02 dies, then restarts 15 minutes later
 

My daughter's '02 (automatic transmission, if it matters) suddenly dies for no apparent reason. It won't start with a jump, but turns over strongly. After 15 or 20 minutes of sitting the car will start up and run normally. It was purchased from a dealer a year ago, and all normal maintenance appears to have been done. The battery is a two year old Mini Cooper branded unit, and reads 12 volts. I cleaned the cable ends and the posts, but they were not overly corroded. I'm reasonably certain we have an electrical problem, but I have no clue where to start looking. Any ideas? Thanks.

I can almost hear the crickets. Nothing guys? Nobody's got any suggestions?
My lil sisters mcs seems to be having the same problem.
Tried searching and found nothing here.

Mike; Sorry it took so long to reply. After $2,200.00 in unrelated repairs (had to replace the flex plate to the transmission {automatic}, which is not a flywheel [standard transmission], although much to my delay, both parts people and mechanics used the terms interchangeably. I assure you, they are not the same parts), we found the original problem with the car dying and then restarting 15 minutes later to be the water temperature sensor. The mechanic explained that the failing sensor would send the message to the computer that the car was running cold and, consequently, the fuel mixture was too rich. The computer then leaned out the mixture until the car finally stalled. After 15 minutes the sensor had returned to its "normal" configuration and the car would start again. We replaced the $10.00 sensor and haven't had the problem since. Hope this helps.

Paul