Thanks for the info Vidd! That helped me to understand what is happening.

Are there any signs of a failing pump? I noticed a couple people mentioned surging when coming to a stop at a set of lights. Also, not being able to start in the morning. Anything else of note?

Thanks!
~MattS

 

When the dealership was hunting down the noise and stalling problems last Nov, they told me they replaced the HPFP. They now tell me that since that didn't fix the problem, they re-installed the original one. So, no parts warranty. Talking in length with both the dealership and Mini, they are going to cover replacing the HPFP "again" this time, under good will. The SA went to bat for us. We are grateful. This has been a painful last 4 months in/out/in the service shop.

To note from our Nov. 09 service, the Vanos and timing chain tensioner were replaced. That fixed the cold rattle issue, and made the hard starts and engine idle better but not fixed. We see this as a continuation. No word yet on us having to replace 1 quart oil per 1 1/2 weeks of driving. No visible leaks or drips. No exhaust smoking or smell.

Stay tuned for the results.

 

Surging and false/hard starts were present when the Vanos failed. Now it takes 5 starts, and has a rough idle, then stalls. Can't drive it. Was towed into dealership.

 

1000-1 it's carbon buildup on the intake valves. This is the "other" chronic problem these motors suffer from, on top of bad HPFPs and the timing chain fiasco. Your dealership should be well aware of this and should be looking to investigate carbon buildup as the root of your problems. If they aren't already leaning in that direction, call them and demand that they concentrate there now. Again, you could flood them with dozens and dozens of documented cases of the same symptoms being caused by this, if they care to see them.

 

Maybe that's where all the oil is going...

Update, Mini is good willing the HPFP. It's in, and the car starts. That's about all I know at the moment. We haven't actually seen the car since it was towed...

 

Here's a post giving more insight in Vanos, oil specs, and HPFP issues. I found it useful. There is much more out on this now than there was in Nov.

http://www.psmini.org/forum/forum_po...6150&PID=71202

 

Mini and the dealership replaced the HPFP under good will. There was no answer on the oil problem. Was told to let it run low, and bring it back in.

 

Mine was replaced yesterday at 6700 miles. The Check Engine Light came on, and the engine seemed to be missing intermittently for a couple of days until I had an appt. with the dealer. I guess I should happy I was able to continue to drive it, and it did not cut out completely.

 

I have a ScanGauge and noticed that my gas milage seems *really* low (15 - 19mpg is what it has been reading). I don't drive the car everyday, so I haven't paid close attention to it until I noticed yesterday.

If I suspect HPFP - anyone else have experience getting theirs replaced *before* the car decides to die? Any numbers I can pull on the ScanGauge to confirm an issue? I just don't want to take it in for a diag to have them tell me "everything's fine"...

 

I posted here that my high pressure fuel pump has been replace twice already. Well, two weeks later (today) Mini dies (and I do mean dies) on me filling the cabin with gas fumes. After having it towed to the dealer come to find out the clips from the intake to the hpfp magically went bad! Couldn't they have noticed this when they replaced it? I ask. Nooo.

Methinks they didn't hook it up correctly...

I am really really getting frustrated...

 

mtubesing,

I have a 2009 MCS Cabrio and just had my HPFP replaced at 3,800 miles. My symptoms were a little different than some. When this first happened I went out to the garage hit the start button and instead of firing right up it started sputtering but after a few seconds everything was normal. Now I dont drive my mini every day so I chalked it up to maybe some condensation or maybe some stale gas. OK next day same thing sputters everything is A-OK after a few seconds. Next time I went to start her up i opened the boot, got in dropped the top then started her up. This time it was like she had a diesel engine actually it was like she had a fouled cylinder and was misfiring. It died several times then once she warmed up all is well. So I'm talking to a good friend of mine and fellow 2009 MCS owner. and I decided to do a little garage diagnostics. We are figuring when I jump right in the car and start it right up just a little sputter and then she is good, however if I open the boot , drop the top or just wait several minutes it takes several minutes of restarting etc before she warms up. So our theory was I had an injector that was misbehaving and if I started it right up not too much of a problem, however if I let the enjine stay pressurized for any length of time the misbehaving injector was leaking fuel into the cylinder thereby causing the problem. Well I tried this two days running and same results both times as We predicted. Oh I forgot to mention each time this would happen either the quick or prolonged sputtering I would get an CEL but it would clear itself once the engine warmed up.

