After only having my brand new mini cooper s for 2 weeks, it started dying upon start-up. It turns over, idles low, sputters and dies. It's random, no apparent rhyme or reason. The only consistency is the randomness. Doesn't seem to matter if the AC is on or not or whether I'm on a hill or not. I've taken it to the dealer ship but they can't find anything wrong with it. They say the service engine light has to be on or they have to witness it happen. No such luck of it happening when its actually at the dealers service center. I had only filled the tank once during this period with Premium gas. Like I said, totally random. Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks

 

My best suggestion since the dealer cant duplicate the problem is to attempt to video of whats going on. You dont need any type of fancy camera (a cell phone w/video capabillities will do). that way you have evidence that this is going on.

 

If it's dying, that should set a code that the dealer can read wih his OBDII code reader, whether the check engine light is on or not.

Leave it at the dealer for them to drive until it does it and they fix it.

Dave

 

What Dave said.

 

And get a loaner from them.

 

Let's start simple. Does the condition only occur when the engine is cold? If that is the case, it could be due to additives in the gas. Where did you fill up at? When I had my old '02 MCS, I had this issue. First time starting, engine sputters and dies. Immediately start it again, runs just fine. Problem turned out to be Hess gas. A couple of other local club members had the same issue. Quit using Hess gas; problem went away.

 

Interesting tip on recording it - I will try that.

I left it at the dealer for 2 days, no results and they gave me a rental at their cost (no loaners available). They claim there was no code and from my perspective basically gave up. They were super nice and friendly, yet no results so less than thrilled with end result.

It's died when it's been cold and warm, although more often when warm. Sometimes it takes 4-5 tries then it's fine for a few days or if I notice that it idling really low and about to die I give it a little gas and it stays on.

Since I haven't even had it for a month yet and it keeps dying, I don't really drive it very far (no fun road trips yet ) so I've only had to fill the tank twice (Shell and Chevron).

Thanks everyone...I remain hopeful that someone out here might have an answer the mechanic's haven't thought of (because their computer hasn't told them yet).

 

It sounds like they are not even trying. You have a real good lemon law in California, tell them you will invoke that if it isn't fixed. That ought to light a fire under their tail.

Dave

 

Same situation here, took it in once, they didn't find anything wrong and it died again after we picked it up.

 

@VMCMDN Interesting... I bet our cars were on the same ship. I ordered 03/31/10 and picked up on 05/29/10 -- perhaps they both caught some sort of cruise ship illness.

 

yeah, they probably came infected with a virus

 

I have had that same problem with my 03 MINI. I got it in January and this problem started the last week in April. To present time: My MINI has done this 5 times

 

I had the same issue with mine when it was only a couple of months old. The first time I took it there was no code. It seemed to get worse and one afternoon backfired in my parking garage when leaving work. I was mortified and the attendant hit the deck like she'd been shot. Long-story-short it was the high-pressure fuel pump. They replaced it and I've not had any issues since (knock on wood).

 

The HPFP coud be the culprit, keep taking it back until it's fixed, you might want to hint at the lemon law.

 

Bring the guy you talk to a nice cold glass of lemonade That's subtle. And refreshing.

 

Is your MCS an automatic? There is a known problem with MCSa and stalling upon a hot restart. IOW, if the car is already warm or hot, and you shut down, then try to restart, the car will stall.

My car is a 2010 MCSa with the JCW Stage 1 kit. Other owners with the JCW Stage 1 kit have experience the hot restart stall. The factory knows about it and is at this time rewriting the code. If you look at the JCW section of this forum, you will find a thread detailing this problem.

I have also been hearing of non JCW MCSa's having this same problem.

 

My base Cooper stalled twice on me one day last year. It was a warm day (mid 80s) and the engine was warm. Hit the start button, engine fired up and it put it in reverse and it started to shake and stalled. Hasn't happened since. Dealer didn't find anything wrong.

 

Sounds exactly like mine. MCS delivered Jan 2010. Intake manifold replaced at 300 miles. Fuel pump replaced at 3600 miles 1st time and at 5000 miles 2nd time. The first two times the yellow check engine light came on. The third time it did not, but the error code was nonetheless displayed in the system. As I've posted in other threads, this problem with the HPFP is known by BMW, shared by the turbo 3-series and not yet fixed after 4 years of tinkering. MINI has offered to buy my MCS back in order to keep me in the brand and I am more or less reluctantly going over to a normally aspirated MC Mayfair, which I have ordered and is now in production, because it does not require HPFP. Strobeyprobey you are seriously making me reconsider my choice with your MC stalling out on you. Was it a cold-start issue?

 

Same thing happened to me yesterday..Just like OP, my wife and I got our brand new 2010 R57 MCSCa a couple weeks ago, too!!

Drove home after work (~40min commute). Stopped by the supermarket. Came back out after 10-15min. Pressed start button, engine started but stalled within a sec or two. Pressed button again, saw RPMS were about to drop, gave a little gas and the car didn't stall.

Immediately drove home (3 min drive) and tried to duplicate the problem in my garage.

1) Noticed that the air conditioner was on. Started the car. Did NOT give additional gas. Engine immediately stalled.
2) Turned off the air conditioner/fan. Started the car. Did NOT give additional gas. Engine was on the verge of stalling, but RPMs jumped back up to normal idle speed and did not stall.
3) Turned air conditioner back on. Started the car. Did NOT give additional gas. Engine immediately stalled.
4) Left air conditioner on. Started the car. Did NOT give additional gas. Engine immediately stalled.
5) Again, left air conditioner on. Started the car. GAVE additional gas. Engine did NOT stall.

