Mini running on half power

[daverclasper]

Hi. My girlfriends daughters Mini Cooper had an engine fault light come on, that apparently means the engines only running at half power !. She thought it felt like it wasn't running right, though the light disappeared and is now running ok.

Any idea what what all this gobodygook could mean please.

Thanks, Dave  

[Clive]

Went into limp mode.The ECU shuts things down if there is a "serious" fault. Need a gizmo plugging into the OBD port to give the list of fault codes. Scanners cost £10 upwards, or a bluetooth adaptor and a phone app. Or pay a garage. 

Worth checking out as these things usually come back or end badly. Some things are just an intermittent fault and stay that way.

[dougbgt6]

Is it a "New" mini? If so it's got a brain and an OBD2 meter should tell you what the problem is, or was. The mobile armchair goes into "limp home" mode occasionally accompanied by an engine warning light. OBD allows me to turn it off, till the next time!

Doug

[dougbgt6]

Clive, 

you beat me to it!

The armchair eventually failed and wouldn't come out of limp home. I new it was the atmospheric sensor from the OBD2 meter, it turned out the sensor container was clogged in carbon deposit, cleaned it out and hey presto!

db

[daverclasper]

Thanks a lot guys.

Dave

 

[Pete Lewis]

Before there is any guessing we need to know just what light came on

Near in mind orange is just a warning  red is stop

Is it petrol or diesel  

if diesel it may well be the particle filter doing a burn off 

Pointless guessing read handbook what   warning light   whats its function  ,  

Pete

[dougbgt6]

Dave,

If you're buying an OBD2 choose it carefully, cheap are OK but some only do specific cars. 

Doug

[JohnD]

"Only do specific cars" in that OBD2 is a universal code, that some manufacturers have added to.

The interface is universal.   

Cheapest readers only give a code, no interpretation even if it's nota  makers special, but they're available online, EG: 

http://www.totalcardiagnostics.com/support/Knowledgebase/Article/View/21/0/complete-list-of-obd-codes-generic-obd2-obdii--manufacturer

JOhn

 

[dougbgt6]

"The interface is universal" well yes, but there are just too many purchasers assessments that say "Doesn't do this model", "Doesn't do that model" I bought mine because it said Jaguar, it also does my assorted daughters Fords and Kia. But not the Triumph, can't find the socket.

db

[Anglefire]

John, the manufactures have to make available some of the ECU's and some of the codes - but not all. VW Group are pretty open. Ford aren't. When I had a Land Rover Discovery 3 (Largely Ford), I bought a very sophisticated code reader/programmer - wasn't cheap around £350 - but saved me a fortune and allowed me to update the ECU's to the latest version.

My BMW has a code reader from Carly - the software is free, the dongle was about £100 - but is not as powerful as the LR one I had - but to be fair good enough 99% of the time - it allowed me to disable stop start from being enabled - which was worth the money on its own! (A positively dangerous feature on an automatic in my opinion!)

https://www.mycarly.com/product/bmw-app/ is the one I have and supports the Mini - shame I'm not nearer as I could plug in!

[Colin Lindsay]

58 minutes ago, Anglefire said:

 When I had a Land Rover Discovery 3 (Largely Ford), I bought a very sophisticated code reader/programmer - wasn't cheap around £350 - but saved me a fortune and allowed me to update the ECU's to the latest version.

I took my TD5 to the local dealer, for £20 he did the job from his industrial software so saved me the rest.

Re OBDs and fault codes; my Mondeo regularly throws up codes, stupid things like "no 3 injector weak" which is usually when driving in rain; a dose of WD40 cures that and my £10 reader clears the code. Sometimes that's all it requires, but without the basic code reader to clear and reset the error messages it would remain until a dealer charged me a lot of money to do the same.

[Anglefire]

Colin, I know where you are coming from - but when you are 7000' up a mountain and the thing throws a wobbly, its very handy to have! Plus I sold it on when I sold the car and got and significant amount back! 

It would be wrong to call it a code reader too - it did much more than that, including recalibration of the height sensors, and several modifications that the dealer software couldn't do (Or at least was locked out from being done!)

[Pete Lewis]

back to basics dont spend any money till you know just what your are looking for,  i say again  'what warning came on'  this will steer you to 

read the handbook   then decide if you have a real problem , then buy a reader if its going to help 

makes you look silly when its just a low coolant level or some other simple basic 

pete

 

[Clive]

There may be atrick to getting the basic codes without any equipment. Certainly Vauxhall there was a pedal "trick" and there may be something similar with the mini. Otherwise Pete is right, which light, or spend a few quid (£10 0r so) on a cheapo reader. OK, they are limited, but it will give you the fault codes. Then google the codes, and you know where the problem lies. More or less anyway.

[Colin Lindsay]

Don't know if this video will be any help with your model, but nearly every car on the market has hidden code access so someone will know the tricks.

My Focus required the heater and other buttons to be pressed and held while the ignition was turned on and off, with the indicator turned to the right etc etc..

[daverclasper]

Thanks a lot everyone. Wow. Hidden code access. Bit different from our old car handbooks, that are pretty informative and geared for DIY.

I wonder why most folk don't do work on their cars anymore (even if it is more complex/simpler if a computer tells you any faults)?.

Cheers, Dave  

[Steve P]

My daughters both had modern Mini Coopers,i used to own a 1968 Cooper,great car.Failed to persuade them on the merit of old ones.

One of the moderns was a nightmare and the other was fine,early ones(pre 2006) had Chrysler engines which had a tendency to over heat.After 2006 they were Peugeot which liked to throw the cam chains.Don`t know about newish ones but best get the fault codes read and get it dealt with before major failure.

Just remembered the early ones were known for the power steering pumps failing suddenly which was interesting for the largely female ownership suddenly being unable to turn the wheel.

[Anglefire]

Not sure what that is telling you - my disco had a hidden display. But essentially nothing of any use diagnostically. 

Yes cheap code readers will give you the basic engine fault codes as a minimum. And in this case may well be sufficiently. 

@Pete I agree the light colour is significant- red is stop. Do not continue it’s about to blow Jim (said with a Scottish accent obviously) 

yellow means something is wrong bjt you can continue with care and probably with reduced power. Other than that you have to get the codes read. 

[Colin Lindsay]

On 02/10/2018 at 19:37, Anglefire said:

Not sure what that is telling you - my disco had a hidden display. But essentially nothing of any use diagnostically. 

The 2002 Ford Focus I had displayed all the diagnostic codes on the speedo, so you didn't need a separate reader; although you did sometimes need extra hardware to clear them after work done

The biggest challenge anyone can put before me these days is something bearing the message "no user serviceable parts inside" or "refer to dealer". I just love proving that wrong.