I have this problem and it freaks me out. It is actually making my car stall out. My dealer told me it was probably bad gas. A friend of mine is a VW tech and told me it could be the A/C compressor kicking in due to the auto climate control. I'd just like it to not happen, every time it does my wife says, "I'm telling you, you should have gotten the R32. I am thinking about taking her in to be hypnotized to take the words VW, Volkswagen, and R32 out of her vocabulary.

If some one has a solution to the problem (for the R32 lover or the Mini cold start idling attitude) please let me know. I want to stay married and i love my '05 MCS.

[font=Century Gothic] [/font]

 

Solution: Go out and start car 1 minute before wife arrives.


Seriously, Mini and BMW aren't going to do anything about this unless:

1.) There's a safety issue to address that may result in recalls, lawsuits, and bad publicity.

2.) People stop buying the NEW cars because of this issue. (New car sales are the backbone of income for any car manufacturer)

Having issues with a previous model is usually not top priority, so we need to prove one of the 2 above escalations to Mini in order to get some action on this. Right now it's just an annoyance factor up there with slow power windows, and cup holder complaints.

 

There has to be a reason, that BMW cannot resolve this issue. It simply cannot be that they have CHOSEN to let this fester, as some of the angry posters on this thread suggest; (justifiably, and I say that as one, who has replaced his '03). Sure, it may be worse, for some owners, aggravated by poor gas, and temperature/humidity extremes-- but these are issues that can aggravate ANY out of tune car-- none of these are relevant-- or the cause; (Sndwave, we hear you... !). Any MINI owner should be concerned, am I not justified in worry that this could impair my resale value, should it become widespread/public? BMW is spending tons of money on warranty service, they cannot be regarding this problem as inconsequential, even aside from customer satisfaction issues. So the question is, once again, why--? why can't BMW resolve this problem?

 

Though i've never had the car stall on me i have had the idle drop scarilly low several times on initial startup. The easy solution is when you're done driving, hit the a/c button BEFORE you turn the car off. That will prevent the compressor from starting up when you first start the car. Once its running, then you can turn the a/c back on. It's really annoying, yes, but it works

 

ECU Software problems have been the nemesis of MINI since the beginning of time. You should have seen the problems most of us 2002 owners had to endure for months and months. The controlling code for the Siemens EMS2000 computer seems to be overly complicated (Either that or the developers are incompetent) and the "adaptive" nature of the software seems to make matters worse.

There is a long story behind the Siemens software problems in the years before the MINI was launched to the market. It appears to be that at one point most of the original developer staff was fired or walked out taking with them much knowledge about the code. BMW has been scrambling for years to rid of the bugs in the software and have been able to do so with some degree of success, but problems still remain as we speak.

I personally will REFUSE to accept any further firmware updates until MINIUSA assures me that the code update will not introduce 20 other problems I didn't have before and this include "mandatory" EPA balloney for emissions as such.

BMW/MINI need to break open the code to the aftermarket world in hopes of more permanent effective fixes.

 

To be perfectly honest...I was thrilled to see this thread. Same thing happened to me in my '05 after I started it upon return from a 4 day trip. Now I know its inherent to the car. Has only happened once, and I don't think either cold or AC were an issue.
I've had the stumble before to, but it hasn't been an issue lately.
The fancier the electronics in these things, the more problematic they become.
Now if I can get the dealer to finally fix the damn 'check engine soon' light problem, I'll be golden.

 

Problem is, this thread has also concerned constant idle drop/stumbling irrespective of ANY other issues of weather, temperature, and electricals either on or off. The idle on my '03 dropped periously low almost EVERY time the clutch was depressed/car out of gear. This made everything from rush hour traffic to parking lot navigating unbearable and dangerous. There are other threads on this issue as well, possibly they need to be combined?

 

[font=Arial]I'm with MINI USA. Software for this issue on '05 MINI's with the JCW kit has just been released. If you are experiencing stalling, please contact your MINI dealer to see if this software update may correct the problem you are experiencing. If you have any questions, please phone us at (866) ASK MINI or email[/font][font=Arial][size=2][font=Arial] [/font][/size][/font][font=Arial][font=Arial]us at [/font][/font][font=Arial][size=2][font=Arial][size=3]MINI.Assistance@askMINIUSA.COM[/size].[/font][/size][/font]

MINI USA Customer Relations

 

just got the emissions fix a month or two ago...the only problem i'm having is it sounds like it's gonna stall when i'm at a stoplight--as long as i tap the accelerator, it goes back to normal, and so far, it does not happen until i have turned off the car and back on again. have not experienced the lack of power or stumble issue after engaging in first gear.

i have noticed that the car makes the same sound when turning off that it does when turning it to the on position (before engine start, like the fuel pump is priming)...is that normal? don't remember hearing it before...

