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Stock Problems/IssuesDiscussions related to warranty related issues and repairs, or other problems with the OEM parts and software for MINI Clubman (R55), Cooper and Cooper S(R56), and Cabrio (R57).
Well ****. I drove the car to work today, no probs, til I get to work. I tried to remove the Fob but it didn't want to come out. I finally forced it up and out - yes I know to push it in first. But when I opened the door, the key image lit on the steering wheel and the ding started as if I had left the fob in the slot when I opened the door. wtf? I shut the door and locked the car. Now, at lunch time, inserting the fob does not bring the car to life. I can press the start button and get the car to light up, but it won't even try to turn over. I do have CAS
Could a dead key fob battery do this? The car battery is new..
well that doesn't sound fun! I had a "lazy" cassette for key fob insert. Finally begged the dealer to swap it before it caused me grief. Not an expensive part. I'm surprised that they didn't take " a really close look at that already" given the trouble you've had.
Car battery terminals are tight. I didn't bring my scanner with me today, figures..
If that drained my new battery, I will be super pissed! It seems every other day we have issues with this car. Unbelievable .
One thing to note is that if the fob is not in the slot, but in the car it should allow the car to start. If I don't have the key int he slot, but in my lap, the car does nothing at all. No life.
I didn't think the '09 key fobs worked in that fashion. My experience has been that the key must be in the slot. Unlike the jeep my neighbor has where the key just has to be within range to allow starting. ( cup holder, jacket pocket etc).
Holy cow, am I an idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! The car was in D, not P. How in the heck I didn't notice until now that is beyond me. My job has been quite a PITA lately, and I am laying the blame there..
The car is fine, didn't even drain the battery.
Ok, disclaimer here..
My wife is an Apple user, and used the car yesterday. The phone charger she is using is around 3/8ths inch wide, and was covering the P, R, N, R on the shifter, see the pic:
The Fail..
Last edited by Jeffair10; Sep 20, 2017 at 06:19 PM.
I didn't think the '09 key fobs worked in that fashion. My experience has been that the key must be in the slot. Unlike the jeep my neighbor has where the key just has to be within range to allow starting. ( cup holder, jacket pocket etc).
In fact both our 2009 MCS's do the "remote" start. Though not truly remote, the fob only needs to in the vicinity to enable the starting of the car by pushing the start button.
The Clubby is running fine, even though the CEL is lit. I need to jack it up and what exactly the other dealer did when he replaced the after the cat 02 sensor. It's the new one that's throwing the code..
We ended up, somehow, rubbing a small hole in the lower radiator hose, consequently, we lost coolant while driving on a ~50 degree day. The yellow coolant light came on the steering wheel, we pulled over. That's when i noticed the hose leaking.
I had it towed home, then to a shop in Warren that does BMW's, Merc's, Mini's etc that had good reviews.
They replaced the main radiator hose, then told me the water pump was shot/leaking. They, for some reason, couldn't get one with a metal impeller, so I ordered one from ECS Tuning. They then said that a plastic tube that attaches to the water pump was broken. And if they changed out that tube, I would need a new thermostat housing. Ok, whatever, it does have 107.000 miles on it.
$1056 later, we get the car back. The mechanic said that it was taking longer to start than it should, and the code points to a bad cam position sensor. He also said that the 02 errors could be caused by the faulty CPS.
So here lies my quandary. Our Clubman S has the N14 engine, and I am seeing varying answers as to if there are 1 or 2 CPS's on this engine. I can see a CPS on the valve cover, towards the back on the engine. Is there another CPS somewhere on this engine?
Glad that you are making progress. It does not sound like the shop you are at repairs many mini coopers. This has been a concern of mine since your very 1st post. None of the items and attempted repairs are immune to failure on these models- however their attempts seem to be out of order and not based on experience of knowing these n14 engines.
if you are going to keep the car- PLEASE consider updating to a new battery and getting the HPFP replaced. Only then, will you be heading in the right direction to enjoy the car long term. They couldn’t get metal impeller water pump? That speaks volumes to their inexperience. Yes, the plastic hose does get messed up and the o rings leak. And yes, that same hose goes behind the engine block and attaches to the thermostat housing on the drivers side. Once the coolant system is open- you can not properly bleed all the airlock out of the system if you have leaks in these areas. Did the do an overnight pressure test and document that these were leaking? Or are they guessing and milking you all along?
if you are keeping this car- do yourself a favor and go to a proper mini dealer. Get the entire cooling system updated, along with the HPFP and a new battery. At this point you will have thousands of enjoyable miles of driving!!’ Good luck
Glad that you are making progress. It does not sound like the shop you are at repairs many mini coopers. This has been a concern of mine since your very 1st post. None of the items and attempted repairs are immune to failure on these models- however their attempts seem to be out of order and not based on experience of knowing these n14 engines.
