Help Request... 2007 Mini Cooper R56 Turbo (code P0974)

[Ian442]

Good morning!

Car gets intermittent gear light. Half Engine light too.

Car is taken to Mini Dealer, they report a faulty turbo, water pump seepage, oil filter housing leaking, old battery, strut mounts wearing. $5500 repair bill.

Car gets driven home...I order all those parts except the strut mounts...proceed to install them all. With all the April rain took me over a month.

Car is assembled, electrical connectors checked...get P0974 Shift Solenoid A High error message. Won't even turn over. Just a click. I am exhausted from trying to figure this all out so I am reaching out to the higher level auto experts here.

Thanks,

Ian

 

[Ty]

My first stop would be simply swapping all the relays around... just pull each one and replace it with the next one. That way, you'll find out if it is a simple relay. I'd follow that up with checking wiring harnesses to the transmission. I can't tell you how many times I disconnected something to get to another part and then didn't get it connected back good which caused codes to be thrown. Barring that type of issue, I'd then look into the shift solenoid in the transmission.

 

[W. WIllie]

First thing to do is check the 12V battery for a good charge, (Even have it LOAD tested) A weak 12V battery will give trouble codes or false symptions.

HTH
Willie

 

[Ian442]

I am no longer working on this vehicle. I decided I had enough after the hood latch broke with the hood closed. I got it off the street and into the yard where no one can complain about it. But there is more to the story than I think should divulge publicly so thank you Ty and Willie but may my tree fall on this piece of crap car. I wash my hands of this mess.

 

[Maurtis]

I am no longer working on this vehicle. I decided I had enough after the hood latch broke with the hood closed. I got it off the street and into the yard where no one can complain about it. But there is more to the story than I think should divulge publicly so thank you Ty and Willie but may my tree fall on this piece of crap car. I wash my hands of this mess.

I am so sorry the MINI is being such a hassle for you. I sold my 2008 R56 MCS right before the warranty was up since she was already becoming a maintenance/shop queen and the NAM forums were littered with reliability complaints. Super fun car, but not as reliable as the previous R53 supercharged model from what I heard.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.