Mini EP light

Hi All,

So my girlfriend bought an 2005 Mini Cooper automatic with manual paddle shift last July. Within a few weeks she accidently stuck it into manual without knowing it and seems to have driven it around in the one gear reving the hell out of it for ages which bust a valve in the gear box and the car went into EP mode. So we took it to a mechanic in Dublin that specializes in automatic gearboxes for Mini and he fixed it for just short of 2 grand. Happy days for me as I had to pay for it.

But since then, although the car was driving fine seemingly, the EP light started coming back on within a few days of getting the car back. Brought it back to the specialist mechanic who checked it, said it was fine per diagnostics and reset the computer. Told us to buy a new battery if it came up again.

EP light came up again so we got a new battery. But the EP light is still coming up on the car ever since. Some times it doesnt come up but sometimes it does. Girlfriend has been driving it since and ignoring the EP light as it seems to be a false warning. Until last Friday when the car actually went into EP mode, ie. Emergency Program which results in car limited to certain low revs and low speed. The girlfriend pulled over and stopped the car and rang me. I arrived and turned on the car and it drove fine but EP light was still on. So it seems that stopping the car and turning it on resets the car computer and when its turned back on it was fine. So again I am presuming that its a false alarm and some sort of bug possibly in the cars computer.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice as to where we should turn now? Do you think a computer reset might be worth a shot? If the EP light comes back after computer reset by a BMW specialist garage then what? Would it be a sign that the computer needs replacing or is there possibly another problem? I am presuming that the gearbox/transmission is fine as the specialist garage had rechecked it a few weeks after we brought it back to them last October and car has been driving fine.

Thanks in advance!

lfc200

I'd talk to O'Leary's garage in Ballincollig Cork. What Ger and Aidan in there don't know about MINI's isn't worth knowing.
If you check out www.miniclub.ie, you can also post a comment there and Ger is great for responding!

colm_mcm

You paid 2 grand and the problem wasn't totally fixed. How come there was such a gap with nothing done between now and then?

colm_mcm

colm_mcm wrote: »

You paid 2 grand and the problem wasn't totally fixed. How come there was such a gap with nothing done between now and then?

Please don't ask such questions. As I don't know how to phrase the answer without saying something sexist She isn't very good with cars and she hasnt been acting on the problems properly and she hasn't mentioned some of the issues with it to me until last Friday.

Essentially I don't drive the Mini bar once in a blue moon so I havent noticed anything out of the ordinary with it. The EP light wasnt coming on the few occasions I've been in the car (I check each time as I was so paranoid about it from Oct 2015) so I thought it was all fine and my girlfriend never mentioned any problems to me about the car in the last 5 months.

After the car went into Emergency Program mode on Friday I sat my girlfriend down and talked through any niggles or issues she might have noticed recently. This is a hard enough task to do as it can turn into a row pretty quickly and she was talking about problems with the transmission for about thirty minutes which made no sense to me until I discovered that in her head "transmission" meant "turning the key to start the car" :rolleyes: So I only discovered then that the EP light was coming on most of the time for her but not always. She also told me that the car wasnt starting when she first turned the key most of the time. She might have to turn it a second time or a few times before it would even attempt to start although I think thats a separate issue. Again I never noticed this starting problem the few times I've driven it but she assures me its continuously slow to start for her.

So yes, we are pretty stupid to have paid short of 2 grand last Oct and it hasn't been fully fixed but I just have to do my best to help her out as she is ridiculously non pro active about getting it sorted and doesnt know where to turn. She can't afford to pay much to get it fixed right now and I'm kind of close to my limit as to how much of my own money I'm prepared to waste on an 11 year old Mini. I feel that its something simple like a bug with the computer in the car and probably just need to get the right mechanic to look at it and spot it.

colm_mcm

I get you, the reason I asked was in case there was any chance of them covering the repair. At this stage that's pretty unlikely.
Hopefully it's something simple. The occasional not starting thing could be gearbox related too.
Where in the country is the car usually?

colm_mcm

colm_mcm wrote: »

I get you, the reason I asked was in case there was any chance of them covering the repair. At this stage that's pretty unlikely.
Hopefully it's something simple. The occasional not starting thing could be gearbox related too.
Where in the country is the car usually?

We're in Drogheda. I don't think its really something mechanically wrong with it as its been driving fine. I told her to contact the garage in Dublin again so she can bring it up for diagnostics and reset the whatever ye call it and see if it clears the problem. I'm more worried that it doesn't clear the problem and they'll suggest it needs a new computer. Pretty frustrating anyway as she should have been more proactive after it was meant to have been fixed. Its a bit frustrating that no garage in Drogheda will touch it as well. So you've to drive up the motorway for an hour to get it to the specialist garage.

lfc200

lfc200 wrote: »

I'd talk to O'Leary's garage in Ballincollig Cork. What Ger and Aidan in there don't know about MINI's isn't worth knowing.
If you check out www.miniclub.ie, you can also post a comment there and Ger is great for responding!

I've signed up. Thanks. Just waiting to be approved before posting in the forum.