car in the spring which could be tough because she loves her mini when the weather is nice and warm and you forget the trouble you had throughout the winter but I don't want her going through the same thing come next winter and BMW/Mini hasn't found a fix ! That would be 3 winters into the 4 year warranty and that would be unacceptable ( I'm still holding out faint hope that something will be done soon)!

 

im sure you could get a block heater installed i have them on all my other cars they make a kind you can stick right on there works like a charm even at an alaska -50

 

I'm not a fan of podcasts, so what do they have to say?

 

Never mind... I just listened to it. Just 45 minutes of a bunch of yahoo's joking around what not. They don't have a fix and only confirm that it's wide spread.

 

I'm afraid a block heater isn't going to fix the problem we are talking about here. Thanks for the suggestions though.

 

BMW/Mini have released an updated intake manifold for this concern, there are none available in the U.S. as of yet. They have not released any bulletins either, probably another month or two and they will have found a definite repair.

 

I just got off the phone with a rep. from Transport Canada following up a complaint I have submitted on Transport Canada's Website. Hopefully they (The Government) are able to get enough complaints to put further pressure on MINI/BMW. Those who are in Canada please fill out the complaint form via the web so that they know that the problem has to be fixed asap.

I'm not sure how it works in the US, but there must be a Government link to file vehicle complaints of this nature. If someone finds the US link please post it up so US Owners can file one as well

PLEASE FILE A COMPLAINT!! Add the link this thead as well so they can see how big a problem it is.

https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur....aspx?lang=eng

 

Going to order a regular Cooper this evening. Tired of having to drive my car up to the dealership every other day for a problem they can't fix. The dealership/Mini is buying back my 07 Cooper S. Hate to give up the turbo but they don't seem to be in any hurry to fix a problem that's been around for nearly 2 years now. Turning blue holding my breath.

 

why not just let the car warm up and restart it? then when the fix is ready get it installed. that's what I plan to do.

although I only have gotten the problem 3 times total.

 

It's not that simple. I can't leave work 15 minutes early every day to start the car so I can get wherever on time.

The last time this happened I drove around at low speeds for over 15 minutes, restarted to the same issue, drove 12 miles to work restarting the car at every stop light, and it never did run right until it warmed up to 48F the past couple weeks.

Why would I not take their money and buy a new car, having driven the current car for nearly 2 years and they're willing to give me my full purchase price back? That's like having a free car for 2 years. Not a bad deal if you ask me. And I won't have to deal with going to the shop every few days or sitting in my driveway with my car sputtering like mad every morning.

And like I said, I've waited for 2 years for a fix and it still isn't here. What makes you think they're going to come up with something soon? I'm tired of waiting, I don't think it's too much to ask for a brand new car to run properly out of the gate.

 

That is a great deal that they are buying it back at full price. If my problem was as bad as yours, I might feel the same way. Mine restarts fine after 5 minutes of idling, though.

 

And thought I'm giving up on the turbo (doesn't really affect my driving just my husband's) I'll have a loaded "justa".

Though I am feeling a little silly thinking I might get the aero kit on a "justa," maybe down the road we can tweak under the hood so it won't totally be a bolt-on style vehicle. Heh.

 

My service advisor said he's seen this problem on both S and non-S Coopers.

 

Redevil - my complaint with Transport Canada is completed. Thanks for the link.

 

Can you confirm whether the dealer or Mini is buying the car back? My dealer refused to by my 07 MCS back at anything more than current auction price - and this is 5 months after buying it (I bought used from Mini). I am not taking a 7k loss for a car I have owned for 5 months and had been at the dealer waiting for a fix for two of those months!

If you can get some details on the buy-back, and let me know, I would appreciate it. Feel free to pm me.

Thanks.

 

EKG...bittersweet result for you I guess. However, I think your result is more favorable than most others in this thread. I've been struggling with this issue in Canada since 2007. If I get an offer to buy back the vehicle...I'd take it in a second. But for now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this updated intake manifold. The car's been in the shop since the beginning of January...I wonder if I the dealership will buy back the vehicle...or is it Mini North America that is buying it back?

