'06 Mini Cooper S - "gimp" mode activated

[jwasbury]

Car has 81k miles, bought it new.

The "Service Engine Soon", EML, and battery lights came on while my wife was driving, car went into limp mode. I called AAA and when I got there, the car started OK (SES light on, and battery light, but no EML). Switched off the A/C and the battery light went out (never to be seen again). I drove the car around a parking lot and everything seemed fine, but when I got the rpms up, the EML light came back on and the car went into limp mode. There was also a knocking sound coming from the top end of the engine which you can hear in the video (a distinct "tap tap tap"). After a 40 minute ride on the flatbed, the car ran fine at the dealership (SES light, no others) and I couldn't get the car back into limp mode. Also, It seems the knocking went away.

Any thoughts or experience with this? Car is at the shop so I will hopefully have a diagnosis later today.

2006 Mini Cooper S Engine Knock noise - YouTube

[cstreit]

Stuck lifter or low oil pressure?

Im sure if the car went into limp mode it threw codes. let us know what they say.

[j8tg]

My 05 S did the same but did not recover--was a supercharger failure and a $4500 bill to repair.

TG
1986 930

[jwasbury]

both of these things have crossed my mind ^^^

The thing is, how would either "heal" itself magically while taking a ride on the flatbed? The noise was gone when the car was unloaded at the dealer (of course).

I have been reading that the crank pulley fails on these engines...many of the symptoms suggest this could be the issue. Will wait to hear from the shop, and wondering if its getting to be time to dump this car.

[VincentVega]

Good luck. It's hard to tell from the video but I initially thought supercharger. Pop off the belt and see if the noise goes away.

Keep us updated please, I have one too.

[stomachmonkey]

Odd sound, does not sound like lifter, rhythm seems to be off for it to be that.

It's kind of on the cusp of mechanical and exhaust leak which can have a metallic tone to them.

Rhythm sounds more like a pressure leak somewhere.

Wifes Tahoe did something similar recently, sounded like a head gasket leak but went away on its own and never came back.

[onlycafe]

i have a '7 s model, came to a dead stop one night and would go no further.
timing belt went...catastrophic failure.
at 48,800 miles i got a new engine, no charge!
another 1200 miles and i would have been out of luck.

[VincentVega]

Timing chain/tensioners are an unfortunate issue on the turbo gen cars.

[astrochex]

My 06 S had an SES, gimp mode issue. The issue turned out to be the crank damper. The OEM units have rubber in them that can degrade over time. Shutting off the ignition temporarily cured the gimp mode. I got a fluid damper replacement that will never have the same issue.

Other causes could be the bypass valve and the throttle body.

[GothingNC]

Was the waterpump ever changed?

The seals can go dry causing the SC oil to be sucked out.

Supercharger Failure - MINI Cooper Forum - MINI2 Mini Cooper Forums

Mini Cooper S Supercharger Fail - YouTube


Hopefully it is just your idler pulley as the 05-06 superchargers have the teflon coating and usually last past 100,000 miles.

[SeanPizzle]

I love the idea of those little go-carts but I don't think I could stomach the reliability issues.

Ford Fiesta ST looks like a better go-cart option.

[jwasbury]

That supercharger failure youtube video is definitely a different noise than I had.

Water pump is original. The car had overheating issues several years ago, which was due to loss of coolant from a cracked thermostat housing (also fairly common).

This is the first time the car has failed to get us home. Its a fun car, but definitely has had some maintenance issues within its 80k mile service life that I haven't had to deal with on other vehicles. Of course, I have to consider that much of the 80k miles have been urban use (NYC and metro area), so this is not a "mostly highway" miles vehicle. Just 6 months ago I had to replace some pricey bushings / ball joints in the front control arms, and the hard rubber parts of the front strut mounts were cracking and about to fail completely so were replaced as well.

[rusnak]

I have no knowledge of Minis, but that noise is a pump failure. Either an air pump, water pump, or oil pump of some kind.

[GothingNC]

Did you get it fixed?

Mine had the same exact symptoms last month when the harmonic crank pulley separated.

[nostatic]

sure you don't mean "limp mode"? I didn't realize Minis played that way...

[bell]

We had turbo mini Cooper s in for a head gasket.....in my reading data I saw that the chain ramps fail and cause a similar racket, a common test was to see if the oil dipstick cable hangs up in the chain ramp which it runs through.....
This was a 1.6 turbo.......not supercharged so I'm not certain of the similarities...

[Nostril Cheese]

Supercharger is going out. Sorry.

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by GothingNC

Did you get it fixed?

Mine had the same exact symptoms last month when the harmonic crank pulley separated.

Yes, we got it fixed. It was the crank pulley failing. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the concept of a pulley failing. Its a pulley, how hard is it to manufacture one that lasts longer than 80k miles, or lasts forever for that matter? Now irrelevant because my wife decided its time for a new car. She traded the '06 S for a brand new John Cooper Works. I tried to talk her into a pre owned Cayman, but she loves her Mini.

[GothingNC]

Common problem with the R53 since the pulley is joined together by a slab of rubber and fails with age. Just like the SC's with the reubber center clutches



New Pulley will last longer than the car

This damper is made with an internal steel inertia ring that is surrounded by a high viscosity silicone gel. The inertia ring “floats” in the silicone get to combat the engine harmonics at all RPM ranges.