cmcveay

Ouch, that doesn't sound good. I hope your arm starts feeling better!

Post dealership JCW upgrade?

Statue of Liberty MINI event! More into to come for this event but the tentative plan for now is to meet up with C3M on the 13 at 9 a.m. and drive up to Philly - meeting the Delaware group along the way. Once in Philly, the Philly group will lead a PM run. This post will be updated with hotel information as soon as it's selected. On the 14th, the NY group will lead a run to liberty park for the ferry out to liberty island and the statue of liberty. Information below is for obtaining ferry tickets and information about what to get. If you think you are going to go, get your tickets now, they do sell out fast. To get ferry and crown tickets: Here is what to get: reserve ferry/crown ticket(s), departs from Liberty State Park, NJ. for Sunday, Aug 14th @ 11am. http://www.statuecruises.com/ferry-service/welcome.aspx Crown tickets sold out very fast !!! *** DISCLAIMER *** This event is hosted by another club, vendor or other non-affiliated individual, it is not organized by DCMM. It is posted here for informational purposes only and DCMM accepts no responsibility for the event planning nor what takes place during the event. Participants shall expect to be subject to the rules and guidelines set forth by the event organizer(s). *** DISCLAIMER ***

Hawkeye, I don't remember any of the "Justa" crowd mentioning the problem so I don't know if any of them have had the issue. That said, it's something that can happen to 2nd Gen S and JCW's. It seems like it would be every car across the board if it was an engineering issue so a QA/QC issue seems more likely but there could be a little of an engineering issue in there as well.

Convince them to keep it overnight so they can start it up in the morning. Unless you pack a lunch and a dinner, it's not going to get cold enough to duplicate the conditions.

Good luck with that argument! Honestly, folks will chime in with a variety of reasons for either way of doing it. Back in the old days, the problem with keeping the clutch depressed was overheating the "fingers" of the clutch plate or wearing out the throwout bearing (the device that depressed the "fingers"). I don't know what the MINI uses or just how much that technology has changed but in stop and go traffic (which I, like you miss most of the time) I'll continue to keep the clutch in and the car in gear and at a light, I'll go to neutral and let the clutch out. The exception would be if I'm the first at the light though! Then, I'll keep it in gear so I'm ready to go when the light changes.

Stop and go traffic - if stopped for a "bit", I'll keep the clutch in and neutral. If it's just stopping and starting, I keep it in gear. At lights, neutral and clutch out, foot on brake.

If there's a lip in there (I'd have to look at the behind of a 1st Gen to see), the tabs that you are seeing probably just click in behind that lip to hold it in place.

Thanks Brian! And thanks for giving my new license plates a free plug there too! (yes, that's me using an emoticon) How many days till the Dragon now???

Before arrows start flying about one vendor over another, it should be noted that professional mechanics in their own shop with every tool they could possibly need are known to make mistakes and mechanical devices/fasteners can fail, loosen and fall out despite any precaution that may be taken. You can try to stop 'em but it doesn't always work. The best advice I can give for having mods done at the Dragon (or anywhere else for that matter) would be to ask questions. At the Dragon, stay and watch the work as it's done! You can't do that at the dealership, they won't even let you get close to the work. None of the vendors at the Dragon want to have anything go wrong because it's their reputation on the line and they do value that a great deal. If I remember correctly, several of us were scrambling to find bolts for another DCMM member because they were having work done down there and found that there was a problem that they'd driven down there with. I don't think the original work was done at the Dragon but my memory fails me at that point. Just my .02 on it.

Your best bet is to jump onto NAM and the other MINI forums and run a few searches. Make sure you used the advanced search tool so you can specify 2nd Gens. The SA won't care if any other generation of MINI or Mini may or may not have had a problem. I recall having seen more than just a few clutch questions on NAM.

Voyager - I usually do a seafoam treatment as a precursor to an oil change just because I don't want any of the solvents in the seafoam to have a chance to get into the crankcase and do any harm. Ali - I can only offer this to the 1st Gen folks but if anyone wants to do a seafoam treatment and then and Oil change, I'll be glad to help out. Oil changes in the 2nd Gen sound really scary but it's actually pretty darn easy!

Yeah, let's not have any exploding heads!

At the request of a club member, here's the plan for the next dinner! Red Robin (Yummmmmmm) Friday, March 25th at 7 p.m. 6331 Seven Corners Ctr Falls Church, VA 22044 (703) 531-1390

There are random stories about the clutches in the 2nd Gens failing at reasonably low mileage but they seem to be the exception, not the norm. Good luck on getting it fixed soon so you can get back to motoring.

Automatic transmission or Standard? If it's a standard transmission, the racing engine sounds like a clutch that's slipping. The rough/stumbling from idle has been discussed a few times and it's not all that uncommon on the 2nd Gen cars. The direct injection means the fuel injected directly into the combustion chambers - unlike a more traditional method in which fuel is injected into the airstream somewhere along the intake tract. That means there's no fuel air mixture flowing through the pipes to the intake manifold and into the engine. What many of us have experienced is a build up of oil/carbon like residue on the back on the valves. The turbocharger is lubricated/cooled with engine oil and there's some "blow by" that lets some oily mist into the intake air and there's also the PCV valve that introduces some oily mist. My guess is that the heat of the combustion chamber causes some of that oily mist to bake onto the back of the intake valve. If the fuel/air mixture flowed over the back of the valves, it would help "wash" them all of the time. Many of us have resorted to doing some periodic maintenance by using "Seafoam". You can search here or other sites to read more about it. One thing to keep in mind - pouring SeaFoam into the gas tank simply won't do anything to help if this is what your problem is because it'll never get to the back of the valves. There are several "How-to" guides for doing this procedure. In the end though, Jason is right, if the car is running okay in "non Sport mode" and only acting up with Sport mode on, I'd suggest having it looked at. The sport mode button isn't supposed to do anything with the actual engine fuel/air/timing maps, I'm pretty sure it just changes how "lively" the accelerator responds and it also changes some of the steering characteristics. If you are in NOVA, I have a gauge that will let you watch the fuel/air ration and several other parameters to see if they are acting crazy.

There's a creek and a clothes line near the cabins, you can wash 'em if they need it!

GiGi, that may be the shock of your life! Please come early so you can meet Laura before the bears show up and run her off! Just make sure you bring some of that Dr. Pepper!

Noooooo Greg, you can't let them take you to the emoticon dark side! Turn away, turn away, shield your eyes but for the love of everything MINI, step away from the emoticon!

I've got a recipe for bear!

Duct tape? Staple Gun, Silicone? Plasti Dip? Electrical tape? Okay, that was mean but it made me laugh for a minute. Is it coming out on the inside or outside Greg? Does it come out enough to allow water or wind through? What kind of warranty was there on the work at the shop, I think I'd be heading over there to have them check their work.

Oh yeah, I had them put on the Friday before our last snow/ice day.... I'm always up for an adventure! I actually had no problem, I just took it easy. I'm impressed so far but the one thing I've noticed is that you do not want to follow too close if someone is running summer tires on a day above 50 degrees if there's anything loose on the road. It will throw it at whoever is behind you - just ask Brian... Sorry Brian. The road feel is good and the steering response is still quick and confident. No road noise and of course the ride isn't has "harsh" as the RF's. I haven't tested their adhesion qualities yet but I'm eyeballing an out of the way parking lot where I can go wind it up a little.

Dan was correct, I went with the 235/40R-17 and they are very, very awesome.