So, I mentioned in another thread here yesterday that my 7.5K-mile '11 MCS was coughing/sputtering when I started it yesterday morning after sitting all weekend. It started just fine when I left work yesterday but had the same sputtering start when I started it this morning. Once it gets going it's fine, but it seems this issue pops up when the car sits 12 or more hours at a time now. Seems like a fuel system issue - filter, HPFP or . . .

I left it at the dealership this morning and drove off in a Camry loaner. Will report back when I hear from the dealership.

 

You did take it to a mini dealership right?

 

Mine does the same thing! It'll do it randomly but after 2-3 seconds it's fine for the rest of the trip. Should I be concerned???

 

dont go getting all crazy... if its driving normal under load after it warms up its all good!

 

Good to know! I did not want to do the "we can't find anything" dance with the dealer!

Thanks!

 

Yes, it's at the Irvine BMW/MINI dealership. I have been driving this car daily to work since the beginning of Dec. and this is the first time this has occurred and it was two days in a row. That is not something I will ignore and call within "normal operating parameters". I do most of my own work/mods/maintenance on all my vehicles including tuning and I would not characterize this kind of sudden change in startup behavior normal. Even if it's a clogged fuel filter or bad gas I want to know so I can diagnose in the future if it happens again. The car is under warranty, the loaner is free with the dealership 5 minutes from my job so it's definitely worth letting them take a look.

 

You tuned your own mini?

 

Sorry - I have a couple of vettes that I have substantially modded and tuned so I know what the range of adjustment a PCM/ECM system can typically tolerate in fuel trims and still operate normally. I can make my vette stumble just as bad as the mini by dialing the fuel injectors back about 50% using the tuning sw.

 

Any Word on the diagnosis? Fuel pump issues with the mini's were more prevalent in the older 2nd gen minis, from 2010 + a new unit was used. Usually the fuel pump issues will result in your engine stalling completely.


The degredation of performance was drastic as well. 2011 minis also have re used the overun feature(pop and burble) when sport mode is engaged, Dumping extra fuel to create the sought after sound.

Do you always drive in sport mode, even on cold start up?

Depending on if your actually getting a bad rpm stumble this could also be an issue.

 

No word as of noon today. I would have thought they started it this morning since it's been 24 hours.

I don't usually hit the Sport button until after the engine warms up.

 

My MCSa will sputter on startup when completely cold and only do so when backing out of the garage slowly. It might stall too, but if I let it warm up for 20 seconds before engaging the transmission then all is well.

S.

 

Stalling is no good for sure

 

Could be related to temp changes over night. When I owned my GTIs they would regularly stumble on first start if the temp had changed over night.

Park the car when the temp is say 80 then start it in the morning when its in the 60s it would stumble then the idle would vary for a little while.

It was normal in the GTI and I would think its normal for the Mini but Im no expert.

 

This can be an issue as fuel/boost mapping is directly relavent to ambient temp sensor.

 

The service rep left me a voicemail saying it was the HPFP that had an o-ring seal that was leaking down overnight and causing the problem. He said they are replacing it and probably keeing the car overnight again to check it tomorrow morning and confirm it's fixed. He said it's one of two fuel pumps in the car.

 

Sweet! good to hear No smells of fuel? If its the O ring that goes on the pump its self, hell of a head ache for a 4$ part!

 

No fuel smell at all. He mentioned it was leaking down internally so that would make sense I smelled nothing. Guess we''ll see tomorrow when I get it back.

 

Picked it up after work today and will test it first thing when I start it for work in the morning. The service report says they replaced the HPFP so I guess it's not a given the new design is a fix.

 

Started her up this morning - no problems. Purred like a kitten.

 

Were you getting idle issues in the first 10 minutes of driving ? I'm going through this idling problem now and it's driving me nutz.

 

Anytime the car won't start normally, esp after sitting, it's the HPFP until proven otherwise, even if it runs fine after it starts. They may not find anything at the dealership, but it'll find you after awhile. Then it just won't start at all.

 

Nope - just upon start-up. Within a few seconds, it drove fine.

 

Having the same issues with mine. I'm
Bringing it in today. Mine started about a week ago and it wasn't consistent. Last night it happened again but this time the CEL came on and stayed on.

 

So I dont know if you guys have resolved this as of yet. I was having the exact same issue at start up. (2010 mini cooper s) The car would sputter until given some gas and eventually it would run like normal. After raising cain at the dealer they agreed to take a look. So reccomended a "carbon blast" what sounds like the same as using sea foam in your vac system, and also changing the coil packs... So i picked my car back up and it started right up at the dealership and me being happy I took her home. Next morning, boom back to the sputter game. So I went back to the dealership and told him that this is not acceptable and that i needed it resolved. So a senior tech took a look and it ended up being the upper fuel pump. They replaced the pump and my mini has been a beast since! Hope this helps guys!

SteadySpoolin904

 

BTW, the actual carbon cleaning is almost nothing like a sea-foam treatment. The one is similar to how a dentist will scrape your teeth with various implements of destruction, and the other is like swishing mouthwash around. Guess which one is more effective?

The "upper fuel pump" is the HPFP (High-Pressure Fuel Pump), which is a known weak point in the R56 S models.