Ok, so, I autocross my 2008 Mini Cooper S with a JCW Tuning kit. I have the JCW suspension and factory LSD. I have an H-Sport rear swaybar as well as Koni Double Adjustable shocks/Struts.

With the setup, as well as others with the same setup, the rear wheel often lifts off the ground while going around a sweeper, which, is fine. The issue is, when the inside rear wheel is in the air and I attempt to accelerate out of a sweeper, if I have ANY wheel spin at all, throttle is cut down to about 30%. Throttle stays at 30% until I fully lift off the throttle, then, it goes back to 100% immediately. On a few runs, I had 30% throttle for 30+ seconds!

This has been going on all season long, and, I am about to just throw in the towel and sell the Mini if I cannot figure it out very soon. I have been to my dealership 3 times and they cannot figure out why this is happening. The worst part is, I obviously cannot duplicate this on the street, so, its impossible to show the dealership first hand of the issue. However, they know I autocross and believe there is an issue, we just cannot figure it out.

Does anyone have any idea or has anyone else experienced this same issue? I'm wondering if the programming thinks the Mini is getting ready to tip over or is on ice so it shuts things down.

I'm about to just start shooting in the dark and swapping parts out. I know there is a lateral G sensor or Yaw sensor present in the car, maybe mine is over sensitive or something.... Maybe a throttle position sensor? Or, maybe a faulty wheel speed sensor? They have pulled codes on every visit but nothing ever shows up, so, I don't think it is a wheel speed sensor.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated...

 

I know you say DSC is off but it is sounding like it is not really off for some reason.

If the system is really off then the Yaw, throttle position, wheel speed and some other sensors should not affect the way it is driving.

If I remember correctly (and I have no way to test it right at this moment I am at work) Hill Assist is also turned of when the DSC is off. So if you turn DSC off and are on a hill the car should not hold for 2-3 seconds it should start rolling backwards right away.

 

Just talking out loud here...there is a thread that has a conversation between a track day driver and a tuner (Alta I believe) about boost cuts in certain situations. The explanation given is that a boost cut is triggered at extended 100% load situations by the stock ecu programming as a safety/longevity precaution. The cut continues until the throttle is lifted. The thread was about why the Alta tune didn't fix this, which I think it might, but doesn't help you since you run stock DS. Your cornering->accelerating->spinning would probably trigger this 100% load issue too.

Now there was another discussion about boost cuts that seemed to indicate that the factory JCW models do not suffer from this 'safety/boost cut' feature, but it was in a different context than track driving.

Take all this with a grain of salt since I'm the AutoX newb who road with you yesterday, but I've spent last year reading this entire board before buying my JCW Coupe, and your description rang a bell.

 

You're not the only one: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...r-problem.html

 

Oh and for what its worth, my JCW with Alta Stage 1, but on summer tires didn't have this issue. God knows I was stomping on it out of the corners. I wonder if I could hit a similar issue given I am running R-Comps.

 

Check your PM's and please contact me, I have the same issue.

 

I just read your thread and it appears that yours recovers after 2-3 seconds. Unfortunately, mine never recovers until I lift 100% off the throttle. I'll give you a call later today as I am currently at work.

 

Nice meeting you yesterday and I was happy to see you out with the new JCW Coupe(very nice BTW)! I'll get you a set of R-Comps mounted on wheels for the next local to see how it reacts if you would like.... Anyway, thanks for the input, this could potentially help a ton in figuring out what is really going on.

 

Mmmm R-Comps... I'm signed up for the next local on the 22nd! And I plan on crashing the Topeka event if the registration site ever works.

Hopefully you and NomNom can get something figured out, but finding a solution that doesn't require a class change could be fun.

 

I suspect that the solution might happen to be selling the Mini and buying another, lol. None of my other Minis had this issue. I'm thinking they may have done something different with the 08 ECU Compared to my 07 Mini's. I would be willing to bet there is an old version of software that didn't have this quirky cut off. I'm going to see if I can figure something out in the next couple weeks, otherwise, bye bye Mini.

 

"bye, bye Mini..."

Would it be wrong to call early dibs on the wheels and tires?

 

If at the next local event you want to test the ECU limiter theory we can use my AP to put a stage 1 tune on for one run. Its not a huge deal to uninstall the AP and reinstall to a different car.
Assuming both you and your co-driver see the issue, once installed we could run stock map for first driver, then install stage map during driver change. It would only cost you guys your first run that way too.

 

Did you ever get this resolved? Just wondering if it's something I should be looking out for on my '08 S.

 

Unfortunately, I did not get it resolved so I sold the Mini. MiniUSA said when you turn off DSC, its never 100% turned off and will interupt throttle with a wheel off the ground..... Unfortunately, I will probably move away from the Mini brand going forward unless one of the future models has a way to completely turn off DSC. Maybe the new GP in GP mode? ;-) I just wish it had a real LSD! I'm not sure if it would be classed in D-Stock or not, but, I wrote my letter requesting that.

 

I'm sorry to hear that, especially given all of your accomplishments. With that in mind, I would think that MiniUSA would be able to provide a way to have it completely turned off. Kind of disconcerting as I had planned to stick with my car for the next 3 years or so.

 

This may be a dumb question, but I did not see it addressed in any of the responses...are you holding the DSC button down for 3+ seconds?? If you only push it once, the electrical nany's are not fully off.

 

Sorry to hear that.

I myself have been eyeing that Subaru BRZ or Lexus FRS.

 

@Brandon,

I don't think he mentioned it here but did in another thread. DSC should be off as indicated by the light on the tach but isn't truly disengaging.

 

This is very odd. My "07 S with the DSC off would spin the tires like crazy in the autocrosses I did in it - no LSD. When it was off, it was off all the way. I also tested this in the snow. The only cutout was the rev limiter. I didn't think there was any difference with the '08s. It almost sounds like the OP was having a fuel starvation issue, or the HPFP was going.

As for the newer cars, the DTC works well. There are 3 settings; the one that the car starts up with, a "traction" setting that works well for the track (a quick press of the button) and off (hold the button for 5 sec), except for the eLSD which remains on. Now the first two settings are useless for autocross. The "off" is all off. Again I have tested this in the snow and the front wheels will spin until the rev limiter. As for autocross, with the DTC off, the eLSD works well, but some people have said that it may get "confused", like on a bumpy course and will cut the power. I have not noticed it. Not saying it doesn't happen, just that I have not noticed, maybe because of lack of experience.

But sorry to hear about selling the car.

 

The electronic diff does not cut power. It applies the brakes.

 

Correct, I mis-spoke. The eLSD doesn't cut power.

However, I thought I had read in another thread that someone on a bumpy autoX course had noticed it was cutting speed. The impression that I had was that they thought that it didn't know which wheel to apply the brake on so it was applying it to both. I looked for that thread to check my recollection but couldn't find it.

As it is, it really doesn't make a difference as there is no mechanical LSD option for the MINI unless you go aftermarket. The eLSD seems to be an acceptable alternative.

 

Wouldn't pulling the fuse to the DSC/ABS module correct this autocross situation?

 

Not sure what you would be correcting. We can already fully turn off the DSC and DTC. That just leaves the eLSD (and ABS) on. Without a mechanical LSD, the eLSD is all we have. Defeat that and you are left with wheel spin and no corner exit speed.

It would, however, be nice if we could reprogram the eLSD to maybe be a little more aggressive on that inside wheel and actually help rotate the car a little

 

Also, pulling fuses is not "legal" in some classes in autocross.

 

it rained yesterday and i pulled away from a stop sign. I shifted into second and then nailed it and it spun almost to redline, and the dtc was on. Whats going on?