Hi, an interesting thread which has not appeared before!!

A couple of questions: -
a) At the time this occurred was the Sports button on or off?
b) How hard did you press the throttle

On my July 07 MCS you can tell when the Turbo kicks in by the induction noise, did you hear anything?

 

Thanks for your response.

I honestly can't remember whether the sport button was on or off.

This was full throttle.

It has happened once since, so looks like a trip to the dealers.............

 

simply no boost....

Has anyone else experienced this?

I also have the engine clutter, but only sometimes when its cold - sounds nasty but lasts less than 30 seconds.

We know the story of both those problems...

1. When our R56 had some warranty work done on the clutch, BMW decided no to put all the pipe work on properly and the car was very slow, probably around the Gen 1 Cooper area. It was obvious to us since we had already done 6K in the car and knew how fast the cars was.

2. The engine clutter - not sure if you have the same thing as we did... one of our "tensioners" was a little too loose and was rattling at idle A LOT, so we had that fixed under warranty.

I suppose you should just go to your dealer and be honest with them that the car is slow and not performing very well at all!!!!!!! And see what they find, at the end of the day you paid a lot of money for YOUR MINI and it should be right!

There!

Andrey

 

Hi Andrey

What warranty work did you have done on the clutch. 50% of the time mine is difficult to select 2nd and the thrust plate bearing rattles noticeably when the car has been running for 20 min or more. Should you j expect thrust plate bearing noise on a car thats only done 10K?? :-(

Cheers,

Paul

 

No turbo..I had this

I had a similar problem, not just once but around 3 times and it lasted for 10 mins or more, the car just felt like a cooper, no Turbo. later it would feel Ok but there was still something missing.The dealer seems to have fixed it by replacing some inlet manifold gaskets -- at least thats what they said..

 

Sounds like the boost pipe popped off hence no boost.

 

This happens to our MCS from time to time. There is a short post discussing this problem in the NAM post. Apparently, some type of software glitch.

As soon as we check our MINI for codes, the problem clears up even with no codes recorded... It seems like a software glitch...

edit: It feels like the bypass valve is stuck open, but we haven't confirmed that yet...

 

great thanks for your posts.

the car is going to the dealer later this week so we shall find out!

It has happened a few times now - the other day I was driving at about 30mph in 3rd gear, went to full throttle, and the car started to accelerate like a normal 1.6 litre. It took a good 1-2 seconds for the car to boost. I'm not an automotive engineer and my knowledge on turbochargers extends to a quick read on wikipedia, but my thoughts are:

• Twin scroll problem, only one of the channels of exhaust gases properly working?
  
• Wastegate / dump valve (what does the MINI have?) - allowing air to escape into the atmosphere too early / not allowing the pressurised air to reach the cylinders?
  
• what else has been mentioned here!

Will update if the source is discovered.

 

Lawro, any updates?

Thanks,
Ken

 

Thanks for asking. Unfortunately the dealer could find nothing wrong. The car had only covered 3 miles by the dealer so it hadn't been extensively tested. The problem only occurs every hundred miles or so, so I'm just going to keep an eye on it and try and work out a pattern as to when and why it occurs. I've got a feeling it is software related rather than mechanical. As I drive around 20,000 miles a year, and plan to keep the car for 3 years I will get to the bottom of it! - and I will update this thread if (when) I discover the cause.

 

Thanks for the update lawro. I will post if/when we find out anything at our end.

Ken

 

Hi guys I had a similar problem with mine.. It was a software problem my dealer (ELMS Bishops stortford) had to get an update disc which took about a week to arrive.. So far so good (touch wood!) but mine is an earlier build than yours Dec 06

Den

 

Nice to see someone else from Bishop's Stortford on here. Never seen your car around though?? Are you in Stortford or surrounding area??

Joe

 

Thanks Den, let us know if anything changes with your MINI, or maybe an occasional update to let us know the problem hasn't re-surfaced.

Thanks,
Ken

 

Thanks Den, let us know if anything changes with your MINI, or maybe an occasional update to let us know the problem hasn't re-surfaced.

Thanks,
Ken

Hi Ken
As yet the car is still running well only the 'cold start rattle' as experienced by quite a few other owners is the only 'problem' I'm having

All the best

Den

 

Well my car continues to have this problem. It will be going to another dealer in a few weeks time. The problem is almost repeatable in certain situations. Basically if I drive along at say 30mph in 2nd gear (I haven't experimented with different engine speeds) for 10 seconds plus, then apply full throttle, turbo boost doesn't start building until around 40mph, and doesn't reach full boost until as late as 50mph. If I don't hold the car steady at 30mph before the test it is (mostly) fine.

If I attempt the same test in 3rd gear at 30mph, the results are different. No boost for a couple of seconds and then suddenly bang, it's as though the turbine is fully spinning and suddenly decides to provide pressurised air to the engine.

In the first situation it feels like the wastegate (assuming the MINI has this) is stuck and then slowly opens allowing the turbo to spin progressively, in the second situation it feels like the blow off valve (does the MINI have this? - you can hear the air escaping when lifting off) is stuck - the turbo is fully spinning and suddenly decides to work.

Oh well I just keep reading about how turbos work in the meantime.............

If you held the car at a constant speed and the turbo or some valve shut off for temperature reasons then I could understand it. But this is not by design; if you were following a slow moving vehicle for 10 seconds and then went to overtake you would want your car to accelerate!

 

Lawro, thanks for the update. Hope this dealer is able to fix the problem...

The R56 Turbo does have a 'bypass' valve that bypasses excess boost around the turbo. This bypass valve is actuated via a vacuum diaphragm which is controlled via vacuum fed from solenoids. These solenoids are controlled by the engine management system.

I suspect the software is leaving the bypass valve open when it shouldn't... but proving it is not that easy...

ken

 

Just to add to this.. We took our Mini out on Saturday and had the same issue. Driving the car it was just like a 1.4, just had no get up and go.

Car had no warning lights on or anything, but just no power. Stopped the car and left it, after re-starting it was all back to normal again.

Have dropped the car into Cotswold BMW to see if they can find anything, but I am not expecting much.

 

Well not sure if it helps, my mrs had the call this morning to say the fault is caused by the high pressure pump ? and will be fixed tomorrow,

Will find out more tomorrow when I'm home

 

Thanks Ian, looking forward to the details.

Ken

 

Well the car came back today as did I, the car feels great. :smile:

The bad news is I have no more info, all the job sheet says it's the High Pressure pump has been removed and replaced.

So sorry I can;t say anymore. The work was completed by Cotswold BMW in Cheltenham

 

Thanks Ian, may be the high pressure fuel pump...

ken

 

Well here's my update. The car has been with the dealer since yesterday to have the ECU reflashed in the hope it solves the problem (it was pretty bad last week - I accelerated away in 1st/2nd/3rd gear and it was like the handbrake was still on - it wasn't!). Unfortunately it keeps crashing on updates so hopefully I'll get it tomorrow.

 

We had the ECU software updated by the dealer a month ago, and so far the symptom has not returned.....

 

Thanks Ken, that's good to hear. It has never been a massive problem, but it is there on occasion and that's enough.

Fingers crossed!

 

Hi Joe

I work at Stansted Airport so have used Elms as a matter of convenience, I live in Witham so also use Cooper's in Chelmsford who recently have been very good, I've had a complete timing gear change recently and they kept me informed throughout. Saying that I must also praise Elms who were also very good.
If you're interested mate our club ESSEX MINI2 has a couple of members over your way so if you fancy coming to any of our meets feel free!
all the best

Den