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Yellow Engine Light

174K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  Patrick47 
#1 ·
Hello, I have a Mini Cooper S 07 plate.

On Friday I was driving home from work, put my foot down and the acceleration was lumpy. Minutes later the yellow engine warning light came on and there was a serious lack of power. I had to stop somewhere on my way home and on the second journey the light went out.

Yesterday morning on my journey to work the light came on again and has stayed on. I can get through the gears but I can barley touch the accelerator without it juddering.

I've taken it to a local Mini specialist who repaired the last fault on it so I'll let you know what happens.

I've had my Mini for little over 2 years now and I've had the following replaced.
- water pump
- a thermostat
- high pressure fuel pump

Am I unlucky or is this the norm? I know it's over 4 years old but surely modern cars shouldn't have this many failures.
 

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#2 ·
had this happening last week, apparently it was a faulty spark plug and my MINI dealer replaced the set under cherished warranty. It had heavy popping/loss of power/juddering the days before. It felt like it went much better after fix initially but when I parked it at work today there were a lot of vibrations and it didn't sound smooth. Will see how it goes this afternoon.

I do get the feeling that the popping/juddering is down to carbon built up. MINIs long service cycles don't help. I hear that cleaning engine and oil change should help. There are a few threads on here.
 
#3 ·
UPDATE !!

Took it to an independent Mini specialist on Wednesday. To his disbelief, his tests pointed at the high pressure fuel pump which he actually replaced last year. Luckily, Mini parts come with 2 years warranty but Mini will only replace it after they've diagnosed the fault themselves. Anyway, the soonest they could look at it was yesterday and to cut a long story short, they think it's a timing issue. So now the car has to be taken back to the independent garage for this to be investigated. This time tomorrow I won't have seen my car for a week.
 
#6 ·
I guess this is why I will try to stay close to my official MINI dealer in Reading. BMW seem to be anal when it comes to independent specialists and good will claims... Needless to say indies may offer better value for money. But I get the feeling I will buy an extended MINI/BMW warranty when my 1st year is over and hope the non-covered things will remain minimal.
 
#7 ·
UPDATE !!

As advised by the dealer, my skeptical independent Mini garage replaced the timing chain/tensioner(can't remember which) this morning and the fuel pressure is still way below what it should be pointing back to what he suspected initially, a faulty high pressure fuel pump. The car is now going back to the dealer tomorrow morning for them to look at AGAIN.
 
#9 ·
Hi mate - feeling your pain on this. The symptoms point to the HPFP and thats what
i'm waiting on at the moment. Trying to get good will from BMW as the pump has gone
at 48k miles.

Based on the fact the USA have extended the HPFP warranty to 10 years and 100+kmiles.

Mine is reading pressure of 1.4bar at startup rather than 5bar and struggles to turn over on a morning. Also asking about new timing chain tensioner update on goodwill but not getting far on that one. :-/
 
#10 ·
The plot thickens.

The dealer have now come back and they say that the timing is still way out and won't look at anything else until the timing is fixed.

The independent garage don't want to pay for this because he thinks the timing is ok. Plus he'll be out of pocket no matter what so there's not much they can do.

So now, I'm in a position where I don't have much choice but to pay for the dealer to fix the alleged problem with the timing as they're refusing to look the the high pressure fuel pump until they do.
 
#13 ·
UPDATE !!

The dealer fixed an issue with the timing which did not resolve the issue. They ended up replacing the high pressure fuel pump under parts warranty and I got my car back yesterday. They also replaced the aux water pump under the recall.

I felt I had a case to argue as they carried out work that didn't actually fix the fault and didn't understand why they refused to look at the high pressure fuel pump before the issue with the timing. I was told that there was an issue with the timing regardless, that it would need to be fixed eventually and that they wouldn't want to send me away in a car with problems.

They sympathised with my situation as I was caught in the middle between the dealer and the independent garage and took a decent chunk of the cost off before I'd even got there so all in all I'm satisfied. I might even be able to claim some of it back from Warranty Direct.

To be honest, seeing my car sitting there clean and shiny took some of the fight out of me, plus I think getting on the wrong side of the dealer is probably a bad idea anyway.

I wish I'd have extended my Mini Cherished cover !!
 
#14 ·
Mini Cooper S 2010 Camden. I had the same engine light come on and I took it to the dealer in Germany. They replaced the thermostat which seem to fix the problem. The next day leaving work and it comes back on. Took it back to the dealer kept it all day and they added valve cleaner and it seemed to fix the problem. One week later light comes back on. Take it back to the dealer a third time and this time they say it is a bad valve and it will cost 2800 euro to fix but since I still have some of my US warranty left they will ask BMW to cover half. I schedule the appointment for December time frame. The morning I go to take it in for service the light goes off. I still take it to the dealer and they said no reason to open up the engine that it seems the valve cleaner did its job. Come back from Christmas holidays get in my car to go to work and the light comes back on. I have been driving the car since then. Car seems to be driiving and idling okay and no loss of power. I will scheduled an appt to take it back but been driving it since then with light on. Not sure what to do next. Could it be a sensor that is bad. I have only had the car since Nov 2009. Mini/BMW come on what is the fix. Any suggestion would be highly appreciated. Terrell in Stuttgart, Germany
 
#15 ·
Problem

Hi All,

I'm new on here, i have a cooper s 57 plate. Only got it 2 weeks ago today.

last week i had the engine management light come on (half full yellow) sorry I'm an amateur in explaining these things.

my car effectively went into limp mode (i knew that from this forum) i turned the engine off and re started then was ok.

i took it to a local independent garage who said it was the first time it happened and my fuel pressure is very low (off the top of my head 4 bar out of 600)

today it happened again and i lost power at traffic lights, i re started the engine and it was fine however panicky as could happen anywhere.

i called the garage who said he needs it for a few days, does anyone know if this problem if replaced is 1: expensive and 2: should sort this issue out once and for all.

the car was bought privately so no warranty and i am always skeptical with warranty direct, also mini warranty doesn't start for 1 month if i took it and doesn't cover anything that was pre existing on the car.

i appreciate any advice

thank in advance

Elliot.
 
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