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R56 Mini Cooper Erratic surging at idle from cold start

44K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  sbonsey 
#1 ·
Got a bit of a strange one here that we have never come across before and asking to see if any Mini techs have seen these symptoms.

2006 R56 Mini Cooper (Non Cooper S)

  • Upon Cold start up the car will idle Erratically for approximately 20-30 seconds before settling down to just below 1000 rpm
  • It will fluctuate rapidly between 700 and 1300 rpm (like the car is hunting for fuel)
  • There are no error codes stored & no engine management light

So far we have had the car re-programmed by Mini (which did cure the problem for about 6 weeks)
Since it's return, on the advice from local Mini dealer we have fitted:
  • New Temperature sender & housing
  • New Manifold & gaskets

Unfortunately the issue still exists, and we are running short on solutions. I cannot find any similar symptoms on the net either.

If anyone has experienced this and can enlighten us as to what the cure may be, then we would be grateful!
 
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#2 ·
my 03/2012 build cms all4 does this if these 2 conditions are met:

1) it is under about 40F and it is a true cold start, ie overnight cold soak

2) i have E10 (10% ethanol) fuel onboard, either 91 or 93 octane

if i have E0, no ethanol fuel, it does not hunt, although the initial idle speed is higher than fully warmed up idle speed, about 950 rpm -1050 rpm

i believe it is the ethanol that is the problem

scott
 
#4 ·
R56 surging and stalling during warm-up

Vehicle is standard R56 2007 mini cooper (not 's').

Symtoms of problem are as follows:- car started perfectly and would run perfectly for up to one mile then would hesitate as if it missed firing on one cylinder. The next time I stopped the engine would surge between 200rpm and 1200rpm. The second time I stopped the engine would simply die. This occurred for about 15 minutes but after starting engine 4 or 5 times it would run perfectly for the rest of the day (I am a driving instructor).

There was ** NO ** engine management light and ** NO FAULTS ** recorded by the ECU.

The car is now running normally - the fault was a failure of ** BOTH ** camshaft solenoids ( inlet AND exhaust) which are located under the oil dipstick (exhaust) and above the throttle body (inlet).

They are an easy DIY replacement - unplug connector then one 10mm bolt and twist and pull it out of engine (quite tight). There are minimal oil drips when removing them.
 
#5 ·
Oil

I had that,

If it isnt the timing chain , check your oil.

Hi,

I have recently bought an R56 Mini cooper S for my Girlfriend, it was second hand from a friend of mine.

Its great fun it has KN filter complete kit, D2 Suspension, Front and rear 330mml Brakes, running 8pot in the front and 6pot calipers at the rear. I know its exaggerating, but it was the official D2 car for Mauritius, so got it as is.

I personally Drive a Toyota hilux as a daily, and own a 1994 Celica GT4 WRC edition.

Anyway there is a big problem with the mini, where the BMW dealer here say that my intercooler has worn''???? After me being the one noticing loss of boost after picking the car up from having a very slight hit at the front.(My girlfriend in the rain, don't think the massive brakes helped if anything might of caused the accident).

Should i be screaming at BMW and my insurance to have my intercooler changed or is this normal for an intercooler where there is abit of air and pressure only that runs through it???

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Cheers
T
 
#7 ·
Norfolk-Mini I am having this problem at the moment with the addition that the car back fires. I have a cooper s 2007. I have changed the fuel pump but still have the same problem am now being told to change an air pump.
Have you resolved yours and how did you do it?
 
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