if you are going to keep the car- PLEASE consider updating to a new battery and getting the HPFP replaced. Only then, will you be heading in the right direction to enjoy the car long term. They couldn’t get metal impeller water pump? That speaks volumes to their inexperience. Yes, the plastic hose does get messed up and the o rings leak. And yes, that same hose goes behind the engine block and attaches to the thermostat housing on the drivers side. Once the coolant system is open- you can not properly bleed all the airlock out of the system if you have leaks in these areas. Did the do an overnight pressure test and document that these were leaking? Or are they guessing and milking you all along?
if you are keeping this car- do yourself a favor and go to a proper mini dealer. Get the entire cooling system updated, along with the HPFP and a new battery. At this point you will have thousands of enjoyable miles of driving!!’ Good luck
Thx, and I have replaced the battery, right after we bought the car last summer. The Carfax says the HPFP was replaced around 90K.
The place is Carr's Auto Repair, Warren, Ohio
The mechanic told me that after they replaced the leaky hose, they did pressure test it, and that is when they noticed a puddle from the water pump. Then when they removed the WP, they noticed the broken tube. He said he could technically reuse the thermostat housing, but didn't recommend it, especially when it looked like it had been siliconed in place.
What I need to know now is, if this engine (N14) requires 2 cam position sensors, and if so, where is the 2nd one?
My Bentley bible says the N14 only has an Intake camshaft sensor.
Last edited by Jeffair10; Feb 9, 2018 at 10:04 AM.
Reason: Solid info
Your car should have 1 sensor on left rear of engine below the intake manifold. Do you have a cel with a hard code for a faulty sensor? If the shop has the proper tools, they should remove the valve cover and install the camshaft timing lock brackets and verify that cams are timed correctly. The sprocket hardware are 1x use only and can slip. These are easily replaced and cheap.
Actually, the camshaft sensor is on the right side of the manifold, in plain site. I pulled it today, gave it, and the connector a cleaning, and it didn't make any difference.
I just took the car out for about an hour, both puttering around, and driving like Mad Max, and it didn't skip a beat - runs like a top. Therefore I doubt the timing is off.
I have to make dinner, or I'd put the Foxwell on it tonight. That will have to wait til tomorrow.
Problems aside, I still love zooming around in a MINI!
I'm down in Canton/Massillon area with a 09 Clubby and am going through the same engine dead at 70 mph issue. The battery is good, HPFP was replaced in 2017 (and recently) primary fuel pump replaced five days ago. Ran great for 100 miles but then it stopped on me again in the middle of Rt77N. It would not start, towed it to good foreign car mechanic in North Canton and we confirmed it has spark. Do you have the number on the ignition relay number that was the culprit on your Clubby?
THANK YOU!!
I'm down in Canton/Massillon area with a 09 Clubby and am going through the same engine dead at 70 mph issue. The battery is good, HPFP was replaced in 2017 (and recently) primary fuel pump replaced five days ago. Ran great for 100 miles but then it stopped on me again in the middle of Rt77N. It would not start, towed it to good foreign car mechanic in North Canton and we confirmed it has spark. Do you have the number on the ignition relay number that was the culprit on your Clubby?
THANK YOU!!
Shoot, I don't have that info right at this moment. I run a Food Concessions Trailer and the weekends are my weekdays. I'll look into it on Monday after I mow our 2 lawns.
And unfortunately Pete is back in a shop in Hudson, Lerich Motorsports. It started running really rough, half engine light and no turbo action. The initial inspection revealed a badly leaking valve cover.
My wife has had it with Pete, she wants me to get it fixed, then wants to sell it. :(
Thanks, I fully understand.
Like you, this is my second mini and I truly love driving these things. My first was a 07 R56 and at 60K miles it stopped running. Seven weeks later and $3K invested in every part imaginable (including a non refundable $1,600 ECU) I decided to flatbed it up to Classic Mini in Cleveland. Once they had the list of new components replaced, they determined that it had to be a wiring issue and found a poorly insulated wire on the main wiring harness shorting out to the side of the engine block (Ahhh). $100 latter it was back on the road and I drove it for another year until I saw a BMW M1 down at Cains Motors that came in off of a lease. Since then I took on a position at a non-profit ministry so the M had to go and I found my Clubby in Cleveland. In the past year it has been a great car but in Aug the radio died. Three hours and 42 screws later, I replaced it with a used unit off of eBay back. Which brings me to another concern...to get the radio out you have to take 90% of the dash apart. I noticed that the key fob ignition socket had a ribbon cable connected to it and you could see that it was folded/bent in one section and when I reinstalled it I found that there was really not a good way to position the cable behind it (I told Dan Braucher motors in N. Canton about this where the car is sitting at right now).
Good luck with Pete and I hope that Lerich Motorsports can quickly find and fix your problem.
Thank you for looking up the relay number and I'll shoot it down to Dan when you get it to me.
Regards...
