I have an '02 MC Non-S w/ 58,000 miles, that has, I guess the same issue.

It never seems to do it first thing in the morning and I have never had it stall right after I start it. BUT,

Usually in the evening when I leave work, I drive about 50 feet then stop at the road to wait for traffic. A LOT of the time I have to pull out between cars (very heavy traffic usually). There has been more than a couple of times where I thought the car was going to stall on me pulling out onto the road. It almost reminds me of an old carbureted car that the accelerator pump is not set up correctly and not getting enough fuel.

After reading several of the posts I am going to check my fuel pressure (when the weather gets a little nicer!).

I also have an issue that the car has a huge lag that I can only describe like a turbo lag. Once I hit about 3800RPM the car shoots forward. It does not seem to happen all the time but it is annoying. This may be a fuel issue as well!!

Thanks for all the good posts!

 

Happened to me too. Once or twice. I live in Canada and when its -25 degrees in the morning it always seems to go put-put-put... jerk a bit... and stall... but the cold is a major contributor, i'll see how it goes in the summer when its hot hot hot

 

On cold days in the morning my MCS will idle at 1300-1400rpms but then stumble back down to 800rpms. Does this about 6-10 times and gets better as its warms up.

No issues with take offs. I do notice that even on a warm engine after a few hours of setting. The engine will have a slight unsmooth idle.

I do have the complete Dinan setup. I think new sparkplugs will help. I can't believe there isn't a cure or answer to such a common problem.

 

I live in NY and only have this problem in the cold weather too. I have a 2002 Mini Cooper S. I just restart and then its fine. I have asked the dealer (when it was still under warranty) to fix it. Never happened.

 

Low octane is higher volatility (explodes easier) but has less overall energy stored in it (smaller explosion). I have the same near-stalling problem on startup with my 05 MCS Manual. I didn't pay attention to the stalling when my wife put low-octane in it, probably because I was distracted by the pop-top-in-a-coke-can clatter at mid to high RPMs.

Something else I noticed is the near-stall happens right after the idiot lights turn off. It's almost like the computer thinks the car is warm enough to turn off the "choke" (by adjusting the mix at the nozzle)... while the block is still cold. Is there anyone out there that 1. has this problem and 2. is handy with reprogramming the computer and 3. knows if there is a way to adjust the time that the mix is set to choked levels? Didn't think so... :-/

I want a car that either works perfect out of the box (MINI is *almost* there), or has an open source computer that I can tweak!

 

i am not sure if i have the same engine stumble as everyone has been talking about. my car starts and runns fine but once or twice if i shift the warning lights will come on and the speedo will drop then all seems normal. it happens when the engine is cold but hasnt happened at low speeds (over 25) This is a new problem and of course no real problems in the driving aspect. The dealer cant make it happen. (its an 03 non s with 50k) I am wondering if maybe the gas i filled up with was low on octane? Would adding a bottle of octane bost hurt?

I know it has the usual stumble on starting for a few moments then smooth after that but this is a new one on me. The warning lights is what is starting to worry me. The only suggestion i have gotten was from a local mechanic who generally handles imports and said that changing the plugs/wires/ignition/and filters fixed the problem on a lotus he had in there last summer

 

I've read the first 3 pages but it seems nobody knows the the problem is, and instead of wasting another hour reading the rest of the pages, does anyone know what the solution for this problem is? My 04 MCS stock with about 55K miles is starting to do the same thing i.e. starting it, chocking, stall, and restart. Is there a solution?

 

2003 - MCS - 56,000 mi.,
Cold start ONLY in Morning After sitting for 8-10 hrs..
55-60 deg. outdoor temp.
93 Octane Fuel

Cranks and Chugs out, Then on second attempt starts up like normal. No rough idle either...

I would say that either;

The throttle body is not closing up fully first time, or
MAP sensor not woring correctly or,
It is some sort of vapor locking issue.

