Hey All,

So I have had my R56 MCS for about a month and a half now and am running into some issues. At first I had the whole intake issue where moisture was running into the throttle body and freezing and not allowing the engine to get full power. I had a new intake put on and a new battery and everything was running great. Until last night. I went to start my car after work and the engine died right after starting up. I started it back up and same deal, the RPMs just drop to 0. So after starting it a third time I put my foot on the gas and that seemed to keep it running. I got a bit worried as I approached my first red light a few blocks down and there was no issue. It has been between 0 and 10 degrees F. Any ideas on how to keep my poor Mini running in the cold. It is currently my daily driver and don't have another vehicle to drive during the cold months. I hadn't had this issue with the 05 base model I had before this in years past.

Help!

PS if this has been answered I was unable to find it via a few searches so I apologize if this is an old question.

 

Like to know the answer as well!

 

Manual sez to press the gas down about 1/2 way when very cold (under 35). It was -7 here the other day and she started up fine. I do have to let it fast idle for a couple minutes (like 2K rpm), otherwise she wants to stay home!

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Wow, who would have thought to check the manual *sarcasm*

It was 15 out this morning. Did exactly that. Let is sit at 2k rpm for about a minute and it seems we were good.

Thanks for the heads up

 

YES!!

Got the Blue Meanie up and actually warmed up and went for a nice cruise today on finally bare pavement over lunch hours (2 hours today). Smoked an Infinity from Louisiana who thought he was hot stuff out on the corn highways! What fun! Watched his license plate disappear in the distance behind me.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll have to try this if I get the car back from the dealer and they dont find the cause. It's been there all week and they gave me the we can't replicate the problem speech and I refused to take that as an answer. It turned off on me 3 times while driving on my block. Not cool as I could have gotten hit from the back. I was thinking it was the fuel pump, but they negate any mechanical issues and that I should just warm up the car. Unfortunately, my wife is pregnant and due any day now, and it'll be somewhat of a hassle to "warm" the car up when her water breaks. Any who, the loaner doesn't do it, so why would my car. I'll update if they come back with a solution.

 

Carbon build up will cause this issue when extremely cold.

 

Thanks CHKMINI, I just left them a voicemail to look into this.

 

Ok, so after a week+ at the shop, we got the car back. They insisted they could not replicate the problem. We had to settle with that response for now since we needed the car back. Thankfully the issue was gone...until yesterday.

It turned off on us a little differently this time. After reading this thread, we decided it was an obligation of ours to let the car warm up for at least 5 minutes after extended overnight or during work hour dormancy. That seems to have alleviated the issue, again, until yesterday.

Warmed up the car for 5+ minutes at 6pm. Arrived at a shopping center at 7pm. Went in to buy some goods, was in there for about 30 minutes. Went out to the car, turned it on, drove off the parking lot onto an intersection. As I accelerated to engage a left turn on the intersection, it turned off on me, not once but 3 times. Called the dealer up and they have no idea what it could be since everything, even carbon build up according to them was A-OK.

Anybody have any ideas what I should do?