This is sorta an a-hole thing to do, but... Walk into the dealer with a camcorder, take a friend with you. Videotape the car stumbling, then videotape them giving useless "a few weeks" advice. This will work EXTRA good if you've had multiple visits to the dealer.

People don't like cameras, makes them nervous. Get a little pushy, demanding a solution to this unsafe scenario. If videos start to pop up at NHSTA, on the news, etc. about this problem, BMW will be forced to get in gear.

I had an Oldsmobile Intrigue they kept "claiming was fine- Moonroof that wouldn't close (ended up being a bad switch ground). So time #1 I video-taped them. They thought it was funny, time #2 they seemed puzzled. Visit # three, guess what, threats of news crews, lemon laws, etc and they had 4 people hounding my car to get fixed. Immediate fix wasn't possible, but a loaner Saab 9-3 for a weekend
was A.O.K.! Has worked fine since.

I give good dealers mucho compliments (so far only one, Motor City, mini seems very solid so far)- but I also don't hold back anything when service sucks.

Written works well, but a 32+ pictutres per second tell a thousand words :smile: It's really sad companies are so lax about fixing problems, but my theory is "bottom line results" are the only drivers today. Many dealers wants to get cars in & out ASAP, manufacturer want's to "streamline" R&D, validation engineering.

-Matt

 

>>Written works well, but a 32+ pictutres per second tell a thousand words :smile:

hm, 29.97 frames/sec, but we get the point...

(I'm just being a *****, ignore me)

 

thats actually a really cool idea. This would be REALLY useful when buying a car (not minis, i think) with the dealers always playing games and "losing" papers with noted trade-in values and agreements on financing rates etc.

sounds like fun!

Its like our friend George Costanza put it: You need Hand. you need some sort way of staying on top the situation and net allowing yourself to be led around like a dog on a leash when you are in these places...

One of my favorite dealer quotes, to my Father when we were truely "Just Looking" : "Sir, I didnt think that a man like yourself would have to consult his wife before making this type of decision." My dad's response, "You dont know my wife." The dealer was completely at a loss for words on that one!

 

Guys, don't waste your time with the mostly worthless service mgrs at the dealers. They are for the most part trained in the art of lip service. Write a direct letter to MINI in NJ and send it certified mail. Threaten (written, not verbal) to have the car recalled based on your states Lemon law requirements and they will respond. They are legally obligated to. It worked for me, my service mgr didn't even know what hit him until he got a personal call from MINI to get me a rental car and get my DME sent to them ASAP. I got all smiles at the dealer and a decent rental for three days. Dropped the car off Monday morning, picked it up Wednesday evening; fixed.

BTW, still stumbleless after many weeks. If it weren't fixed I be trying to figure out what to buy with my check for 23K. That's OHIO law for you.

You should not be driving a car that is UNSAFE!!!! There is too much at risk.

 

BTW Video is 29.9 FIELDS a second, very different from frames. . .

 

I had my DME sent to NJ last week. Stumble is still totally gone after about 200mi. I do still notice the lurch when slowing down through the 1900RPM range though. I think the Yo-yo is pretty much gone, except it's hard to tell because it seemed to be getting better simply because of the cold weather even before I sent the DME to NJ.

I really love this car now.

 

>>BTW Video is 29.9 FIELDS a second, very different from frames. . .

"NTSC standard: Abbreviation for "National Television Standards Committee"
TV signal standard used in North America, Central America, a number of South
American countries, and some Asian countries, including Japan.
525 lines per frame
60 half-frames per second (interlaced) = 60 Hz
Complete frame refreshed 29.97 times per second"


Video "fields"are the "Half Frames" and you get 60 of them per second. But you don't get exactly 2 fields per frame, it's more like 2/frame/3/frame, hence the wierd 29.97 number.

http://tangentsoft.net/video/glossary.html

Don't mess with my video man!

Oh, and 29.97 round to 30 not to 29.9, so get some math classes too. And didn't I say "ignore me" ?!

I'm in a nasty mood today!!!

 

Just over a month and 1,100 miles since v36.......and nary a stumble.

 

LOL, Nary

big words make my brain hurt. Just say none

 

Question Man........

Why do you think it is that your grey matter is so sensitive? How come a quiet, poetic word like 'nary' hurts so much? Isn't it that 'nary' is an infrequently used word rather than a big one? How might the word 'none' fit my statement any better or
for that matter, fit it at all? Are you just having a bad day? Why do you call yourself the Question Man, anyway? Do you ask questions or do you answer them?

 

Joke Dude,

Your reading to much into it...... Has mco come to the point were we can't joke anymore on the threads...if so that is just plain sad.

 

i wrote this in another stumble forum so ill say it again.

Keep saying sending it to MINI of NJ. There are 3 dealerships in Jersey!

 

They aren't sending it to a dealership. They are sending it to Mini HQ. If you would like to know more, send me a PM.

 

Question Man.........

I'm glad to hear you were only joking. However, if you are going to joke at all, try to make it sound like one! All is forgiven. Peace.

 

03 MCS 11/02 build- stumble started in April when dealer "upgraded" to 32. software- install of version 34 did nothing. Car down over a week while DME sent from Hawaii to NJ. Just drove it home- Horray no stumble on take off at 1900 rmp as before- its wonderful. But i do have exactly the same lurch/stumble at 1900 rpm when slowing down in 1st or 2nd without foot on gas . I had hoped both would be resolved but i'm thrilled to be able to take off from start w/o stumble. I can live with the slowing down stumble.
Shop forman thinks it may be fuel injection cutting off then on-he said many BMWs do this about 1500 rpm.

 

I just made an appointment.... My ECU is takin' a little vacation to the Jersey Shore in 8 days!!!

Called the service department and asked if they had CD 36--no.
Asked if they knew when they were expecting it--no. Sometime in December?

Arg.

But then the guy said that they'd be happy to send my ECU off to Jersey, if I was amenable. I said I was, made an appointment for a loaner, sat back and sighed contentedly... my car is getting FIXED!!!



For the record, this is the only time that I've EVER gotten a receptive attitude from any of the techs at my dealership. They usually just sound grumpy and confused. Perhaps they know that I'll stop pestering them once my ECU comes back...?

 

OK...I have an appt. on Thursday to have my software upgraded to CD 36. I asked today when I made the appt. for my 25K service (it's only at 23K, but they said "close enough!&quot. Was told that CD 36 was in and that while they'd only been doing the upgrades for about a week they're hearing positive results thus far...i.e., no one yet has claimed that the "upgrade" made things worse and/or didn't do anything toward fixing the stumble. I have to admit that I'm more than a bit skeptical that this will do nothing or that - heaven forbid! - this will be another upgrade that makes matters worse... But all that I've read (and now heard) indicates that this COULD be a fix and I guess I'm willing to give it a shot vs. making yet another appt. to lose a half a day of work and go do the upgrade a month from now when there's more experience/data.

I've got to say once again that I LOVE MINI of Peabody (MA). The service folks are ever-so-accomodating; AND they have the software apparently before some other dealers. Toast, wanna come to Mass vs. having your ECU separated from your car? Aren't there some grad programs to check out up here??

_________________

Bring Out the Scoops!

 

Hmmm.... Jsun.... perhaps I'll begin reconsidering Brown (close enough, right?) on the grounds that I can get my stumble fixed without driving around in a Grand Prix--or somesuch paragon of automotive engineering!