UPDATE:

The dealer today said the problem for the most recent breakdown is a loose coil. Something about the coil connection being bent.

Here is my issue. My car broke down the same way it did when they said the coil was fried and the DME was fried.....This time the coil is just loose and the DME is fine....


Anyone that comes up with the right answer for this problem will receive a free case of Red Bull. I have an 05 mini cooper non s with 60,000 miles.

I was driving on the highway the other day and my car just got bogged down and dies. I was accelerating from 4th to 5th gear, and the engine was running but with about 5% power. I coasted off the highway. The engine would start up, but it would run very rough. Too rough to drive. Almost like it wasn't getting enough gas. Or similar to the feeling of being in 5th gear traveling at 25 mph, and trying to accelerate.

It was towed to New Country Mini in Hartford CT. They said the the coil was cracked, and the DME computer module was not responding. They replaced both. They cited the problem as being a pair of ralley lights I have installed. (They are spliced into the actual driving lights on the car. If it turn my lights on, the ralley lights come on too. I also have a magnaflow catback, and a bmc cda intake, and thats it.) They said the lights were drawing too much power, and inturn sending bad signals to the DME, thus frying it and the coil. They then disconnected the lights, replaced the DME, and the coil. Total charges were 2200.00. I drove out of the parking lot and the car died 100 feet down the road. Same problem, except this time the lights were no longer installed...

Any ideas...I will send a case of Red Bull to anyone that can tell me whats wrong. Thanks - The Red Falcon

 

Sounds to me as if you wired your auxilliary rally lights directly to the driving light circuit, rather than utilizing a relay. Bad idea.

 

wow... $2200.00 customer pay and they didnt even test drive it to make sure that it was fixed.... wow I may be asking for ALOT of help to find/fix the real problem from the dealership. Sorry to hear about it.

 

The lights had nothing to do with it!

Unless you want NAMERS to guess (like the dealer did) you need to come up with all the codes!

 

Also the dealer is still responsible for making such an expensive guess, tell them you want your money back!

 

I wish I knew the codes. They said the DME was fried and they couldn't get the codes. So they replaced the DME, said it was fixed and it immediately broke down again. And thats where it stands right now. I wonder if they are going to tell me the DME is fried again. If it's not, I doubt it was fried the first time they replaced it.