Sounds good. I just received a call from the owner of the property and she gave me the ok to video. She also told me her husband had a 74 VW Bug that would zoom up that driveway.

 

I'm sorry to butt in like that, i read the first three pages of the thread and ran out of patience...

I live in northern NJ on the Hudson side and there are some VERY steep hills, i mean so steep that when you try to go up it (slowly), the bottom front scrapes the road. I never had a problem going up those hills.

I am wondering that maybe somehting goes out of place when you go up the hill, and did you try doing it in reverse? Reverse gear is the strongest one, and it's close to first I suppose, but if it goes fine backwards, then maybe the actual hill grade affects some sensor or whatever.

Good luck,

D.

 

Here's one of the hill in the complex where we live. Hopefully, geocities doesn't cut it off because of the excessive bandwidth. It's not quite as steep as the lagunacat's pictures. The hill I normally drive up to my house everyday is actually steeper then this one but the mpeg was too large to upload.

http://us.share.geocities.com/mean_b...0/MOV00166.MPG

 

That is my thoght too that the change in angle of gravity to some sensor or valve can be the cause. The most relevant one is the bypass valve but I don't think it has counter weight. It is possible the flap tends to bind when the angle of gravitation pull changes. This could explain that the car does not loss power during normal driving.

 

Let me know what time will work for you this weekend.

My camera operator is working the track this weekend so I need to run down another video camera. If I can't find one then I'll go buy one.

 

Don't take this the wrong way but...
I almost lost my coffee

There's no gravity combobulator on the BV, it's all controled by vaccum and
springs.

Have a good day.

peter
m7 = Think outside the box

 

Peter,

No need to lose the coffee. I didn't say it was designed to be influenced or actuated by gravity. We all know that the bypass valve is activated by vacuum from following the infamous M7 Device thread

Doesn't the bypass valve consists of a butterfly valve. Are you contending that there is absolutely no chance of mechanical defect where a failure mode can be precipitated by a change of gravitational angle?

Humm! Thinking outside the box.:smile: Lets supposed that there is a metal burr on the bypass valve cylinder adjacent to the path of the butter valve rotation. However lets also suppose the butterfly valve normally doesn't come in contact with this burr when the vehicle is on level ground. At extreme angle the butter valve now shifts to the cylinder wall where the burr is and bind.

 

I went back to the driveway today to try to get up in reverse. All was going well and thought I was going to make it without a problem but the engine crapped out about 90% the way up. Tried a second time with same results.

 

Dude relax...it was a joke. But there is no way in hell that gravity will
prevent the valve from either opening or closing burr or no burr...period.

And just so you know the device is not infamous, it's famous for working
as literally hundreds of MINIS has this part installed..we do think outside the box

 

In terms of a solution, it would seem that you should take M7 up on his offer to assist in troubleshooting. Presuming you are able to identify what is causing the problem and MINI is not willing to step up to the plate to get you a resolution, you may have to file suit (possibly in Small Claims Court if the anticipated repair cost is not in excess of $1,000) to force the issue with MINI (if they have still not responded to your earlier efforts to resolve the problem). If you make the video of different MINIs going up the driveway, include statements of the condition (e.g. stock with no modifications) of the cars that are able to successfully drive up the driveway by the owners of the cars - that will weigh heavily in your favor in the trial. Small Claims Court judges are less strict on the rules of evidence than Superior Court judges, so I doubt that whoever shows up to represent MINI would be able to get the video tossed as inadmissable evidence.

Net, net, you are going to have to start developing a paper trail of your attempts to resolve the problem and how you have been stonewalled by MINI. If you have a telephone conversation, take notes of the call and then upon conclusion of the call write a letter to the individual that you had the call with and state your understanding of the points discussed in the call. The basic rule is that if it isn't written down, it didn't happen.

Since you bought the car from out-of-state, the CA Lemon Law (even if you were within the time limit for filing a complaint) would not apply. You may have some additional recourse at a Federal level. However, you would have to have a conversation with an attorney that does Lemon Law work.

