My R56 Cooper S's yellow engine warning light came on before Christmas.
I booked it into my local dealership, Snows in Portsmouth, for 2nd Jan and the light was still on as I pulled into the car park. By the time they took it into the workshop the light had gone out (despite being on for 10 days beforehand!) and they said they couldn't find anything wrong.
Since then, the warning light has stayed off, but on at least two occasions over the last few days the car has suffered from reduced performance and it feels like the turbo isn't working at all.
The car is booked in for next week but if no warning light comes on, they will probably say there is no problem again.
The garage have refused to give me a courtesy car unless they can come upwith a definitive diagnosis of the probem but have warned me not to drive it too far. Shame I've got a 250 mile round trip coming up shortly!
I know no one replied to my plea for help but I thought I'd post an update now my car has finally been fixed - two months after the initial problem.
As I suspected, when I took my car to the garage for the second time they still failed to find a definitive answer, just suggesting it was something to do with the cold weather and my not having driven the car on any long journeys recently (which of course was because they'd told me not to drive it too far!).
Last weekend the car lost power yet again so we called out the Mini emergency service. Miraculously the car actually misbehaved for the technician who came out so it was booked into my local dealership and I got a free courtesy car. The garage finally believed the car really did have a fault (only because the chap who came out to it experienced it) and hung onto it for 5 days, consulting BMW Technical for help.
The fault turned out to be with the Boost Pressure Sensor which tells the turbo how much boost to give the car. So far (touch wood) the car has behaved impeccably so I'm hopeful that they've found a definitive fix for it. It's just a shame they didn't take me seriously the first time and try contacting BMW Technical when they first had trouble identifying the fault!
I hope this information may be helpful for anyone else who experiences the same problems with power loss.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to yellow peril For This Useful Post:
Hey Yellow Peril...did you experience the problem during cold weather?.. several R56's in North America have had similar problems with the RPM's fluctuating/ engine surging...some dealers have suggested a replacement intake manifold...but this has not solved the problem on all cars..we've heard of ice build up on the throttle plate and faulty sensors...still looking for the cure
I have a 07 Mini Cooper S. It had been running flawlessly until early this year when I run into a yellow engine light. It showed some of the same signs posted, i.e. its as if the turbo was not working. After my first visit to BMW they changed the oil pump, which took about a week.
A couple of months ago, the same light come on and again went to BMW. This time they said it was the water pump and changed that!
It has been running well until I start using some of the gorgeous acceleration when the exact same thing happens. I live in Mexico and there are no real weather problems, temperature usually ranges in the high 70s. I get the feeling it is overheating because the light turns off after a few minutes of driving a little easier or stopping it turns off. I refuse to send it into BMW and be without my car for another 2 weeks before I have some better idea of what is happening.
Dont get me wrong, I love the car, but before I do any upgrades (eg a cold air intake) I want to make sure it works ok.
I live in the Philippines with no mini dealership to support me. My check engine light cam on and my car does not want to go past 152kph and I felt that the car has no problem until I reach 5-6k rpm. At this range, the engine felt like there is no more power.... Any ideas?
My Cooper D has had power loss issues, resulting in a new turbo being fitted under warranty. It has now had 2 EGR valves replaced, and is thus on its third valve! Did I mention that it is only 2 years old.
My other half also has a Cooper D, and despite my car coming back from the dealers 'fixed', it still clearly has less power than a car of almost identical age and mileage.
Despite these problems, I have never had an engine warning light.
Last edited by andrewcregan; Oct 4th, 2009 at 05:37 PM.
At least you have a dealer to go to. I live in the Philippines where a dealership is NON Existent
Can you let me know what the dealer did to your car to make the check engine light disappear. I too have the same problem and we don't know what to do with it....
Hey everyone, I have this problem too... From what I can tell it may be cooling related. Unfortunately, it happens when I sit in a lot of stop start traffic (for 20min or so, going through the city). I don't do this very often, but each time I do, the warning light comes on!!!
When the light is on, it feels like its restricting revs to under 4,000rpm and it prefers anything under 3,000rpm. After 3,000 it feels like its really having to work hard.
When this happens, I switch the engine off and back on again and it clears the error. If I'm still stuck in the traffic it will come back on again shortly after. If I am clear of the traffic, it doesn't come back on.
Has anyone experienced this as a cooling problem? What solution was implemented?
Heard rumour elsewhere that stop/start can affect performance.
Not the same problem as mine as I never get the warning light, and my journey rarely uses the stop/start, if at all.
After my 2nd visit to the dealers in a week, they have kept my car. Been given a courtesy car for a further week.
As I say no warning light, and there are no problems stored on the car. However, the technician came out for a drive in my car, and within a mile had detected the 'power issue'.
It's like the engine has the power, but cannot put it on the ground through the wheels By their own admission, they have no idea what is wrong, and intend on swapping parts to see what they can find
All very similar to my experience
Car has been at dealers for 6 days now, and today they said I could come in and test drive it!!!!
They have replaced the Boost Pressure Sensor.
Cannot get to dealership until late Fri/early Sat (fortunately the technician will be available at both times ), but hoping that this is finally sorted
Picked the car up, and needed to drive to Glasgow and back. This pretty much gave me 300 miles of a test drive.
There now appears to be more power/torque and through a much greater range of revs Even found myself doing 90, which is very unlike me
Looks like this was the part my car required
Im having very similar problems as some of you above.
15month old R56 cooper S with 21k on the clock. In the time i've had the car the engine management light has come on yellow twice and i've had that awful rattle noise on start up looked at, but only dissapears for a short while once I get it back.
I mainly drive my car using the low down power upto about 3000 revs, but recently have noticed that anything past 4000 revs the car just doesnt respond. Feels totally out of power and almost on the verge of breaking if I push it. Certainly no turbo working from this point.
Whats even more strange about it is that the engine light has only just come on today, but im sure this problem has been going on for a while and definately for the last 2 weeks.
Anyway, booked in for the dealership on Thursday.
I have to say, I love the way my car drives and the sound etc. but the problems and poor build quality are making me want to get rid. Im not even particularly fussy with things like electric windows having a mind of their own and sunroof sticking. I just live with that, but the engine and drivability is very different. Plus the awful rattle on start up.
Hopefully its worth somewhere close to what I owe on it!
If someone has a Mini MCS out there thats problem free, then your very lucky
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), but hoping that this is finally sorted 
