When my wife started this morning after a very cold NE night, I heard it rev idle rev idle etc.... the engine light came on hard yellow and she switched off and took my car to work..

The same thing happened last year and we had it taken in to Mini on a flat bed. After a weekend and more without her car they told us nothing was wrong and it may have been condensation in the throttle.

All was ok until today.

I opened the bonnet tried to read the the code, and left it for a while in the sun, still sub zero temps though.. restarted and it's now fine..

Anyone have similar...

I have read that it maybe due to iced up condensation making the throttle valve stick. If so how should we avoid this..

 

The symptoms sound familiar. You might want to check the threads on the high pressure fuel pump, and other issues in the Stock Problems/Issues forum.

 

I live in Minneapolis and I had the same thing happen on Friday after work with my 09 MCS. The dealer told me it's pretty common cold weather issue with the 2nd gen minis. Your description of the issue is almost exactly how the dealer explained it to me, with the condensation was dripping onto the accelerator so the computer could not get a stable reading on start up. I dropped my car off at 6pm friday night and picked it up at 2pm saturday afternoon. They replaced the intake manifold with an updated part, and even gave me a loaner for the night, all free of charge and under warranty.

If your dealer is straight with you, he should be aware of this issue and everything should be covered.

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...available.html

 

Thanks,
It happened again today, my wife was on the phone to me and I thought she was going to take a baseball bat to it...
It goes in on Tuesday so lets see what they say..

 

I actually had the same thing happen... But i figured it had something to do with the downpipe i just installed... I turned my car on and it was like 8 degrees and the car just started reving between 1-2k and had the no power CEL.... But i shut off my car, started it.... did the same thing. Tried one more time and then it stopped and was normal.

 

Bring it to the dealership! Had the exact same problem, accept my CEL was red. Dealer took it in immediately and replaced the whole intake manifold. 7 cars came in the same week with the same problem, same outcome. All covered under warranty.

 

don't let her hit it with the bat...have her shut it off for a few minutes and then restart it....99% of the time it goes away and she will be fine.

 

Yep (I was probably one of the 7 cars). They took it in, replaced the intake, and had it all done in about 5 hours. Runs better than new now.

 

That's right, you were one of them. They knew exactly what to do after the first few were done I'm sure.

 

Kind of makes you wonder if BMW does any cold weather testing. Does the new intake manifold seem to fix the issue?

 

So today we took it in. Woke up and started it with camera in hand and hooray it happened and I recorded it..
The service rep, a female whose knowledge I was very impressed with, said that it is a recognized problem and that the valves will be checked for deposits and cleaned and that there is a build up of pressure in the valve cover that then creates condensation which builds up in the throttle body causing the problem. There is a new valve cover with a pressure release.
So they are keeping it for a few days and my wife has a rental, paid for by them of course.
So I'll update when we get it back..
We also had the dreaded cold start rattle which I asked about. Again recognized by BMW but not considered a safety issue so dealt with only if it become progressively worse and does not disappear when the car warms up.
We definitely will not keep this mini beyond 3 years so I'm not so worried about the long term effects, but we are looking at the AWD version due next year, but only if they change the engine, if they don't it's bye bye mini for a while.

Check out the video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr7sSsZGhic

 

It's your intake manifold. Take it in and get the new version installed. That's what mine was doing before they put the new intake in. Works fine now. No problems since it was replaced.

 

Update,
Mini has found a way to charge us $600.

Today a call from the dealer telling me that they have found wires chewed through that are not covered under warranty and will cost upwards of $600 to repair, they say they have taken pics.

This may be partly true as my landlords car had a similar thing last year.

I told them that the problem have been intermittent for some time so I cant see that it is causing this problem.

They are replacing the wiring and going to do further diagnostics..

Stay tuned....

 

This morning Mini (Hassel BMW Freeport Long Island) called and said that they fixed it....

The logged codes were misfiring and throttle position related..

They remade the wires that were chewed and did more diagnostics !!!!!!!

They are charging us $700 but 240 is for tyre rotation and alignment so 460

They tell me that they were chewed but only the insulation so they may have been arching.. I'm not convinced..

They claim that they have left it out overnight and all is well, just turns out that we have had a warmer spell over the last few days.

They also said that it has the new type valve cover and there was no sign of built up on the valves.. (I wonder if they even looked?)

So this may be the last thread until the next time it fails.. and my wife may this time just may have a base ball bad in here hand..

In short as an Englishman i grew up with Mini's and have always loved them, well the affair is over..
Maybe we'll buy a Toyota at least they are admitting there problems..

 

Just thought..
Does anyone have any ideas on how to deter these Racoons or Squirrels from entering the engine area.

 

So got the car back, paid the dealer the money all is good in the world.

No...

My wife drove car to work today and a solid yellow light came on....

The dealer has agreed to pick up up and drop off a loaner..

and the beat goes on !!!!

 

Oh I forgot to mention.

While at the dealer they show me pictures of the chewed wires with a huge squirrels nest next to them..

When I took the pics to the car to work out where it was it turned out they were showing me the wrong pics.

After showing me the right pics I could not see the problem, until the Tech showed me..

 

So after keeping it for 7 days I picked it up from the dealer, after cold weather snow storms etc.

They said that the connector to the O2 sensor had a broken pin which may have happened while they fix the chewed cables.

The dealer drove it around for 30+ miles which I can testify to as there was no gas left, had numerous supervisors check it and told me all was well.

2 days of my wife driving to work so far with no complaints.

Cross your fingers...

 

Pine Sol

 

What do I do, throw it on them !!!

 

Spray it undiluted and liberally around the ground next to your tires and under your engine. Not sure about 'coons and squirrels, but it works for rats, mice, and those wascaly wabbits. I have rabbits attempting to burrow under the concete stoop on my back porch, and the Pine Sol keeps them away. A friend of mine who lives in a rural area of S CO uses PS to keep wire-and rubber-gnawing critters from entering his mobile home and his vehicles. Worth a shot.

 

Great I'll give it a go when those little buggers come out of hibernation