I (as would others on this thread) would like to learn about the ultimate outcome. Please post updates as they occur.

 

Can't you record the conversation? As long as you let the other party you are talking to, that the conversation is been recorded, I understand that is supposed to be admissible in court. It that correct?

Bomboasy

PS. Maybe I watched too many lawyer shows on TV when I was young. Maybe I do not watch enough now......

 

Well, yes and no. The state of California (which is where lagunacat would be filing his action if it came to that) is very particular regarding when recorded conversations (even if both parties agree to the recording) can be admitted. More importantly, you run the risk of pissing the other party to the conversation off and them hanging up the phone and you are nowhere closer to resolution (and probably further away from resolution). The primary objective I believe is to get the car repaired and able to leap steep driveways.

After thinking about the issue of the car not having the oomph to make it up the driveway, I really think the solution (if the dealers are continuing to be non-responsive) is to get a third party to isolate what is causing the problem. If necessary, pay an independent shop to fix the problem and then file a claim for reimbursement in Small Claims Court. Give BMW/MINI fair warning by sending them a letter (Certified Mail with Return Receipt) stating what is happening to the car and how the dealers have refused or been unable to repair the malfunction. State that this letter is a direct request for BMW/MINI to resolve the problem and that if BMW/MINI fails to solve the problem in a reasonable time, you will send the car to an independent mechanic and you will pursue legal action to recover the expense of the repair. Ask for a reply to your letter within fifteen calendar days from the date of receipt that is shown on the Return Receipt. Ask that in their response, they state their plan of action to resolve the malfunction. The key to getting a successful resolution is to be PROFESSIONAL - no gratuitous pot-shots, no derogatory or flaming comments - think of how you would perceive the letter if you were on the other side.

 

How fast would you say you were going? I'd think I would have to be doing at least 8-10mph maybe.

 

it's called Italian Job:

Steep enough?

 

that's right.

 

I doubt if I were going 10 mph. Maybe 5-7? It is difficult to get that kind of speed in such a short space. I started with the *** end pointing up. Took off nice, got some speed, clutch fully engaged and it felt like it was going to make it fine and just lost it's torque at the top.

If I had started in the street I am sure it would have made it but that is a running start and doesn't mimic traffic situations.

 

It would take George Lucas and his Skywalker Ranch to get my Cooper to do that scene!

 

This is how our MCS do on the steep hills

 

I'm curious. Did you ever find your problem? If so, what is/was it? I have to say, I find it amusing that, for the most part, the past months emails have been about the drama of the hill/driveway as opposed to finding out what was wrong.

 

I wonder how they got it up the steep ramps on the transporters; leaving Oxford, arriving Southhampton, leaving VPC and getting it to the dealer???

Bear

 

I would imagine the problem has happened fairly recently.

 

Yes, there seemed to be more interest in making a video of the car not being able to transit the driveway with other examples of MINIs being able to transit the driveway.

 

I think the point of the video is that the dealership says that what he is experiencing is normal. If he can prove his MINI will not get up the hill from a dead stop and others will then there is a problem. We all feel fairly certain there is a problem, but if the dealer will not admit it then they will not try to fix it.

 

I think that a dynomometer test result that showed dramatic drop-off in horsepower and torque would be more compelling than a video. If this gets to some sort of litigation, you are going to have problems getting a video made by non-court reporters admitted as evidence. There is also an objection that could be raised regarding controls on who drove the car and was the demonstration car exactly the same as lagunacat's car. A dynomometer test result chart tends to be more dramatic and harder to challenge from an evidentiary perspective. (From both the dealer/MINI standpoint as well as litigation.)

 

Agreed. A dyno would be a better test, but I would go the video route first (without getting the courts involved)... it's much cheaper than dyno time. Also, I know this thread is getting quite long, but if you look back I believe they talked about switching drivers to replicate the results.