I took videos as well and will be showing them to the service advisor during my appointment tomorrow. The person over the phone whom I made the appt with said he definitely knows of this problem. I told him "Good! I don't want the run-around from your service dept, saying it's bad gas, etc..!"

DAMN, my first European car and this happens. Always heard European cars were problematic, but didn't expect this to happen SO SOON!!

My previous cars were all Nissans and Infinitis which were definitely reliable.

 

your 03 has another problem, for it does not have a hpfp.

sounds to me like the rest of you have been hit with a batch of bad parts, a thorn in BMW's side for a long time. Yet ironically the BMW corporate bottom line is fiscal savings, so they contract out to "companies" in developing countries to design and engineer and make these parts--but they have little to no QC protocol.

I hope all of this gets corrected. I would be bummed if my brand new MINI stalled out. I'd probably go buy a Hyundai instead. I hear they make decent cars.

I wonder if anyone has had this problem with the initial tank of gas put in by the dealer? Now that would be a real laugh riot, trying to blame it on bad gas

 

Today I brought my 2-week old car to the MINI dealership in Mountain View, CA. I tried to restate the stalling issue that I had experienced, but it seemed the service advisor Peter didn't even want to listen to my concerns. I offered to show him the videos that I took with my phone, but he didn't want to look at them. He said there's nothing the service department can do if they can't reproduce the problem or find any stored codes.

1) I tried telling him that the car kept stalling (unless I gave it some gas or unless AC was off) on hot restart earlier this week on a really warm day (~85 degrees) after a long commute. He said "well, that's not normal..." I'm thinking "No sh_t, Sherlock. Of course that's not normal, especially for a 2 week old car..."

2) I didn't see a check engine light come on the other day, so I don't think there'll be any stored codes.

3) I tried explaining that the high pressure fuel pump could very well be the culprit, but of course he didn't seem to want to listen.

This REALLY sucks. A brand-freaking new car and I have to deal with this particular dealership's BS.

At least the guy in the loaner car dept was kind enough to listen to me vent. Even he knew of the problem with the high pressure fuel pump. He suggest I document everything (which I have, including videos) and send the info to corporate.

How have you with intermittent issues gotten parts fixed/replaced by the dealershp when they can't seem reproduce the problem?? Should I go another dealership, perhaps the one I purchased the car from (unfortunately, it's a lot farther away)??

Let's see what they have to say tomorrow when they call me. In the mean time, Mini of Mountain View FTMFL.

 

i have the same problem with a 2007 R56 Cooper S.. the car always turn off after 5 seconds... took it to the dealer 3 times and they still cant figure out what the problem is.. Dealer is Nick Alexander in CA

anyone got any good feedback from their dealers?

 

Have had the Check Engine Light come on 2 separate times in my 2009 MCS, both times associated conditions were a start after the car had sat for 12+ hours, car would start, idle rough, then die. 2nd attempt to start and car would function normally.

Have videos taken with a FLIP DVR and showed the service advisor at Flow Mini Raleigh. Josh the service advisor is great to deal with, even though the CEL is not on anymore, he said they will get it sorted out. I mentioned the HPFP and they are going to look at that as well.

Have had the car 8 months. 6200 miles on it, this is the first issue it has had in any way, shape or form.

As my Dad said to me, "you can never over document a problem"

After they had the car for about 7hours I got a call from FLOW MINI, Raleigh, and was told that they replaced the HP fuel pump. Lets hope that cures the problem.

 

my wifes new clubman s did the same thing from the day we picked it up. it was not all the time. happened most of the time 5 to 30 min after shutting it off go to start it rpms jump up and fall back down and stall. dealer could not duplicate it we went back multiple times. and then it got worse and finally did it for the dealer and they knew I was not crazy. they had it for a week checked everything the whole time no lights, error codes nothing. they reflashed the program as deep as dealer could do it. helped alot but still there every once in awhile. they had a mini tech from south carolina come out and do a total reinstall of the program and have not had a problem since going on 3 weeks now. i too thought it was hpfp it sounded heat related so i was shocked that this helped the whole time dealer was a good as a dealer could be under the sitiation. so have your sa contact eric service manager at mini of ontario maybe they can help you out also. it sounds like a group had a bad down load on the ecu or some thing. I hope this helps those as frustrated as myself. Gary

 

We're having the same problem with our 2010 Clubman S. We purchased the car in April from the East Bay MINI Dealership in Pleasanton, CA.

It only happens when my husband is in the driver's seat (but that's only a partial explanation- usually we've switch off after driving somewhere) but I have witnessed it happen on at least 7 separate occasions over the past 2.5 months.

It always exactly as described by sfnative718 & CalsonicSE. I've never seen it happen on a very cold engine. . . It's usually when we're out. . . after we've returned from the supermarket or eating a meal and he goes to start the car and it sputters and stalls. Sometimes it will do it a few times before it finally gets started. . . which usually leads to me accusing him of not making a prayer before he hits the START button.

On a serious note though, it's really scary since we've only had our baby for a few months and it's our first car.

I will be contacting the dealership about it today. Please keep us up to date on any progress. Thanks.

Update:
Spoke with George our salesman from Pleasanton and he told me that he did see the problem with another car recently and that it's definitely a problem. He said, if it's stalling then it's about not enough fuel getting to the engine. . . and he specifically mentions the HPFP. He also tried to reassure me about taking it to a dealership down here in LA (where we currently live). . .he also said the dealership gets paid for fixing problems that fall under the warranty (this does). . . they do not get paid for diagnostic work; so according to him they will want to find the problem and fix it. . . We shall see.