Yes, this is my first post. First off, let me say that I love this car. As I told a buddy today, I might be inclined to call it a "POS" if driving the darn thing wasn't so much fun. I am in the "car business". I do a lot of business on eBay, and I mainly specialize in wholesale work. Basically, I just want all of you to know that I am not ignorant when it comes to cars. I started out in all of this 10 years ago as a technician for Ford. Granted "throttle-by-wire" and stability control systems were pipe dreams even that short time ago, so I do not profess to be an expert with their respective repair.
About my car: It is to the best I can tell, a bone stock 2002 Cooper S. I have Nav, the cold weather package, and the sport package. Nothing more, nothing less. I run 93 Octane fuel in the car at all times. I got the car with just over 15K miles and it now has just over 17k miles. It needed front tires very badly when I got it. Other than that no problems that I could tell. I am familiar with these cars to a point. This is the second one I have had and I intend to purchase it. The first was a regular Cooper with all of the option packages. It was an 03 with 4800 miles on it. Blue metallic with a CVT. (Side note---Although I prefer the S and the sport package, I suspect most folks would be happy with a regularly equipped Cooper with the CVT, it was much less patience trying to drive in heavy taffic) Also, I miss the dual-pane sunroof.
Anyways, the problem I am having is the similiar as other posts on here. Twice now, my EML, Stability, Tire Pressure, and SES light have come on at the same time. When this happens, the car runs rough, basically won't go over 20 miles an hour to save its life and takes two minutes to get there. If I stop the car and cycle the ignition a few times, start it, cycle again, and then start again, everything goes away except for the EML and the SES light. Engine runs smooth, no spitting or sputtering. If I access the ECU through the trip reset button and reset the computer, the EML will go out but the SES remains. The first time this happened, I drove the car for approx. two weeks or 750 miles with no driveabiltiy concerns. This time, the fix only works for about 3 or 4 miles of driving and then the condition returns. I have tried everything I can at home...(reset, disconnect of battery and then resest again, etc.) Problem keeps returning.
My questions are as follows: 1) anybody know an easy solution to fix this? 2)anyone know the cause becaues it is seemingly at random (ie: this is not a cold start morning issue...car can drive fine, be parked for a few hours and then do this) 3) I am not yet the legal owner of my Mini (prefer to drive for a bit before I sign up for payments, perks of the business) so will Mini still honor warranty even though car is owned by a dealer? 4) How long can I expect car to be in shop? I really don't want to drive anything else...I picked this car out of pretty much anything you could imagine and I just don't "feel right" driving another car...5) From those of you who own 02's or newer cars with similiar or more miles, what else should I prepare for? 6) Before I hear it from everyone else, I am posting this because I have not seen anyone else post this problem with as high of miles as I have right now...I would have thought wiring harness problem would have surfaced by now...
Any help or comments will be appreciated...Thanks very much!!

 

Take it into the stealer for repair. They should honor the warranty as title now comes under your dealership. A friend had their MINI on consignment at another dealer and the car needed work and MINI of Hawaii repaired it with no questions asked.

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Thanks for the input. My "S" goes to Classic Mini in Mentor for service tomorrow. They had no problems that the car was in a dealer's name. I hope its something simple...been missing my car all week.

 

It is most likely a wiring harness issue. That is the typical syptom of it. They will be able to pull the codes at Classic and tell for sure.

Let us know how it works out! Welcome!

Randy

 

Got my Mini back yesterday! I was leaving work and I was down because I was stuck in an old Infinti I30 for the holiday weekend when Classic called and said the car was done. Altered course, left the Infiniti there and drove the Mini home. I have put about 200 miles on it between today and yesterday and absolutely no problems. They said it was the "throttle position motor" that was bad, which caused the EML and all of the other lights to come on. They also told me that they uploaded the V37 software package. I am still not convinced I had the "stumble" problem before, but the car pulls much stonger from a dead stop and feels smoother overall. I used to be able to tell a big difference between having the AC on or off, and now the difference is barely noticeable. I am quite satisfied. I dropped the car off on Thursday night and they called Saturday at about 12:30 to let me know to pick it up. If for some strange reason you find yourself getting bored with your Mini, I highly recommend driving something else for a few days. Trust me, your car will feel as good again as the day you got it!