You don't have to. I'd say not for the ecu reset. If you want to look at the temps or rpm while running, you have to start it. I did my reset when the motor was off.

Also, for those with engine issues, consider a remap upgrade. There are lots out there. I went with MTH, but there are tons of others as well. Timing and fuel are all reset to something more aggressive, and the difference is very noticable. Kind of like custom tuning a stock carb. It's sad that some may have to resort to third-party programming to solve what is really a manufacturing issue, but it may be a way to solve many of this problems described here.



Matt

 

Before V39 I measured my gas mileage over 3,100 miles. The computer yielded 20.4 mpg and the real world yielded 18.7 mpg.....a difference of 1.7mpg. Now I'll start keeping track all over again.

Dominicminicoopers......why don't you try resetting the ECU again. I did it three or four times before I was absolutely sure I had followed the directions from Cooper4us and Ryephile to the letter. I did my reset when the engine was on.

 

To me, 1.7 is close. I logged over 5k miles and was ~32% off actual for the computer. Mini of Mt View said that was normal, or within specifications! WTF? Anyway, I've got to start logging all over after MTH, exhaust and intake, it certainly seems more accurate, but still off. Not sure how much. But when my tank is full, it estimates 435 miles of range! Maybe if it's all downhill!

Matt

 

Interesting...my absolute throttle shows a maximum of 91.4 everytime I stomp on it. Bad TB or ECU or reset Ryan?

 

Not sure how this works on the MINI, but my wife's Volvo has a similar "miles to empty" display, and it seems to based on some sort of average consumption over the last few miles or something. It's not instantaneous - if I floor it or accelerate up a long steep hill, it doesn't go down right a way. But it will go down in a minute or two.

 

If you're not in CA, you don't NEED the ECU upgrade. I have the recall for both the breather line AND the ECU. I will not get the ECU upgrade as it is NOT mandatory. I have version 31 or 32 and never had any problems. They WILL NOT touch my ECU when I go in for service in 2 weeks.

 

I think the computer mpg's problem is idling. When you're sitting and the engine is running, the mpg - even if very recently reset - does not decrease significantly at all. I've found when computing mpg myself, that the computer is very accurate if I didn't idle much or spend too much time in bumper to bumper traffic. But say in the winter during a really cold week where I may have warmed my MINI up in the morning for 10 minutes, I'd usually find my computer mpg to be on the high side.

 

Matt, why spend $800 of my hard earned $$$$ to work-around MINI's problem?

 

I'll try that before going to bed tonight so it will be fresh for me tomorrow AM. :-) So do you think resetting it with the engine on is a good thing?

 

Yes that sounds normal. Rarely is "0" actually zero, and rarely is "100%" actually 100. Usually below 10 is "0" and above 90 is "100".

Elsewhere in calculator-land: here are the stats from V38 on, to date:

V38 begins
Total Miles: 1893.6
Total Gallons: 71.539
Average MPG: 26.47

+UNIchip
Total Miles: 7810.4
Total Gallons: 285.297
Average MPG; 27.38

+Kumho MX
Total Miles: 3503.1
Total Gallons: 137.55
Average MPG: 25.47

 

Thanks Ryan. That's about the average that I get also. Does your boost gauge happen to fall in between -10 and 0 vacume while in 6th at 80mph+? When I do a milage reset while this is occuring, that's when I see 19mpg. If I were to run it all day at that speed/gear then calculate the actual mpg, it would correlate with the OBCs figure. This is really frustrating that the best I can do at speeds above 80 is 19mpg That's going to be an expensive trip down to the Dragon


BTW, does anyone know the exact "dry" weight of a fully optioned MCS? I wish there was a truck stop nearby.

 

We'll just finished driving in to work this AM and it is still there. My car pool ride confirmed it as well.

 

Do you mean the truck scales you see on the highway? I've always wondered if you could pull into one of those places and ask them to weigh you. Would they be accurate for a car weighing less than 3000 pounds? Do they charge for this?

Or do you mean a "truck stop" as in lots of diesel pumps attached to a greasy spoon diner? Do they have scales?

I've always wondered how you can get a car weighed!

 

Ryan,

Interesting data. I guess Kuhmo's are "stickier" than the runflats you had previously.

 

I haven't been to one in quite a few years but I think they're available for public use. The last time I used them (over 15 years ago), they were coin operated and could manage a small car as they were designed to weigh one axle set of a truck at a time, not the whole rig.

 

So is it Ver. 39.1 or 39.2?

 

I have V38. I'm not touching V39 with a 10ft pole. I wish someone could figure out how to copy and reload the older versions like 34 or 36

 

39.2

 

I'm picking up the car with 39.2v. today..let's see!

 

How do you know this upgrade pertains to CA cars only?
There was a clause for CA people only but it seemed like all cars were required to have the upgrade. Some municipalities are more lenient but for me locally we need our cars smog checked every two years. As a matter fact because I bought the car out of state (new) I needed to have the car smogged before they would issue my registration and local license.

 

Just called MINIUSA to inquire. Apparently the V39 problem is news to them !!!
The person I talked to documented the problem for their engineering dept, and told me the more calls they get, the better.

So let's make sure MINIUSA is aware of it !!!

 

i have a may 04 build and checked with miniusa to see if i needed the recall, and they said i didnt need it , and i am in california also

o well

 

I have a march 04 build, and im going in tomorrow. It mentioned in the letter that i got that it was select few of them. I know a friend of mine got it and i think he was a may or june build of 04.

 

What's the build date of your car?


Call MINIUSA again as you may have gotten a less than reliable person about info related to the recall.

As far as I know ALL 2004s are required to get it done (Per MINIUSA letter sent out to owners)

 

Well, after performing the ECU reset on Friday night, I am happy to report that my MCS is running much better and the idle problem appears to have gone away. I am also noticing that when the A/C is running, the RPM's are now being kept between 800-1000 RPM and the needle goes up to the 1K RPM mark when the engine has been idling for a few minutes with the A/C on. This was not happening before I did the ECU reset. Before the idle was at 800 RPM and suddenly in would start to bounce, get rough, take a minute to recover and then smooth out.

I am using the same gasoline (Citgo 93) from the same station and temperatures here have been pretty much the same (mid 70's and low 80's).

The car drives great, feels stronger, good fuel mileage and no cold start problems, which my MCS has never had to begin with.

Will continue to monitor but I think that the ECU reset seems to make a difference in the way the V39 code works and executes.

Thanks Ryphile and Agokart for passing this along!