[Wondaboy]

Dear MCSa's

The auto box on my car feels like it has far to much creep. By that I mean that if I engage drive and take my foot off the brake then the car moves forward at about 5mph. This in its self was fine, but with the brake engaged, the cabin, and particularly the steering wheel shake heavily as the brake and the throttle fight each other. The RPM are constant at about 750, as are they when the car is in park, neutral or reverse. In reverse there is a small amount of creep, but not enough to shake the car. I am considering adjusting the map to drop the revs by 50-100, but am concerned that this could affect cold or hill starts. Could anyone let me know what speed your car does if you engage drive and take your feet of all pedals on a flat road.

Thanks

Piers

[KenL]

I thought all autos did this.

Why not put it in neutral when stopped? I thought you were meant to anyway.

[Wondaboy]

KenL

Your right, all auto's creep, and I have no problem with this. However it's the shake I'm trying to avoid. From my long lost days in physics classes as a kid we learnt about natural resonance, where if a certain frequency occurred the object resonated. A typical example of this is on a bus, particularly double deckers. I am hoping that by making a small adjustment this frequency will be avoided. I could put the car in neutral when stopped, but what I'm talking about is when driving in stop start traffic. I think I described the problem poorly, it's not the creep I'm trying to avoid, it's the shake.

Thanks

Piers

[KenL]

Have you pointed this out to the dealer? They may be able to do something under warranty. Can't be right if you are getting big vibration.

[Wondaboy]

KenL,

No, I haven't spoken to the dealer yet. I have quite a lot of modifications on the car, and am aware that despite my good relationship with my dealer, they are likely to blame the problem on the mods (which may be fair). If the solution is to drop the idle speed (because mine turns out to be wrong) then they will need to upload a new map to the car, which will over write my modified one. So what I'm trying to do now is gather as much data as possible before choosing who to get to fix the problem. If other users cars only creep to 3mph or idle at a different speed then I'll have a better ideal of what to do, if however they idle and creep at the same rate as mine, but don't suffer the shake then I will take it to the dealer to look for loose engine mounts etc.

Thanks

Piers

[GBMINI]

OK. Just to make you happy
I just "creeped" along my office driveway ... revs steady about 750, speed about 3 or 4mph but difficult to guess exactly where the needle is down there - I suspect your speed difference might just be accuracy of the gauge (eg: a slight zero offset) because you presumably have the same gears as me and so same revs should be same speed.
Unless you were trying to creep in second instead of first? Where you creeping in sports or manual mode?

When you apply the brake, does the car slip forward at all? If the wheels don't turn, there is no issue with "fighting the brake"; then all you are seeing is either an engine vibration or some sort of engine software oscillation.
If you have engine upgrades that would be your first point of suspicion - maybe the new engine map / program / etc does not suit the auto transmission. Or have you done something with the bypass valve or some other component that might now be affecting the low revs / high torque performance?

[Wondaboy]

GBMINI

You’ve highlighted a load of things that I’ve changed, engine map, program and bypass value. I’m not in sports mode, and not in second.

Thanks for the help, I know where to start now

Your a top man

Piers

[Cooper76]

My sister's Neon idled at 26 mph. (no bull)

Seeing that these engines share DNA, looks like you got off well.

[sbontrager]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cooper76

My sister's Neon idled at 26 mph. (no bull)

Seeing that these engines share DNA, looks like you got off well.

my neon idled at 15. heavy traffic was interesting.

The MINI uses the euro spec 2nd gen neon engine, not the US spec engine. Totally different beast. I don't know of a MINI with a 2.0L DOHC engine Of course, I don't know of a supercharged 180hp neon. Even finding a turbo on the neon was a long-time-coming.

[kyriian]

Quote: Originally Posted by sbontrager

my neon idled at 15. heavy traffic was interesting.

The MINI uses the euro spec 2nd gen neon engine, not the US spec engine. Totally different beast. I don't know of a MINI with a 2.0L DOHC engine Of course, I don't know of a supercharged 180hp neon. Even finding a turbo on the neon was a long-time-coming.

they make a turbo 2.0 neon... it's called the SRT-4

[Kenmini]

The SRT4 is one hell of a beast ... but DANG that thing got alot of problems ... bottons falling off ... too much minor problems .. ahaha ..

[Hobbit]

Quote: Originally Posted by KenL

I thought all autos did this.

Why not put it in neutral when stopped? I thought you were meant to anyway.

I'm not familiar with the practice of putting an automatic in neutral at a stop. Is this common?

[Cooper76]

Quote: Originally Posted by sbontrager

my neon idled at 15. heavy traffic was interesting.

The MINI uses the euro spec 2nd gen neon engine, not the US spec engine. Totally different beast. I don't know of a MINI with a 2.0L DOHC engine Of course, I don't know of a supercharged 180hp neon. Even finding a turbo on the neon was a long-time-coming.

Yes, it's not the same engine. I was just making a wise remark, that's all. (if it was the same, BMW wouldn't have accepted it and I wouldn't have bought it... )

[nobbyclark]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hobbit

I'm not familiar with the practice of putting an automatic in neutral at a stop. Is this common?

Yes, it cuts down on wear on the brakes. Do it all the time in my Disco.

[GBMINI]

Quote: Originally Posted by nobbyclark

Yes, it cuts down on wear on the brakes.

That does not seem likely to me - the brakes will wear when two moving surfaces rub together. When the vehicle is stationary and you are just pressing the brakes to stop the car moving, the energy to do that is from your pressing (and the vacuum assist) and there is no rubbing to wear anything.

[aquaanox]

Quote: Originally Posted by GBMINI

That does not seem likely to me - the brakes will wear when two moving surfaces rub together. When the vehicle is stationary and you are just pressing the brakes to stop the car moving, the energy to do that is from your pressing (and the vacuum assist) and there is no rubbing to wear anything.

I agree... plus you should really be driving this is manual mode.. is a lot more fun that way and keeps you involved.

Though pretty standard practice in a stick shift - If you read the user manual it strongly discourages putting the car in neutral and coasting (in an automatic) - it can damage the tranny and should only be done when absolutely necessary. I remember reading this in the user manuals for the other automatics we have as well. Anyways, just a recommendation.