 

I just had to go in for a simple warranty issue for one of my rear seat latches. While I was waiting for them to inspect it, I told one of the technicians of my 05 MCS sputtering in the mornings. He told me that MINI is aware of the problem and is issuing a recall by next month. It supposidly is a software problem and is easily fixed.......according to my MINI dealer. So, there has been enough complaining and letters for MINI to REALLY take a look at this. It's sad we all have to kick and scream to get them to notice that there really is a problem

 

WOW that would be good! I hope it's real info, not dealer BS!

 

yeah, I'm hoping it's not dealer BS. However, the service dept. almost cut me off before I could spit the rest of it out, so it's obvious there are a lot of MINI owners that have asked about it. He seemed to almost know exactly where the problem was and when they were going to get the fix. He didn't give me a specific date, but I get to go in by the end of this week to get my minor warranty issue fixed. When I do, I will be digging a little deeper to get a solid date as to when they will have all the recall stuff ready to fix a long overdue problem with thousands of MINI's.

 

It's nice to see that MINIUSA has responded to this and is releasing a fix. Now, what I'd like to really see if a fix that impacts more than 1% of the MINI population, I suspect the 05 MCS + JCW is a pretty small subset of your customers. Finally, I just hope this "fix" doesn't introduce 3 new problems.

Actually, I think MINI should release specifics of errata for each version of the S/W so the customer can understand the tradeoffs. This happened for Intel with their processors, they now release all the data, and everyone is happy. For instance, it appears the emissions problem fix introduced the rough idle and the SAFETY ISSUE on hesitation. There are also reports of better gas mileage on the higway -- this is something I called my dealer about it as it was so pronounced for me, more than 5 MPG delta!

Let's hope the fix for the rest of us is in the pipeline and will be released soon, before someone gets hurt in one of these cars.

-Mark

 

Pat - how LONG is a "long time?" Our '05 MCS has NO problems after sitting a few days, or a couple of weeks (rare).

 

This isn't a JCW problem, I don't know what you mean by 1% effected?

 

Yeah what Kaelaria said. The MINIUSA post definitely says their fix is for '05s with JCW - I *sighed" when I read that, because I am guessing that most owners who posted here are not running the JCW upgrade. What does "with JCW" mean anymore, anyhow ?

One gets the feeling one's expectations are again being managed.

Good luck y'all,
Tatt

 

Update.

Since I put the M7 400 cc injectors in I have not experienced this problem again...... as of yet.

 

It's really random for me - it'll go days between instances.

 

I wonder what percentage of the MINI car population the 2005 + JCW option is? I suspect it's less than 1% (probably closer to .1 or .01%), that's where my number came from.

Most of us are part of the other 99%, 99.9%, 99.99%.

MINIUSA - Please provide a fix for the rest of us.

-Mark

 

2005 MCS (Jan. 05 build date)

On cold starts my MCS runs smooth for about 5 seconds then idles very rough for about 10 seconds and then smooths out again. It's never stalled on me but I am quite annoyed each and every morning when I start the car.

BMW sucks for not doing anything about it. I will never buy another BMW product. Does someone have to get killed before they fix it? Could it take more than one afternoon for a couple of engineers to come up with a fix?

SHAME ON YOU BMW.

 

Does your 5MPG delta come from the indash readout, or do you 'do the math' when you fill your tank? I filled mine today, and the dash said 29.6 MPG, while doing the math yielded a little under 24MPG.

The dash readout has always been high, but it is my impression that the software update just might have increased that gap, too. That does not make sense, but what part of this problem does?

 

Our 2002 did it, our 2005 S - that we just bought - does it.

Don't bother taking it to the dealer, they will just flash the car with the same program that still doesn't work.

If the new cars are still doing it, there isn't any programming the dealer has to offer that will take care of the problem.

Pretty pathetic that with four years under their belt they still can't get this fixed.

 

Tarzan, did you ever take yours in? What was the dealer response?

 

That's been my point. Over the course of 2-1/2 yrs., and 7 repair attempts on my '03-- seemed that was, under any circumstances, enough is enough. The question still has not been answered...

 

I had to reschedule my appointment. I'll post when they get a chance to flash me with this latest update to let everyone know how it goes...