Well I got the news back that the problem is the JBE or FBE (Fuse Box Electronics) which is basically the printed circuit board behind the fuse box. The new primary FP came alive with an external power supply which pretty much confirms that it was not getting power from the JBE. The new unit was ordered (BTW: it has to match you VIN#) however it did not come with a "mini" price tag ($449) so hopefully we'll have the old girl on the road by early next week.
I called Lerich Motor Sports and they also believe that the JBE could be the culprit (nice of them to give me time on the phone).
Well I got the news back that the problem is the JBE or FBE (Fuse Box Electronics) which is basically the printed circuit board behind the fuse box. The new primary FP came alive with an external power supply which pretty much confirms that it was not getting power from the JBE. The new unit was ordered (BTW: it has to match you VIN#) however it did not come with a "mini" price tag ($449) so hopefully we'll have the old girl on the road by early next week.
I called Lerich Motor Sports and they also believe that the JBE could be the culprit (nice of them to give me time on the phone).
I'll keep you posted if everything goes to plan.
Any updates? Lerich still has Pete, and I haven't been able to get a hold of them ..grr..
I picked up my Clubby last Tue and so far it has been running non-stop. The issue appears to have been a failed component on the inner printed circuit board located behind the fuse panel. Mini refers to it as the JBE but I've seen others call it the FBE (Fuse Box Electronics). Unfortunately it has to match up with the options on the mini so you have to order it through mini via the VIN number. All in all I've sunk about $1,900 in the past three weeks so it looks like I'll be keeping it for a couple more years. In the meantime, I've asked my wife to buy me the perfect Christmas gift...a new tow hook :-). Good luck with Pete and motor on...
I picked up my Clubby last Tue and so far it has been running non-stop. The issue appears to have been a failed component on the inner printed circuit board located behind the fuse panel. Mini refers to it as the JBE but I've seen others call it the FBE (Fuse Box Electronics). Unfortunately it has to match up with the options on the mini so you have to order it through mini via the VIN number. All in all I've sunk about $1,900 in the past three weeks so it looks like I'll be keeping it for a couple more years. In the meantime, I've asked my wife to buy me the perfect Christmas gift...a new tow hook :-). Good luck with Pete and motor on...
Glad you have it back on the road!
I finally got in touch with Lerich this afternoon. Turns out the rough running was indeed an out of timing condition. They told me that running it with misfires causes the exhaust to over heat, and that has decimated the bank 1 cat. And the decimated cat let loose it's innards and plugged the Bank 2 cat. I asked them to get rid of Bank 1 cat, and try to salvage the Bank 2 cat. They agreed. Hopefully cleaning the exhaust will bring the turbo back to life. Also, they said my valve cover has a hole in it, so it has to be replaced - $404. + $100 for labor. Also they troubleshooted the camshaft sensor issue I have had since I got the car. Turns out a pin was bent on the ECU and wasn't making proper contact. They fixed the pin, no more fault.
So if the turbo is ok, we are in this round of service for around a grand. Factoring all the labor, that's my hunch. If the turbo is junk, well, we may say screw it and trade it in with a bad turbo.
We have sunk ~$2500 into fixing the car so far. New AC Clutch and condenser, new water pump, thermostat + housing, the stupid coolant pipe, new battery, new barn door lock, and I installed the Arcol resistor for the low speed fan fix. Some other stuff too I can't think of ATM. Adding the current service jacks the cost up well over the 3K mark! Still, I am on the fence on keeping the car. But my wife wants it gone, so out the door it's going. The silver lining is that I get our Cabriolet Princess since she is done with MINI's.
It really is so hard to give up on these little rockets bc I think once you drive one, well, they're kind of in your blood. An 09 Clubby is selling around $5K with < 100K miles and I guess there does come a point when you have to cut bait and move on. My wife is also holding her breath to see if this last fix was the "fix" but I'm pretty sure she'll be in the same boat as your wife if something else breaks that I can't fix myself. Believe it or not, I had a 2013 M1 before this but then I took on a new job at a non-profit which really made it a conflict of interest to have it in the parking lot (I knew that going into it). The Clubby was my first choice and it is extremely difficult to think that a Chevy Cruse could be the next option :-(
Ah yes, good to be back here. Pete, the 2009 Clubman is dead. After all the fixes we endured, the laundry list of new parts thrown at this N14 engine, including a brand new turbo, it dropped a valve and a piston ate it, scarring the cylinder. The N14 is complete toast.
Lerich Motorsport did offer to install another N14 for $7K ---No way dude!
So it is officially time to sell the Mini Clubman.
Lerich charged us $800 to find the problem, and there was no point in putting the engine back together. So most of the newer engine items are in the back the car.
The engine parts, all together with labor, ran us just under $5K
Solid car, no rust, just needs a new engine. Like to get $1500 out of it or Best offer. Most of the new parts mentioned included.
Personally I would give it a complete upgrade to a N18 lump. Lerich said it would be north of $15K to do that ..lol.
Anybody interested? I'll part it out if no takers.