I’ve tried to figure this out on my own, and thru talking it over with my Dad, who is a retired (and extremely skilled) auto mechanic. We can’t figure it out. And I’m really really hoping that my cold start issue isn’t coming back. Here’s the details:

2010 MINI Cooper S Clubman 6spd
125k miles

The issue happens when I start the car and the engine is cold. Basically I start the car and everything is fine at first, until I raise the RPMs and then let them drop back down to idle (either from driving and then stopping, or just from pressing and releasing the gas pedal). At that point the low oil pressure warning light comes on. This happens every time the RPMs drop to idle, until the engine warms up. So like if I’m driving the warning light will come on at every stop sign/light. Once the engine warms up, the issue is gone. Also, if I simply raise the RPMs, the light goes away.

Sometimes (but not always) there’s the diesel-ish sound for just a second when I rev the cold engine up. That sound, and the warning light go away after like less than 1 second of me pressing the gas pedal.

I bought the car 14 months ago, and at the time it had 108k miles, and a bad case of the cold start issue. So I replaced the timing chain, and guides, and tensioner with the kit from Detroit Tuned. I wanted to use really high quality parts, to ensure that I never had to deal with that mammoth job again. I could be wrong, but I feel like Detroit Tuned parts are unlikely to be wearing out after only a year of use.

So my first thought was that it was low on oil. I checked the level, and it was a tiny bit low, but not much. I topped it off anyway. No change.

Next idea was that the oil pressure sensor was bad. Replaced that. No change.

So I thought maybe there’s sludge built up inside the engine somewhere and the thicker cold oil is having trouble getting by it. So I added 5oz of Seafoam to the engine oil. I’ve driven it about 1500 miles since then. No change.

My Dad suggested putting in a new oil pump. But they’re ~$400, so I’m not willing to do that without being reasonably sure it’s the problem.

So at this point I’m left with thinking that it’s either that something is partially blocking the oil flow into the oil pump, and that once the oil warms up and thins out it is able to flow past the obstruction. Or that one of the parts in the Detroit Tuned kit I installed a year ago is starting to fail.

Does anyone have any ideas about what could be wrong? Or how I should proceed in trying to figure it out?

Thank you in advance!
Daniel

 

I have got pretty much the same problem. any solutions ?

 

I contacted Detroit Tuned (who sold me the timing chain kit) and asked what the warranty was on the timing chain tensioner. A summary of what they said was 'Your tensioner might be bad. But it could be something else too. And we don't bother to stand behind the products we sell, so you'll have to contact a MINI dealership about the tensioner and if they decide that the tensioner isn't actually bad then you'll have to pay them for the diagnosis.' Completely unhelpful and disappointing response.

In the meantime the problem had gotten a lot worse. It became a very loud death rattle and usually didn't go away at higher RPM's.

So I decided to just order a new tensioner from eEuroparts.com (NOT from Detroit Tuned) and hoped it helped. When I pulled out the old tensioner it was just as stiff as the new one. I even tried pushing them together to see which gave way first and it was a tie. So I didn't have much hope that the new tensioner would fix anything, but since I already bought it and had the old one out I went ahead and installed the new one. Started it up and no oil warning and no noise!!! Drove it to work (67 miles one way). I'm about to go start it to drive it home. Fingers crossed it is fixed!

 

Just started it up and it seems to have un-fixed itself while I was at work. Lovely.

I ordered some fancy engine oil cleaner/treatment stuff from pelican parts, but it’s on back order, so I haven’t gotten it yet. Once that comes in I’ll try that and hope that the problem was gunked up oil. Ugh.

 

The chain kit we sell for the N14 is a MINI part and the warranty from MINI is that they will replace the parts and install it for you for free if it has failed. But to date, we have not had a single chain kit fail after the Cryo treatment, OEM or Aftermarket. as well the tensioner can not cause an oil light to come on. if you have oil in the car, and you are sure the crank bolt is tight ( as you would be having other issues if it was not), I would look at the oil pressure switch on the side of the head. see see them fail from time to time. You can tell if the plug is full of oil. https://www.detroittuned.com/mini-oi...h-g2-w-gasket/