Which dealer do you go to?

 

I also have thisd issue in a 2003 JCW. I just got the car in March and the problem didn't arise until May. Some site postings suggest it is the summer gas reformulation. I know this thread may be going to BMW, but my personal opinion is that this is an imperfection in the operation of the vehicle, but it is harmless, takes one more turn of the ignition key to correct and in my garage, there is no one there to evoke my embarrassment

 

yeah um try agian all u did if anything was reset the cluster

 

You can only clear your adaptations thru a GT1 machine. Clearing it wont make a difference though being the system is adaptive and is always re-learning itslef everytime you drive. Only time to do this , is when you get a fault code.

 

what r u talking about that makes no sence

 

n/m

You guys keep tryin to do what your doing. Good luck!

 

I have a 2005 MCS that has ALWAYS had the stall on start problem and it's been both annoying and embarassing. It happens when I start the car in the morning, and at the end of the workday at times.


The other really concerning issue is a throttle hesitation about 30 seconds after start. I happen to need to make a left turn onto a large road at that time and the car has put me in a dangerous position because of this hesitation.


Has anyone contacted the major car magazines? I suspect the best way to bring on change is to get their attention.

Best- Mark, Portland, Oregon

 

Our MCSa has this lovely feature as well. Runs like crap after sitting over night. Major throttle delay until fully up to operating temp. Very leary about pulling out into traffic. 2-3 second delay from prssing the pedal until anything actually happens. Once fully warm the throttle is good to go.

 

Have any of you tried the VGS modification? It helped my '04 MCS.

 

the reason that they have not fixed this yet is because federal carb standards require that the set up the emissions a certian way and that is what is causing the "programing issue" fir the stall at first starting and the rough running at idle

 

That's not an excuse. I'm betting BMWs don't have this problem!

 

Yea but they don't have any SuperCharged 4 cylinders in thier line up...

 

'03 Cooper...not a problem, thankfully.

 

Its pretty much an MCS problem....

 

my '05 MCS does this when if first turn it on the RPM's drop and raise (stumble) but once i put it in 1st and start rolling there are no other problems.

 

I've got this lovely problem w/ my '04 MCS too. I get the stalling problem the first time I go to start it after it's been sitting and then it has major hesitation while driving for about the first 10-15 minutes of driving. I've had a few times where I pulled out of an intersection and felt like I was going to get hit because the throttle just fell completely flat. When I first got my MCS (April '04 build) all I had was the occasional rough idle issue. They updated the ecu back in like March to I believe v.40. The car ran great for the first couple days but after that just went to crap. According to the dealer here in Portland, Supposedly they had some MINI folks going around to various dealers to investigate this issue a couple months ago. I've been checking w/ the dealer periodically, but still no fix as of yet that I'm aware of....

 

My '03 S has stumbled on and off since I bought it. A new or reverted software version would fix the issue temporarily but it would steadlily get worse and then I would go back in. Since September of this year, after I had my 30k service, it has run worse then ever. If the car sits for more than a few hours I have to warm it up for a few minutes or it will stall. The first few times I pull away from a stop after I start driving I have to ride the hell out of the clutch to keep the RPM's from dropping below 1000 and leaving me starnded in the middle of the street (my wife refuses to drive it any more as it has left her looking down the path of a large truck one too many times with the accelerator on the floor and the car motionless). My dealer said they cannot do anything about it. I called MINI USA and they said 'what a terible thing' but there's nothing they can do. I want to sell the car but doubt I could do it with the way it's running. Has anyone pursued any action against MINI or their dealer from this issue?

Thanks

Nate

 

Took this from post #183 of this thread:

Give this a shot and see whether it helps. I'm beginning to suspect that it's a bug in the software that is aggravated by the learning adaptive nature of the ECU. That may be why it's OK for a while after new versions are installed and then gradually returns. Maybe our MCS is trying to tell us to drive harder

 

My '05 MCS seems to have a slight variation of this stutter problem. I've had the car for one month, with this issues popping up in the last two weeks, particularly on the colder mornings. When I first start the car in the morning, I get a rough, jerky, vaguely stuttery shift between gears. It's like the car just woke up and is still yawning. After I've shifted up through all of the gears once, it's like the car wakes up, and all further shifts are smooth and even. If this is the worst of it, I can deal. :smile:

 

I printed this out and put it up on the bulletin board in the shop....Thats priceless.

 

Hahaha i like it too, its kind of funny. The whole morning studder thing hasn't affected driving i just know to putter around my complex to let her warm up as i leave in the morning. In a way it gives the car a bit of character kind of like a nasty built up race car or something hehehe. Takes a little bit to get her up and awake in the morning haha.

Though if they can fix it in an ECU update i would.....

 

Parked the Mini in the garage last night. This morning wifey jumps in to run some errands. I hear the door go up and shortly there after she comes. Hun come listen to the car. I go out and the car is idling on 2-3 cylinders. I press the throttle and it revs to about 1200 rpm. No more. Floor it noting. Check engine light comes on. Turn it off sit about 30 seconds and restart. Idles ok and revs normal. Check engine still on. Of course the dealer service is not open Saturdays so we will have to wait until Monday to see when they will have time to get it in. This is round two for us. New software not so good.

 

I really find it hard to believe this a programming thing and not a air in the fuel system thing.

Programming would make it happen all the time unless ther is a line of code that (forgive me, last I programmed was in the early 80's):

10: If rnd(a)>.5 then starve fuel on start up then runnormal


Paul

 

It happens ALL the time for me on cold starts, its easily repeatable if i let the car site for at least 5 hours. Even if the car sits outside in 90 deg heat it'll still stumble twice in the first minute and then level out.

 

I have been on the phone to the Portland Mini dealer this morning. They are trying to tell there is nothing wrong with the car. They claim it runs poorly when cold because of bad fuel. Their suggested fix is to start running regular 87oct unleaded. Nice fix. I asked them to send that to me in writing but they refused. I can tell this is going to be fun. Also they won't be able to get the car in for another week. No loaner cars available. So we have to nurse the car for a week and hope it makes it. We are rapidly getting disinchanted with the Mini.