Engine stalling when cold

[KillerByte]

Quote: Originally Posted by davidscott (original)

Best of luck on Monday. What gets me is the dealer attitude that we are all imagining it or suddenly can't drive. This is a potentially dangerous situation with the cars as you never know if it going to stall or not when pulling into traffic and the likelihood of being rammed up the backside is a bit worrying.

That's my exact concern!

Quote: Originally Posted by davidscott (original)

The other thing that confuses me is thta it suddenly happened, with no slow indication that something was starting to cause a problem. Was this the same for you?

Yes. It just started doing it one morning in late October. Has done it ever since with varying severity.

I'll keep this thread updated with the latest findings should there actually be any.

[davidscott]

It was the first cold morning (1C) since I had the Iridiums removed and things were definitely better.

My wife reports that it didn't feel as though it was going to stall but was a bit lumpy at first. She did admit it might be her anticipation of something happening that put her off.

We need a couple more cold mornings to check things out.. However, I am sure the car now runs better with the new plugs and seems perkier and more responsive.

[KillerByte]

That's certainly promising David. Mine has been better since I booked it in. I'm really hoping the car does play up when they start it from cold tomorrow morning as at the moment it must sound like something I'm doing wrong!

Will keep you informed about what they say.

[KillerByte]

Got the car back today. They've checked all of the sensors. They were all fine. They checked the fuel lines and air pipes. All fine. They've also reset the car back to factory default setup and removed any of its auto-adaptations.

The spark plugs, it would seem, have never been changed. The car is coming up to 54,000 miles and still has the original plugs. These have been replaced today. The air filter has also been replaced. I now have to wait until tomorrow morning to see whether this cures the problem.

The car has been brilliant this evening, but wasn't stone cold when I picked it up. Fingers crossed for tomorrow morning!

[davidscott]

Not so cold this am (3C) but car disappeared down the road in sprightly fashion.

Are we getting a plug theme here?

Fingers crossed KillerByte.

Why wouldn't Sytners and Chandlers (my dealer) not offer the plugs as a suspect in the first place?

[KillerByte]

Car was fantastic this morning. I want to give it a few days but I'm more confident with it now than I was before.

Not sure why the dealers didn't check these things first (or second) time around but I think it has something to do with the service advisor assigned to you. The guy I had this time around was much more thorough and really seemed like he was genuinely concerned about the issue. We went through a questionnaire and he wrote a full statement (which I had to confirm and sign) as to the problems with the car. They reproduced the fault straight away because they knew exactly what they were supposed to be looking for.

[KillerByte]

4.5º this morning. Car stuttered at first junction.

This still isn't resolved. The tugging back feeling is gone (thanks to the new spark plugs I think) but the idle is still dropping too low when the engine is cold.

I'm furious! Yet more money down the drain!

[MINIMANIAUK]

As the engine is fine when warm -then the 3 most likely items are
o2 sensor heater
coolant temp sensor
and map sensor

All are fairly easy self fit , I suggest try one by one in the order shown ,DIY and save the labour costs

[davidscott]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINIMANIAUK (original)

As the engine is fine when warm -then the 3 most likely items are
o2 sensor heater
coolant temp sensor
and map sensor

All are fairly easy self fit , I suggest try one by one in the order shown ,DIY and save the labour costs

The trouble is these have all supposed to have been tested and are allegedly OK.
Do we just keep pouring money in?

[Peartreeproductions]

....I did look on the forums years before and it appears that this is a relatively common problem on the coopers.

My MC52 has been like it ever since i bought it (for the last 3 winters). Symptoms are exactly as you both described. I have also had the Cat light come on the dashboard once although this was after a particularily bad week of cold weather when the car was struggling to maintain an idle. MOT in Jan so cat is fine but I thought the constant stalling and therefore overfuelling had killed it!

Personally I think it is the mapping. My car exhibits the near stalling feature even when the engine is warm but the outside temperature is not. Just feels (very subjective i know) that the mixture is not right.

The other thing could be the coil or the leads which are affected by the outside temperature if there was a hairline crack in them.

Dealer has been clucking hopeless with this so when I have the time I will sort myself.

[davidscott]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINIMANIAUK (original)

As the engine is fine when warm -then the 3 most likely items are
o2 sensor heater
coolant temp sensor
and map sensor

All are fairly easy self fit , I suggest try one by one in the order shown ,DIY and save the labour costs

Thanks for your advice - can you enlighten a bit more, as in do I need a manual or something.

2C today and imp[proved but not fixed. Does actually feel like it wants to go but is lumpy and needs revs with slight clutch slip for the first 250 metres when pulling away.

[KillerByte]

My MINI cut out yesterday morning (4ºC outside) and stuttered this morning (3ºC outside).

I forgot to update this thread last week to say that Sytner now wants the car for a week to see if they can find the cause. It is provisionally booked in for next week but I'm reluctant to give up my car for so long since they told me my free diagnosis would only cover 30 minutes of diagnosis work.

Speaking to a friend's brother this weekend who is a trainee mechanic, he seems to think it's one of the Lambda sensors. Coincidentally, and unknown to my friend's brother, my MINI was borderline on the Lambda values readout on its last M.O.T. Does this sound viable?

Sytner claim to have checked each sensor individually - however, is it possible that a series of duff readings which individually highlight no fault on the car could have a combined negative result?