Now that I think of it, maybe she caught this bug from me. I am the same way in the morning before my first cup of java......

 

Many high compression 4 cly engines require a check valve of sorts ~ called a fuel Pressure Regulator. It maintains proper in line fuel pressure within the lines for start up.

When this happens to me ( all the time now ) the sound the engine makes is like it is fuel starved.......

Does anyone know, Do R53's have an in line fuel pressure regulator ?

 

a buddy of mine also said the same thing and told me to check that... i looked around real oem but can't seem to find anything though

 

Hi there,

I believe this is the fuel pressure regulator:
Item no.: 07
Description: PRESSURE REGULATOR
Up to: 07/2007
Part number: 13311521393

and it's shown in the "fuel preparation system" - "fuel injection system" section of RealOEM

Cheers,

Dave

 

I can't imageine that the engineers would not have designed a fuel pressure hold regulator into the injection system, but you never know.
When my car does the start stumble, it reminds me of a 2-stroke that is 'loaded up' and running rich. Knock on wood, but 10 Ball hasn't yet had a start stumble all spring and [so far this] summer...
-B

 

Glad to hear your MINI recovered......

But any idea as to why ?

Had you disconnnected the battery cable at some point resetting something in the ECU ?

Mine started all of a sudden about 3 weeks ago

 

Mine started doing it in March or so, about 3 months after I bought it. It was simply an occasional stumble after start-up where the engine would sputter for a second, catch itself, and be fine there afterwards. I eventually got it to a dealer around the beginning of May. To my surprise it was fixed, NO MORE starting issues...woo hoo...well till about a week later when it started again! Now I have cold AND hot start issues, the car spends about 2X the amount of time cranking as before, and has actually died after start up once.

I wish I had just lived with it...I'm ~400 miles from the closest dealer, so its not excatly something I can just take in and drop off. But I will be needing them to fix this again...either revert back to my old software, or give me something that will actually fix it...I'm not too happy.

 

03 starts perfect never happened!

 

this has started to happen to me recently, maybe about once every ~week. guess i'll have to read thru this thread...

 

I'm assuming you are in the Northern Hemisphere, where it's now summer...
If that's the case, then here is another instance that doesn't support the winter fuel or cold temp theories...
MINI, are you watching? This makes something like the 567th posting on the subject. Ya think there's a problem here?
-B

 

Mine is a 06 MC with 1,3000km; every morning when I back out from the drivway, reverse is OK, after I switched from 1st to 2nd gear, I can tell the car seems like a little choke(not shaking but not smooth), it gives me a feeling like you got wake up in the middle of the sleep (brain dead state) . I need to put more gas in order to get out from that stalling state. But afterward the whole day is fine. And I use 91 octane gas. What actually causing this? Makes me wonder...

 

I second that! Any conclusions? Same problem with my 03 MCS.

 

I have an 04 S with 50K on the odometer and never had a stalling issue. I had experienced an eratic idle a few times,Kind of feels like it's searching for the propper rpm range. but a quick blip of the throttle seems to satisfy the problem. Its only happened 3 times in 7 months of owning the car, so I guess i wouldn't label it as a problem.

 

I had a similar problem with my 06 about six months after I got it. Unfortunately it required going into the dealer and getting a new load on the computer. I had the engine stall a few times when in lower RPM and usually while turning. Since the new load I have not this problem again.

Good luck!

 

Same thing with my 2003 Mini Cooper. It didn't start doing this until this year.

 

Same exact issue here. Starts up, stutters for a couple of seconds, then stalls. I'll start it again immediately after and it starts up just fine. The car idles/runs fine as well. This only seems to happen on the first start of the day, after sitting overnight.

 

I have that problem too, a quick blip on the gas fixes it. One time I let it keep going, it felt like it wanted to stall...

 

Here in California we've been going through a heat wave. When its hot I'm talking 95dF or more I have start up issues if I just turned it off or it's been sitting.
Also, its stalling in first from a dead stop.