So I just bought a 2008 base model with 60k miles on it. Manual transmission of course, in great condition- or so I htought. The car ran great, engine sounds fine, but there is some sort of an electrical problem that prevents it from going too far. It has gotten to the point where the engine dies before I can put it into gear. It has only died on my mom- twice actually, but I've never had it die on me the three times I've taken it for a short drive. I thought it was an alternator problem, but I was wondering if any of you have any better ideas of what it might be. Please let me know as the car will be going back to the dealer tomorrow if I can't find any more suggestions to remedy this. PLEASE HELP!!!! Thank you so much!!!
What do you mean "prevents it from going too far"? Is it an automatic? Can you (yourself) recreate the problem? FWIW, the alternator won't have anything to do with this unless the battery's going dead.
Is the check engine light on? It may not be electrical. It could just have a vacuum leak that lets it die at idle.
I mean the car will always turn on- it just sputters out after a certain period of time. The Red Battery light came on (which indicates and alternator and/or battery malfunction) the first time I started it coming off of the truck from the dealer- I (stupidly) ignored this because it turned off very shortly after I had turned the car on, to only die later on my mom while driving on the highway. Another Mini owner that I had spoken to on the matter said it sounded like the car runs fine and it should not be something to trsh the car over. I AGREE competely- but convincing my mom is another story. He had also suggested the Catalytic Converter.. ?? could that be it? It's at the dealer now and we're gonna sort it out. I want to be armed with suggestions if they give me some BS response like 'oh well we checked this and that but we didn't find anything...' -_-
Just a simple 'bad wiring' between the Alternator and the battery. The car is running fine!! ....for now
