07-08 R56 NHTSA Complaints--Spontaneous engine bay fires
 

Scroll down to third thing. Looks like some R56s have been bursting into flames.
http://jalopnik.com/the-morning-shift/

FYI '07 & '08 MCS Engine Fires
 

With a thread in this same section about MINIs bursting into fire I am suprised nobody is talking about this.




















































































Oh wait thats right it doesn't have anything to do with how my MINI looks or some other random question that has been asked about 500 times. Oops my bad.

Ya I mentioned the same thing in the General MINI forums too about this. Nobody seems to care.

NMFP. Mine's a Justa, and doesn't have that nice hot turbo sitting under the hood waiting for something to leak on it.

I do feel bad for the ~dozen MCS owners who have had fires so far, though. I hope MINI is quick to figure out what the problem is and issue a recall to fix it.

So I'm looking for an exhaust...
What's the best intake? I want maximum power...
How often do I need to change my oil? 15000 mile intervals seem too long...
How much MPG are you getting?

And my favorite:
Hay guise wat mods do I need to go fast...

Still though, this is a public forum. People are going to come here to chat or have fun and ask questions. Yes, even questions that have been asked before. So personally I just accept that and deal.

http://cache.ohinternet.com/images/c/c6/YOU_MAD.jpg

You forgot the most important question, which is "Which tires are best?"

To be fair I've posted questions that were probably answered already. Unfortunately the search function here leaves much to be desired.

Back to the original topic, it is pretty alarming. The pictures in the thread who's OP burst into flames were intense. I don't want to start another argument here about how problems are disproportionately high on forums, etc, but I will never buy an R56 due to all I've read here, period. I hope everyone effected by this and other major problems are being properly compensated by MINI.

Oh no, how could I have forgotten THAT question? :roll:

I always like:
"why won't people wave at me"
"Whats your mini's name"
"how do I get 500WHP from my MINI"
"Why does it cost so much to get 500WHP from my MINI"


OK now back on topic. Thank you for posting this into. My wife has an 07 and the oil line on the turbo is starting to leak. I will need to get that looked at...

I do care, but the only information to date is that an investigation has been launched due to 5 or so reported cases. Is there something else you know? Do you have a cause or a preventive action? What is there to say until we know more?

Well its more of those that have their MINI burst into flames post how because the investigations from them should tell what happened.

Yes, that would be informative - commonality investigations could be very enlightening as to cause. I, too, hope we also start to hear from people who didn't report their incidents to NHTSA, if any. (wishful thinking there).

Far too little information and instances for me to be concerned.

Some information regarding vehicle fires:

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/p...stics/v9i1.pdf

http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp...ookie%5Ftest=1

I am priticularly not concerned. If it burst into flames it burst into flames. As long as it doesn't do it while I am driving or if it does I can get out before I go up into a crisp.

Those links do not provide statistics for fires happening while the car is parked and no collision/vandalism happened which was the case for 9 (8 mentioned in the article plus mine) of the fires mentioned in the complaints to the NHTSA.

Umm, yeah. That's a fire waiting to happen. I've put out a fire like that, in fact, on a Porsche race car up at Sears Point. I was a safety volunteer for that event, and actually needed to use one of the extinguishers we had with us.

If the Feds only took as much interest into the Gen1 fires. Anyway, seeing this has just hit the media, I'm sure they'll be more reported.

Tip of the Iceburg, who knows, only time will tell. :popcorn:

The FEMA document indicates that in only 3 percent of the vehicle fires studied was a collision the cause of ignition. They didn't really provide any information to indicate whether the fires involved vehicles in motion or parked (although they note that spilling a flammable liquid too close to a parked vehicle caused 12% of the fires, so obviously in those cases the vehicles were parked).

I gather from reading them that most fires start in the engine compartment. Powered equipment is most often the heat source. Insulation and liquids (especially gasoline) in the engine compartment are usually the first material to ignite. The two leading causes of fires are mechanical breakdown and then electrical failures (e.g. short circuit).

I would guess the places to start looking at would be what items are still powered after a MINI is parked and what materials are they close to that they could ignite.

This thread ought to be merged with it's duplicate in the 2nd Gen forum (where it actually belongs) to avoid a disjointed trail of thought.

That's where I'm going now...

I agree, and it seems based on casual observations of the reports thus far that the R56 fires have all happened relatively soon after the car has been operated for a while and never after a long period of inactivity.

I was doing some research in the electrical fuses thread... https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...not-fuses.html
...which confirmed my suspicion that nearly all of the R56 circuits that are fused in the passenger footwell panel are powered up via the Car Access System and not the ignition switch. So most of these circuits power up when the doors are unlocked, and many of them have a relay that keeps them powered up for as much as 30 minutes after the fob is removed. A possible suspect?

So for the time being, if you have a bit of worry because you park your MCS in an attached garage (like I do) maybe you can just keep one eye on it for a half-hour or so after you park until things cool down and the relay-powered circuits shut down. I figure I'd detect the problem in time to pop it into neutral, push it out into the driveway, and watch the conflagration from a safe distance while I call the fire department and my insurance company. :nod:

I wouldn't say that nobody cares about their MINI bursting into flames unexpectedly. I'm sure everyone here is concerned and have various reasons why they haven't spoken up. I for one, have little I can do other than hope it doesn't happen to me (or anyone for that matter). I hope that MINI openly acknowledges the issue with a recall so I don't have to worry while I am in my MINI or while it is parked in the garage but I'm not expecting MINI to even have enough data to know where the problem is let alone the NHTSA.

36,000 Mini Cooper S Models Investigated for Fire Hazard
 

Not sure if you will be able to see this article I just found online in the NY Times.
A little scary. I have a 08 Clubman S and am not sure if Clubmans are included.

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011...emc=wheelsema2

Unfortunately, the NHTSA has limited this to 2007-2008 models ... there are two posts in the last week of 2009 models with spontaneous engine fires (quite disturbing since I have an 09 myself). I hope they expand it.