I posted earlier that our dealer suggested using 87 octane fuel in our MCSa to help with the cold start problem. I sent that suggestion to MiniUSA thinking it was a rather off the wall suggestion. Here is MiniUSA's reply.

[size=2]Thanks for contacting MINI. I am sorry to hear about the concerns with your car.

I would suggest that you follow the dealers advise about switch gasoline. We sometimes recommend to switch to lower fuel for cold start concerns. Your e-mail was not clear if you had switched. You might think about trying that and have the dealer take a look at the car next week too.

If there are further questions I can assist with, please feel free to drop me an e-mail. I will be happy to lend a hand.

LET[/size][font=Arial][size=2]’S MOTOR.

Amanda Cordell

MINI Customer Relations and Services

Representative

866.ASK.MINI (275-6464)

WTF? This is crazy.
[/size][/font]

 

you have to switch the switch on the pump to the 87 switch other wise we will never know if the switch is what switched the switch or not.


is AskMINI located in Asia like Dell's customer support or something?

 

Sorry but a total crap response from MINIUSA...but not really surprised as they always seem to refer it to the dealer.

Anyway, no way in hell I would put 87 in my MCS...I'm really surprised that they anyone is saying use regular. I tried 89 a couple of times (my dealer told me the same thing)...it didn't work so I went back to 93 and just put up with it...only happened the first crank of the day so as much as it was annoying it wasn't that big of a deal.

For the past 2 months I've been using only Shell V-Power and haven't had the problem at all.

Ok...now where is Kaelaria?

 

Brilliant!!!

 

Incredible. Goes back to my thinking that they don't care what the dealer does/advises as long as any resulting problems won't show until after the warranty period (or if in the warranty period might be blamed on something else and not covered).

 

Like Mini USA Customer service are qualified automotive techs Along with Sales persons at dealers

 

There he is!

 

young man, you need a good switching, for that post!

 

Looks like this is 866-ASK-MINI's response template:

Thanks for contacting MINI. I am sorry to hear about the concerns with your car.

I would suggest that you follow the dealers advise about ____________. We sometimes recommend to ______________. Your e-mail was not clear if you had ______________. You might think about trying that and have the dealer take a look at the car next week too.

If there are further questions I can assist with, please feel free to drop me an e-mail. I will be happy to lend a hand.

LET’S MOTOR.

I prefer not to take advice from people who can't spell it.

 

I'm stunned. Can't really say anything more than that.

 

If I shut of the car on a "warm" day, when it has "summer" gas in it, I sometimes get the start / stall problem. IT is probably due to the fuel vaporizing putting gas bubbles in the line.

As for running lower octane fuel, the engineers that designed the engine said you won't hurt it.


"With the aid of knock control, this makes
it possible to use 91 to 98 RON fuels
throughout the world. However, the basic
design has been optimised for RON 98. "



RON of 98 is about 94 or 95 US fuel
J. D.

 

They are talking 87 octane (U.S.). As soon as the car comes on boost the knock sensors will go crazy. Pull timing and no performance. :impatient

 

Im so glad ive not seen this problem in the UK. And i always use 98 RON fuel 12 months/every year/ 365 days...wish i could help you guys out...maybe i should just move over to the states hey

 

What about the MC? No boost, but a higher compression ratio.

 

The MC has a higher static compression but under boost the MSC is higher. Does the MC require premium fuel as well?

 

The owners manual says yes; so I would not presume otherwise.

 

look at it this way. assuming if you drive 15,000 miles a year. the cost of premium is about 20 cents more than 87. so in an MCS averaging about 25 miles a gallon. you would save only $120 a year using 87 over premium fuel. does that seem worth it to you. NOT ME!!! not in a $20,000+ car.

over 7 years that saves you $840. not even close to the cost of a new engine, or to fix any other damage the lower octane could cause.

 

Just curious... has anyone ever gotten anything other than a canned reply from an email to MINI?

I've never emailed them, but every time someone comes on here complaining about them, it's the same thing. Of course, you wouldn't be here complaining if they'd done anything right?

Anyway... think about the type of person that's likely to get stuck answering emails from any yahoo with a computer. They're following the script that's sitting next to their monitor and nothing more.

Unless, of course, you get Janet. If she'd answered it I'm sure she would have run right up to the president's office, dragging three engineers behind her and not left until she had approval to install the ultra-top-secret fix on your car. Janet's great.

 

The lower grade of fuel is not meant to save money. It's Mini's answer why our cars do not run correctly. I plan to continue to run premium. About three more weeks and our area switches to winter fuel. I am hoping the the added ethanol in the winter fuel helps the cold start issue.

 

High octane fuel does not have more power than 87 octane. It has additives that make it harder to ignite so that knock or "pre-ignition" is avoided. Lower octane fuel burns more readily so it is conceivable that lower octane fuel COULD help with a hard starting problem. What this doesn't address is why you are having a starting problem when you are using the fuel for which the engine was designed. With lower octane fuel the engine will probably experience knocking and the knock sensor will retard the timing to prevent damage. This will result in less performance and probably lower fuel mileage. This seems more like a "patch" than a solution to the problem.

 

Bingo! My thoughts exactly. Might cure the cold start issue but what about the other issues that low octane will cause. I guess Mini is hoping that the majority of buyers are ignorant.