So sitting at the us/canada border, doing the usual, turning off the car, turning it on again ordeal for at least an hour took its toll on my r53 mcs tonight. I suspect it to have been caused by low amps, due to everything being turned on (seats, stereo, gps etc) and draining the system. At first it started to ilde on 3 cylinders, the ASC light came on, turned off again after a rev, then the check engine light came on.
I pulled over, allowed to the car to sit for a minute, thought about the situation and decided the best coarse of action was to take it for a quick open road spin to charge up the system again. This worked, after 10 secs limp mode stopped and it ran smoothly and was able to return to the border wait. The car seems fine, however the check engine light is still on. thoughts?

 

Pull a code....
Sounds like you will have a misfire code...
Possible the coilpack started to have issues due to heat...
The light will stay on till cleared for ( I think) 3 or 4 cycles if the issues do not reoccur...then it will stay in the memory ...
A misfire (like I said) could be from a failing coil pack, from lots of heat from idling...that is likely your cheapest ( hope for it) cause....along the same lines..failing plug wire...
Other likely items are more $$ to fix...
But till you pull the code...just a guess...
Maybe the NSA hacked your mini....lol..

 

hey, cheers for the reply ZippyNH, yeah going to book it in today, fingers crossed.

 

Stop at any autoparts store and have them read your codes its free most anywhere and takes minutes. It could be an easy fix you can do yourself, if you book it in to a shop you will not get out for anything less than $100 and up.

 

yo so got the car back from the mech's, all good, engine code caused by low volts causing misfire. purring like a beast now.

 

So low volts from coil, or did you just replace the battery?

 

Sounds like the alternator must be getting weak...then agin if you have a 1000 watt stereo and driving lights..all on..idling for a long time could be an issue i guess...

 

hey guys sorry for the late response. Had both the battery and alt checked, battery health at 100% full CC power. Mech agreed with me on just using EVERYTHING when off, plus multiple start ups, and not revving the car past 1100rpm to coast forward in traffic caused battery drain. been driving in 2 hour commute each day in traffic since and its been awesome