Lagging and Shaking in heat

[~sugar~]

Today was one of our hottest days since last summer. This is also the first time my MINI has been exposed to the heat. When I was driving it home, everytime I would put on the brake my car would shake (the shaking that you get when your car is about to stall) but my car had plenty of gas. My boyfriend is still able to duplicate it. Also my car is really lagging when taking off from first gear or when going to second. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks.

[cooper4us]

Yep I have advice for you. Put a call to your MINI dealer and book an appointment to get software calibration Update 32.1 downloaded to your car's engine computer as soon as possible.

The rough idle with or without the A/C on (Shaking) and hesitation from standstill are the 2 classic symptoms of defective engine management controlling software. get 32.1 installed and your car will run smoother than silk and butter.

Good luck.

[~sugar~]

Thank you. I'm gonna call them today. Why would it all of a sudden start doing it? Hopefully my dealership will know what I'm talking about when I refer to the software upgrade.

[~sugar~]

Went in today and they were not able to fix my issue. They told me to bring it back to the dealership when I am able to duplicate the issue, so that means when it is hot again here I have to drive all the way back to the dealership so they can drive it around. What sucks most is I sat at the dealership for 3 1/2 hours and they didn't do anything? I hate dealerships.

[cooper4us]

Pretty lousy dealership to say the least. They need to perform the update no questions asked as it is covered under warranty.

Perhaps the time has come to call MINIUSA and switch to another dealer. The problems you are having will be resolved with either software update 32.1 or 33.1.

Good luck.

[~sugar~]

He said the software update will not fix the issues I am having and that I do not need them. I wish I could switch to another dealership. But they are the only one in the state.

[cooper4us]

Sugar, that is pure B.S. Obviously your dealer is pretty clueless. Your issues are strictly software related!

Put a call to MINIUSA and exercise a good amount of pressure on the service manager. They have to perform the software update whether they like it or not.

[cpeters1]

Beware!!!! I had my dealership perform an "Update" to my June 2002 build S in February, and it got worse. I now have a bad hesitation in first gear and of course the yoyo in second. When asked if they could go back to the old SW, they said they could not. Since the are 2.5 hours away, I am waiting until June when I can leave it with them for a week to fix it.

[cooper4us]

I have never had any problems with the software updates. In fact the car has improved radically from the time we first took delivery, thanks to these software upgrades.

If you are or had experienced problems with the upgrades, it could be a number of things from total incompetence by the servicing dealer all the way to failure to follow intsllation procedures.

[mxchis]

cpeters1 - I'm glad I'm not the only one going crazy! I had exactly the same thing happen on my June 2002 MCS. I have an e-mial in to MINIUSA asking for help as my dealer says he is stuck without any new software.

[Rwatts4mini]

You need 32.1, those are the exact symtoms my Mini had till I had 32.1 installed DEMAND IT

RAndy

[~sugar~]

I believe the dealership stated I already had it, I guess there is a 33 build out now. That is one he stated that I didn't need. I will probably call MINIUSA, this is stupid.

[cooper4us]

I don't think you have 32.1 installed, Sugar. What steps the dealer took to verify your current software version?

Probably none!

Light a fire under their collective butts!

[~sugar~]

I just sent a nice long e-mail to MINIUSA, I will post what they respond to me with.

[~sugar~]

This is what I received:

Hi again Candace,

You're very welcome, thank you for your quick reply as well! I just called Sean at the dealer and spoke to him about the issue. The problem lies in the fact that they can't get the problem to duplicate and therefore, they can't locate the problem and perform any repair. There
are no fault codes stored in the DME (computer) either, which also doesn't help in pinpointing the problem. It's a guessing game at this point until they can either get the problem to duplicate or the computer stores the fault codes. I'm very sorry that I couldn't be of more help
on this one, but my best suggestion is to bring in your MINI on a hot day and let them test drive it. Hopefully they will then be able to experience the problem first-hand and thus identify the cause which in turn would allow them to perform the repair. I haven't heard of this problem before but I want to thank you again for sending me the details. I've documented your problem and am sending the information on to our corporate office to review. Please keep me posted on how it goes, I'm sure you'll be getting some hot days soon and I want to make sure that this gets taken care of. Please let me know if you have any questions
as well, I'm here to help!