2002 Mini Cooper

So yours really is a HOT car

from what ive read from the links the sensor may have been knocked and wires have come off.

check the links find the sensor and see if i am right.

I hope this is usefull to you, I will now go and read the links in detail, as i suggest you should and if i come accross any additional information i will post it here

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t22804.html

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/forum/second-hand-cars/8755-mini-cooper-s-window-fault.html

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=385437

http://www.mini2.com/forum/first-generation-mini-cooper/38625-outside-temperature-sensor.html

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=633336

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w210-e50-amg-e55-amg/1181496-need-know-where-outside-air-temp.html

taken from the above link""""

Look on or behind the front Bumper on the drivers side. It's On the Front Skirt On The drivers Side It's A Little Black Thing That Lies Flush With The Vents On The Skirt.... I found it. It mounts in the little black piece next to the right fog lamp. I must have knocked it loose when I was cleaning the bugs off the front of the car during a trip last week. Thanks for the help Guys...

There appears to be 2 ambient air sensors one is for the fuel management and is on the air intake.

And the one your asking about

Look on or behind the front Bumper on the drivers side. It's On the Front Skirt On The drivers Side It's A Little Black Thing That Lies Flush With The Vents On The Skirt.... I found it. It mounts in the little black piece next to the right fog lamp. I must have knocked it loose when I was cleaning the bugs off the front of the car during a trip last week. Thanks for the help Guys

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bmw+mini+faults&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=&rlz=1I7GZEU_en&redir_esc=&ei=4qkXTJ7JNIL80wSZiPHFCw

Ok I'm not that up on the MPI and by the sound of it the people who should be, your local Rover dealer, are not either, some most of what i am about to say is pure speculation and may in fact be total garbage, but is based on good knowledge and basics of injection systems.


Yes the Inlet air temperature ( the green one in the right side of the inlet manifold) is also know some times as Ambient air temperature. If this was reading -214 then i would suspect that the sensor is open circuit and indeed did need replacing. If however it was replaced and it still reads -214 then there is a fault on the wiring between the ECU and the sensor, worst case it may be the ECU itself. When the sensor was replaced did it read a more normal temperature???

As for the oil temperature sensor, i cannot find any refference on any wiring diagrams to it, yet I can find information on its replacement and I know of its location on the engine. I can only suspect that this also plays a part in the fueling of the engine for this reason, of which is purely speculation. The ecu controls the fueling using several sensors I suspect one of these to be the oil temp along with the ambient and coolant temp. The ECU will bring on the cooling fan when the coolant temperature rises to 95 Deg C and switch off some where around 85 Deg C, in doing this the ECU will also alter fueling slightly for best economy and emissions. If the oil temp were to rise and the coolant temp remain below 95 Deg C the ECU may still bring the cooling fan on to lower the oil temp at the same time over cooling the engine, again causing the ECU to alter the fueling. I suspect that it will increase the amount of fuel delivery.

In my trade as an Air Conditioning technician it is some times the case that when a sensor is reading outside certain limits it will go into fault, it may still be reading, all be it wrong. There can also be two faults from the same sensor meaning almost the same thing (its knackered) one saying its out of range and the other saying that the sensor has failed. Hence why i think you have two different fault codes for the same sensors.

Having said that, I think the MPI also has a limp home mode where the ECU will change to open loop control with fixed fueling and ignition parameters, all this as a result of one or more sensors being faulty.

I would have both sensors replaced , again have a diagnostic check to see that they are reading correctly and then have the ECU reset, I think the member BabyBecks can help you on that one. Remember that the ECU has adapted to the sensors and general tune of the engine over a period of time to try and overcome running problems. When there is a fault which is fixed, there is an imediate change to the tune of the engine that the ECU will take time to adapt to so the benifit of these new parts may not be evident and may actualy cause the engine to run worse for a while. This is the reason the ECU needs to be reset.

the above taken from "http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=22804 "