First MINI meet - Breakfast with LMR

Firstly, sorry for the delay in keeping you all updated on this blog. You'll be pleased to know I haven't just been sitting on my hands, I have actually been working my magic to get Charlie back up to good health before we start tinkering properly on upgrades.

After a pretty bad diagnostic which had left me with serious safety concerns over the car, it was time to start remedying them - but first it was off to meet the Lancashire Mini Register for the first time at one of their regular Breakfast Meets. 

So one Sunday morning in March, we headed to the Phantom Winger, near Preston for some grub and a chinwag. This would be my first MINI specific meeting and although I've been around the scene for a fair time now, it would be interesting to see if the new MINI owners were as strange as the classic Mini owners...

Arriving fashionably late, there was a eye-popping sight to be seen when almost all of those attending turned out in the same colour Mini (see the pic). Of course mine stands out because of the kerbed wheels ;)

Meeting the crew, names we would soon learn were Brian Rowney, Iain Crawford, Ian Dalby and Matthew Chambers amongst others. They were all pretty welcoming, well as welcoming as you can be when someone like me comes along. A few were a bit quiet, but like anything you just throw yourself in and start chatting and see what comes about.

After tucking into a full English, I grabbed head honcho Brian to have a gander at my newly acquired MINI for a once-over. Given this was my first foray into MINI ownership and our first outing where other owners would judge, I was hoping for some supportive advice, but like the stereotypical mechanic, there was a lot of 'tutting' and large intakes of breath, as well as the occassional comment of "take it back." Eek!!

With the MINI sounding like a diesel (and not being one), it was clear there were some problems. Brian kindly volunteered to connect his phone to my OBD port to see what dianostics came up on his device. Again the misfire was clearly a prime fault. I had a look and a listen at some of the pristine MINIs in attendance, trying to pick up whatever bits of knowledge and advice I could. In my mind I know Charlie needs some work and as I've said I'm looking to get him up to scratch before any mods, but I don't have the sort of cash to throw at him so am doing jobs when and where I can afford it.

Our journey from Burnley was just under an hour, but we took the country roads back for a nice Sunday drive and had a little fun on the windy roads past Blackburn and Clitheroe.

Next on the list was to start getting some parts...


Here's the diagnostic log from Brian's phone app.

Fault log report generated by Torque for Android
=================================================

Vehicle VIN:
Vehicle Manufacturer:
Vehicle Calibration ID:

Current Fault Log
------------------
P0304: Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected
P0118: Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit High Input
P1125: [Chrysler] APP System
[Ford] Throttle Position Sensor Intermittent
[Toyota] Throttle Control Motor Circuit.
[Lexus] Throttle Control Motor Circuit Malfunction
[Mazda] Throttle Position Sensor Signal Intermittent
[Dodge] APP System
[Jeep] APP System
[Seat/Audi/Volkswagen] Long Term Fuel Trim Add.Air.,Bank2 System too Rich

P1229: [Seat/Audi/Volkswagen] Cyl.5-Fuel Inj.Circ. Short to Ground


Pending Fault Log
------------------
ECU reports no pending faults

Historic Fault Log
------------------
ECU reports no historic faults
Other discovered fault codes
(possibly pending, current or manufacturer specific)
----------------------------------------------------
ECU reports no other fault codes logged

End of report.