So I take her in to the dealership this morning so I jump right in and start it up quickly pull out of the garage and let her idle while I grab my bag inside. I came out to a bonafide CEL on the speedo, tach and triangle on the odometer. Which I was kind of glad now at least there was data to back up my hypothesis. I explained everything in detail to the tech and rather smugly thinking to myself yeah their just gonna find a bad injector. Nope what they found was the check engine light misfires on all four cylinders. HPFP only had 3.6MPA when optimum set point is 5.0 MPA.

So what the tech told me was the reason for the hard starts is when the engine is cold it needs more pressure than when the engine is warm thus once she warmed up it was not noticeable even though the pump was not putting out the proper MPA.

I consider myself lucky on two accounts one my pump just didn't up and quit on me and second that my dealership is very accommodating compared to many others I've heard about on here.

Anyway I know I wrote a small novel but I hope this helps

 

Manassas -

Thanks for the post. I actually prefer more details rather than trying to guess in between someone else's lines... And it's good to hear that your dealer did the right thing.

I tried another "test" yesterday and I think maybe what I'm seeing is some setup issues with the ScanGauge vs the built-in trip computer. I reset both at the same time and then went out to run an errand. By the time I came home, the MINI trip computer said I had averaged 25 something MPG and the ScanGauge said 19. Interesting.

From reading the other posts on the subject, it sounds like the universal indicator of HPFP problems is sputtering on cold start or needing a couple starts to get it running. I haven't run into that so (fingers crossed) - all is well.

 

Cold start problem = HPFP .. Mine replaced also 18,000 Miles

 

I just got my HPFP replaced as well @ 20k miles. My car was sputtering at idle and running pretty rough. I hope its fixed now!

 

I have yet to by a Mini but, have had other vehicles with similar HPFP issues. With each vehicle the dealerships replaced the pump and all was well, the SA's would tell me that a new pump design was used in each case. Maybe this has been stated before but, does BMW recognize the problem or do they just intent to replace the pumps with the same design until customers cars are out of warranty?

 

Just had mine done! '09 MCS 12,000mi. started to run like s**t then finally sputtered, gave me service engine light, and wouldnt fire up! had to have it towed out of my driveway to dealer! They said it was the high pressure fuel pump, now that I have it back it runs normal again, but I've lost a bit of confidence in her! Will it happen again? Hope not, it was a horrible feeling!

 

You can expect this to happen when a pump is replaced, the fuel lines/pump etc. will have air in it from the installation process, once the air is worked out of the system you should not have ongoing problems.
If it is an ongoing problem you have a leak in the fuel system causing a loss of pressure when the vehicle is not running.
Put a pressure guage on it
Air in the lines will also affect the fuel pressure - likely causing the sputtering.

 

Ours replaced today - 12K miles. Lots of cold start sputter - CEL X2

Hope this is it....first car other than Audi (TT, A4, S4) since the early 90's (never had an unscheduled service)

On a side note MINI dealer was great

09 MCS Dark Silver, sport, stick, navi everything but the alarm.

 

Purchased a 2009 MCS clubman in August of 09 and HPFP died within an hour of driving it off the lot. Died again at about 3k miles and again at about 3.5k miles.

Replaced 2009 car with 2010 MCS clubman and the first HPFP made it 8k miles (last week), but it's just failed again (8.5K miles).

We're selling it and buying a Subaru. We purchased a new car to have a reliable car and have a serious case of buyers remorse. :(

 

Yep, same for me. We have replaced the HPFP twice in the first 3800 miles (5 months) of ownership. Just got a call from my wife who drives the MCCS and the check engine light is on again (less than a week after the last HPFP replacement. Is the same pump put in that is stock on the vehicles? Is so this seems to be a recipe for repeat business. Fault codes are always cylinder misfires. Any other possible causes?

 

Last year I drove the new mini (2009 MCS) out of the showroom and about 10 miles down the road the yellow engine light comes on and I lost half the power. Turned around and drove back to the dealer - very depressing to take delivery of a new car and have to take it back for service the same day. Turns out the High Pressure Fuel Pump had to be replaced with only 30 miles on the car.

 

hi,5,700mi.for my pump replacment.

 

MCS delivered Jan 2010.

Intake manifold replaced at 300 miles.
Fuel pump replaced at 3600 miles.
Now at 5000 miles fuel pump needs to be replaced again.
My dealer is looking into having Mini buying the car back.

Should I look at a normally aspirated "justaCooper" or do they also have their share of cold-start issues?

PS. I will sorely miss my LSD on the MCS, it was fantastic for winter driving.

 

I'm on my third fuel pump - 22k

 

I'm also on my third fuel pump ~50k and it's starting to show the early symtoms of failure again.