Keep us posted...and good luck :P

 

I had the modified intake manifold installed on my MCS about a month ago. It has only given me one CEL since installation, however, this was corrected after letting the car run for 5 minutes and then restarting. Since then, I have not had a CEL but we also have not had any super cold temperatures (-25 deg C and colder). Our current temperatures since the installation has been -15 to -20 deg C.

I have been informed on other forums that this modified intake manifold will not correct the problem. I am very interested to see what MINI comes up with.

 

Hi Drtdvl,

To be completely honest, the first iteration of the redesigned intake manifold was not the solution, as some ppl noticed some improvement in the CEL problem. However, BlackInBlue from Winnipeg has indicated there is a limited second beta intake manifold being tested on some vehicles. This is the the part I'm keeping my fingers crossed on. Hopefully, we'll hear some positive results here in Alberta, as it has gotten to the sub -20C this weekend. Another person in this thread had noted a heated throttle body as well which may also be a viable solution. I guess we'll have have to wait. Thankfully, the weather has been cold in the US...finally affecting more MCS's...otherwise...all of us here in Canada might have been completely disregarded. It's sad that they market the Mini as a performance vehicle suitable for our frigid temperatures here...when clearly they haven't done adequate testing under these sorts of conditions.

Good luck to all :P

 

Mine is in the shop right now. Service Advisor called to let me know they are ordering a new throttle body to see if it will work. I'm not sure what release this is, but we will see I guess. Just hoping it will be better then the original one. I'll keep you posted to see the part # they use, when I get it back.

 

This week's WhiteRoofRadio podcast re-visits the frozen throttle body problem:

http://www.whiteroofradio.com/woofcast-287/

They get to the issue at 33minutes 40secs into the cast for those that want to skip past all the mini news and witty banter.

The gist of the talk is that water buildup in the crankcase and oil is the root cause of the problem on the MCS and Clubman S. Somehow the water vapor doesn't evaporate and builds up due to:
1) Possible short drives
2) Problem with service schedule (too long between oil changes)

Leading to Ice build up on the throttle body. They we're not too clear on how this part happens, but my guess would be re-cycled crank-case gases (positive-crank ventalation) maybe directed back into the intake before the throttle body and then freezing.

Possible fixes tried by MINI so far:
1) Change oil
2) Change oil and then run engine for 5 minutes @ 4000rpm without cap
3) Fit modified Throttle body with a channel to try and allow ice buildup away from throttle
4) ???

Workarounds listed:
1) Drive more (to evaporate water)
2) More frequent oil changes
3) Warm up motor, and restart (hopefully to melt ice)
4) get a JustaCooper

They also noted to report instances to the dealer as the problem is more wide spread than intially thought.

Not noted, but a bigger concern to me is water in the oil. I had an old VW years ago that had a cracked block (water jacket leaking into the oil). It wasn't long before the bearings seized and it was junk.

If the frozen throttle body was simply a condensation issue in the intake during certain conditions that's one thing, but this sounds like the root of the problem is incorrectly ventalated crankcase.

 

My SA spent a while explaining the problem to me when I had my car in last week (as well as explaining my 'lemon law' rights, should it come to that...)
My memory isn't the best, but I'm pretty sure that he explained the root of the problem is thought to be the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system. Some of the exhaust gas, which contains water as a by-product of the combustion, is fed back into the throttle body intake, and this is the source of the water that can freeze and foul the throttle mechanism.

Again, from what I remember, he said the latest-and-hopefully-greatest MINI-fix is to re-pipe the EGR system so that the EGR gasses are not fed into the throttle intake, but rather into the 4 cylinder inlet tubes (probably not the exact right term, but the tubes that carry air from the throttle body to each cylinder.) The thinking seems to be that by not feeding exhaust gas into the throttle, there won't be water to freeze there.

From what he said last week, they had only installed the first one of this fix a few days before, so there wasn't any evidence yet one way or another. It's a more expensive fix than the prior ones, but if it works, it's a lot cheaper to them than having to buy back cars.