Today while in the drive thru line, my '09 MCa gave a slight, very slight, shudder and then stalled. It's an automatic. Automatics are not supposed to stall. It's been doing this shudder thing when it starts up for a while now and has slowly progressed to doing it occasionally when I stop at a light but today was the first time it ever stalled. I have 4 finals and a group project due in the first three days of next week for grad school so I really do not have time for this. I called the dealership and have an appointment scheduled for first thing Thursday morning. Also, none of the lights came on (check engine light, for instance) so I really am clueless as to what is wrong. I'm at 2100 miles until service so my SA asked me to knock the mileage down to 1900 before I bring it in. Is there anything specifically that I should make sure the service department looks at? Any ideas as to what could cause an auto transmission to stall with less than 32k on the odometer?

 

This happened to us last weekend in the mountains. We turned a corner into McDonald's and our automatic stalled. I just about had a heart attack right there.

The only thing different is that we installed rubber floor mats (heavy) and I noticed that the lip part of the rubber mat was pressing down on the gas just a bit even when braking. We put the Velcro fasteners on the bottom so the mat doesn't move around on the floor any more and haven't had any more stalling issues.

I honestly don't know if the mats correlates with the stall, but it hasn't happened again. Please let me know what your dealer says. Our MINI didn't throw any codes either.

 

Hmm...interesting. I've noticed that if I'm in Sport mode and come to a stop the RPMs dip down a bit as if it wants to "stall". The engine has never stalled before but it does make me raise an eye brow when it does this.

I have almost 36k miles and I always drive with Sport mode on.

Definitely following this thread to see the input of others.

 

Sounds suspiciously like the steady, gradual failure of the high-pressure fuel pump (HPFP).

 

Not sure about the OP, but myself & the other poster have Justas. I didn't think a non-s has a HPFP?

 

Ah, you're probably correct. Didn't look that closely at his signature, which now that I do, seems to suggest he's got a 'Justa.' HPFP does not apply.

 

Yes, I have a justa. Mister Clean, I rarely use my sport button so I haven't noticed that dip in RPMs. My maintenance plan runs out in June but thankfully the warranty doesn't run out until June 2013. Sometime in the next year, I'm moving to Boston so I really need my MINI to be running well as I won't have time to deal with car problems when I start my new job.

 

You only drive in Sport's Mode? I am afaid to press that button, since my S already consumes quite much:( I wouldn't want to imagine what the consumption would be with the sports button on :S

 

I drive in quite a bit of stop n go and I drive 50mile roundtrips 5 days a week. I usually get an average of 32mpg. Sport mode is great because I let it do the downshifting and hardly touch the brakes.

 

Consumption? as in mileage? There is no direct correlation to the button being on or off to mileage, it is all in your right foot.

 

Well I know my car's consumption jumps in sport mode... The revs stay much higher and the car is more aggresive. Maybe it's just your foot in a manual, but in an automatic it cannot be only that. My trip computer reads 11.8l/100km and jumps upto 15l/100km in sports mode.

 

Did anyone get a solution to this one? I have had the same issue over the past couple days (08 MCCa)... adding that the idle in general seems rough. Going to try to get it into the shop this week but just wondering if there is anything to point them at.

 

The dealership couldn't find anything wrong and decided that it was gas related. Even though I use top-tier gas I ended up with a bad tank, which really irritates me. I refilled my tank between the stalling and going to the dealership and didn't have any problems afterwards which is why the dealership thinks that it is gas related. So maybe try a different gas station?

 

This sounds very similar to something my 09 MCa did.

Orlando Mini cured it by bumping the idle speed up a bit and clearing all the adaptations.

There was a factory note about increasing the idle RPM that my dealership had. After the fix, it never stalled again, and that was almost two years and over 30K miles ago.

 

Herleman, do you happen to know your estimated build date? I need to swing by the dealership before my service runs out for new windshield wipers (I have to pass inspection in two different states this summer) so if we have similar build dates then I may bring this up to them. At the very least they can look it over while I'm there. I've got a 1600 mile move this summer, thus the two inspections, so I need my MINI to be in top shape and it has tried to stall once since my last post.

 

Had this happen to my MINI as I was slowing down to a stop @ the traffic lights. No checklights were lit nor symptoms shown prior to the stall.
The local dealer as usual, told me everything's normal as they can't diagnose any fault(s).

:(

 

Brought mine in and it ended up being a bad Vanos pump. They fixed it under warrantee but then it did it to me again this morning (it is better than it was, but not over the line yet.)