Mini R56 Warning light - help.

[NtandoN]

Hi guys.

So my wife's Mini Cooper S has had a couple of problems.
First it was the timing chain that snapped at 85k km and that was fixed. Thereafter, the car started going into limp mode, with the orange engine warning coming, if she reached about 4000 revs. It would feel like the turbo was not working at all. This light would continuously come on and off. The car was taken to Sandton Auto, Northcliff Auto and other mechanics but no one could figure out what was wrong. Also after the car was switched off the warning light in the pic below would come on.

Anyway, most recently the car overheated (91k km) and my wife not knowing what was wrong continued to drive on until she reached the nearest fuel station (~10km) before she realised what the problem was. The car was then towed to a mechanic recommended by our warranty (out of motorplan). The issue this time was apparently the water pump but they could not confirm because the way most of the pipes, covers, etc. located around the engine had melted due to overheating. In any case, this repair has been completed and included cylinder head engineering, gaskets, tappet cover, timing chain kit (again) and various pipes replaced. My wife has her car back now and she could never be happier.

I test drove the car yesterday and everything seemed fine until the light in the pic above came on after I had stopped and switched off the car.
Does anyone know what this light means? Are we in for another hefty repair?
I bought this car for my wife thinking that it would be a nippy and tiny run-around for her. But I am inclined to sell it and never look at a mini again.

Please help with any advice and comments.

 

[Wilster]

Hi guys.

So my wife's Mini Cooper S has had a couple of problems.
First it was the timing chain that snapped at 85k km and that was fixed. Thereafter, the car started going into limp mode, with the orange engine warning coming, if she reached about 4000 revs. It would feel like the turbo was not working at all. This light would continuously come on and off. The car was taken to Sandton Auto, Northcliff Auto and other mechanics but no one could figure out what was wrong. Also after the car was switched off the warning light in the pic below would come on.

Anyway, most recently the car overheated (91k km) and my wife not knowing what was wrong continued to drive on until she reached the nearest fuel station (~10km) before she realised what the problem was. The car was then towed to a mechanic recommended by our warranty (out of motorplan). The issue this time was apparently the water pump but they could not confirm because the way most of the pipes, covers, etc. located around the engine had melted due to overheating. In any case, this repair has been completed and included cylinder head engineering, gaskets, tappet cover, timing chain kit (again) and various pipes replaced. My wife has her car back now and she could never be happier.

I test drove the car yesterday and everything seemed fine until the light in the pic above came on after I had stopped and switched off the car.
Does anyone know what this light means? Are we in for another hefty repair?
I bought this car for my wife thinking that it would be a nippy and tiny run-around for her. But I am inclined to sell it and never look at a mini again.

Please help with any advice and comments.

I

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Dean ///M]

R56 you don't keep out of plan think the revised engines came out from 2012

 

[NtandoN]

R56 you don't keep out of plan think the revised engines came out from 2012

Do you know what makes these engines breakdown so much?

 

[Dean ///M]

I believe that it's not a fully BMW designed engine cos It's also shared with the Peugeot Gti

 

[Willy]

The R56 was never MINI's finest moment.

That from the top of my mind I would say is something gearbox related. Gearbox oil change maybe? If the car overheated to a point that everything melted and the head needed to be done, I really hoped they pulled the motor and checked the pistons and rings as they most probably also got damaged.

They also, hopefully went over each and every pipe or vacuum line close to the engine as something simple like a vacuum leak or bad connection can also cause faults. (assuming it might be an auto).

The user manual should give a good indication of where to start looking.

 

[NtandoN]

I believe that it's not a fully BMW designed engine cos It's also shared with the Peugeot Gti

I believe it is a Peugeot design, but I am under correction.

The R56 was never MINI's finest moment.

That from the top of my mind I would say is something gearbox related. Gearbox oil change maybe? If the car overheated to a point that everything melted and the head needed to be done, I really hoped they pulled the motor and checked the pistons and rings as they most probably also got damaged.

They also, hopefully went over each and every pipe or vacuum line close to the engine as something simple like a vacuum leak or bad connection can also cause faults. (assuming it might be an auto).

The user manual should give a good indication of where to start looking.

Pistons and rings were checked and no damage.

Unfortunately, we've misplaced the user manual :dunno: but that would've been my first check. I will get the stealers to do a check on the gearbox and hear what they say. It is an auto and the guys that did the cylinder head took everything apart and replaced everything that was affected by the overheating.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Willy]

Those auto boxes are actually quite nice.

Some thoughts from NAM

"Common issue on the automatic. If you had nav it would say you didn't put the car in park before you shut it off. I had this as have countless others and you need to have the dealer check it. On mine they had to replace a sensor or interlock or something like it. My was about a week old before this 1st happened."



