2009 mini issues

[livinginasia]

Hi everyone

After some advice here please, and thought one of the PH community might be able to assist.

My mother living in the UK drives a 2009 mini one 1.4 litre car that’s done about 30,000 miles. She drives around 2,500 per year, mainly short trips to local shops.

The EML came on before Christmas, local BMW Mini specialist reset it but it came back on again in the new year.

Back to the specialist who said that the vanos system had failed and replaced it for a cost just shy of £1,000. They advised the timing chain may need to be replaced later but should be ok for now. (Not sure why a timing chain should fail after 30k?)

I have been in the UK for a couple of days, have given the car a good run at 70mph to see how everything is, and it’s not running correctly at all, regular hesitation on light and full throttle, and then yesterday pulling onto a roundabout, put my foot down to accelerate and it was like putting on the brakes - car kangaroo’d a few times and eventually got going at a slow crawl, then twice more on the journey when pulling up at traffics lights just coughed and stalled. Restarted straight away but clearly this isn’t right.

So ..... before we take it back to the specialist again, anyone have any ideas what it might be.

Thanks everyone

[Dr Interceptor]

Could be absolutely anything, from a myriad of sensors to a coil, or two.

[buggalugs]

I would get a second opinion from another specialist before dropping 1k.

[neutral 3]

I would be looking at taking it to another " specialist" .

[livinginasia]

Thank you - I did wonder if it was something electrical or maybe related to the work that had been done. We have used the same place before and they have always done a good job. Probably best to take it to the main dealer and let them have a look I suppose. Main dealer is about 45 minutes away and the specialist is about 5, so have been using them last couple of years.

[ZX10R NIN]

If you're not confident in the specialist your mother has used, then try another & see what they say.

[Saleen836]

livinginasia said:

My mother living in the UK drives a 2009 mini one 1.4 litre car that’s done about 30,000 miles. She drives around 2,500 per year, mainly short trips to local shops.

Going to stick my neck out and say this is most likely the cause of some if not all of any problems, the car i expect is rarely getting up to temperature while doing only 6 or 7 miles a day on average so I guess a lot of internals will be clogged/blocked etc. Yes it is ok doing short journeys for a while but guessing your mother had the car from almost new and after 8 or 9 years of ownership the short trips/not getting up to tem has taken it's toll.

[livinginasia]

Saleen836 said:

Going to stick my neck out and say this is most likely the cause of some if not all of any problems, the car i expect is rarely getting up to temperature while doing only 6 or 7 miles a day on average so I guess a lot of internals will be clogged/blocked etc. Yes it is ok doing short journeys for a while but guessing your mother had the car from almost new and after 8 or 9 years of ownership the short trips/not getting up to tem has taken it's toll.

This is my worst fear, is there a way of fixing that kind of damage? Thanks so much

[PK0001]

When did she last fill it up?

Could it be a fuel issue?

[livinginasia]

PK0001 said:

When did she last fill it up?

Could it be a fuel issue?

I filled it up with 98 Ron fuel two days ago and then took it for a couple of one hour + runs

[Dr Interceptor]

livinginasia said:

This is my worst fear, is there a way of fixing that kind of damage? Thanks so much

Could try sticking some fuel additive through it, valve and injector cleaner.

When did it last have an oil change?

[livinginasia]

Dr Interceptor said:

Could try sticking some fuel additive through it, valve and injector cleaner.

When did it last have an oil change?

I put a bottle of stp petrol additive in when I filled it up, I guess it takes a while to be effective. Not sure on the oil change but was within the last 12 months, have checked the oil and it’s bang on the level on the dipstick and lively & clean colour.

[Trevor555]

livinginasia said:

Thank you - I did wonder if it was something electrical or maybe related to the work that had been done. We have used the same place before and they have always done a good job. Probably best to take it to the main dealer and let them have a look I suppose.

You might get a shock at the hourly rates for main dealers.

[livinginasia]

Trevor555 said:

You might get a shock at the hourly rates for main dealers.

Heart attack on its way ! :-)