"I see two gear shaped warnings in a PDF manual.
1) Gear with thermometer in it - Transmission Overheating
2) Gear with exclamation point - Transmission in limp home mode.

If the warning was Red, it's worse than if it was yellow.
You may need to contact the dealer. Good luck.

Now, it's time to put in my time on the running trail."


"I had this happen on our new MCS Automatic Clubman with 2k miles on it. It is the gear selector sensor. Our light came on about 4 weeks ago. My dealer told me just to bring it in at my convenience and that their demo Clubman was doing the same thing. Don't be surprised if you see other dummy lights come on. After one week of driving with that light on, our brake, DSC, and tire pressure light was staying on too. Again, the dealer said that was what their demo and one other customer's automatic Clubman was doing. I drove it for another week and then every time my gas tank was only half empty, the gas light was going on and off when I would take any corners. The dealership finally got my part in last week and they fixed it. I drove it for 3 days with no issues. Now the light is back on but it has only gone on two or three times. It has not come back on in two days but I'm still going to get it back into the dealer. UHGGGGGG
"



Looks like gear selector sensor maybe?



Just for jokes

"From the picture, it looks like it's telling you the Sun is going to explode unless you put the car in P."

---

"I've had this problem. Had it 'fixed' and then had it come back immediately.
It appears that whatever mechanism is used to lock the transmission in Park when the engine shuts down acts in a 'sticky' way. That is, sometimes it locks AOK, and sometimes it doesn't lock immediiately, but does so after a while.

The symptoms I'm seeing are:
* Sometimes the transmission locks in park when the engine is shut down -- i.e., it works normally.
* Sometimes the warnings show up (Yellow gear symbol with an exclamation point in it). When this happens, the shift lever can be pulled out of Park (even though the engine is now OFF) and then pushed back into Park.
* AFAIK the warning system is ALWAYS right.
* After a while the lever locks in position. Sometimes this is a matter of seconds (i.e., if you hear the gong, curse quietly a few times, and then grab the stick, it may be locked already). Sometimes it takes several minutes.
"

 

[Donovan2412]

Probably some of the most unhelpful warning lights i've ever seen.

 

[Willy]

Yes well at least it shows a gear or exploding sun which points to a more or less good place to start looking.

Well in this case not.

Its better than the car telling you: "I'm fuc5ed, there somewhere in front. . . or the back"

 

[NtandoN]

Those auto boxes are actually quite nice.

Some thoughts from NAM

"Common issue on the automatic. If you had nav it would say you didn't put the car in park before you shut it off. I had this as have countless others and you need to have the dealer check it. On mine they had to replace a sensor or interlock or something like it. My was about a week old before this 1st happened."



"I see two gear shaped warnings in a PDF manual.
1) Gear with thermometer in it - Transmission Overheating
2) Gear with exclamation point - Transmission in limp home mode.

If the warning was Red, it's worse than if it was yellow.
You may need to contact the dealer. Good luck.

Now, it's time to put in my time on the running trail."


"I had this happen on our new MCS Automatic Clubman with 2k miles on it. It is the gear selector sensor. Our light came on about 4 weeks ago. My dealer told me just to bring it in at my convenience and that their demo Clubman was doing the same thing. Don't be surprised if you see other dummy lights come on. After one week of driving with that light on, our brake, DSC, and tire pressure light was staying on too. Again, the dealer said that was what their demo and one other customer's automatic Clubman was doing. I drove it for another week and then every time my gas tank was only half empty, the gas light was going on and off when I would take any corners. The dealership finally got my part in last week and they fixed it. I drove it for 3 days with no issues. Now the light is back on but it has only gone on two or three times. It has not come back on in two days but I'm still going to get it back into the dealer. UHGGGGGG
"



Looks like gear selector sensor maybe?



Just for jokes

"From the picture, it looks like it's telling you the Sun is going to explode unless you put the car in P."

---

"I've had this problem. Had it 'fixed' and then had it come back immediately.
It appears that whatever mechanism is used to lock the transmission in Park when the engine shuts down acts in a 'sticky' way. That is, sometimes it locks AOK, and sometimes it doesn't lock immediiately, but does so after a while.

The symptoms I'm seeing are:
* Sometimes the transmission locks in park when the engine is shut down -- i.e., it works normally.
* Sometimes the warnings show up (Yellow gear symbol with an exclamation point in it). When this happens, the shift lever can be pulled out of Park (even though the engine is now OFF) and then pushed back into Park.
* AFAIK the warning system is ALWAYS right.
* After a while the lever locks in position. Sometimes this is a matter of seconds (i.e., if you hear the gong, curse quietly a few times, and then grab the stick, it may be locked already). Sometimes it takes several minutes.
"

---

Thanks for the elaborate explanation. I will take to the dealer for a check up on the gearbox. This car is definitely more trouble than it's worth.

Good one the warning light/exploding sun :biglol: