She is British!
Posted in My MINI — by db on 02/20/07

This is the kind of thing I had to do with my old Austin Healy.

I’ve mentioned the radiator fan and its inability to stop spinning on occasion before. Well, it happened again and drained the battery (again). Except this time it didn’t stop spinning. Ran all day.

So, I pulled the fuse.

Been that way for a week. Temperature hasn’t gotten any higher than normal, even when stopped at a light with the A/C on. It has also produced a bit of a benefit.

The stumble is gone!

Those of you R50 drivers know what I’m talking about. When the fan kicks in, the car almost dies. At least it always has on my MINI. Not any more. We haven’t had any serious temps in SoCal since the start of this experiment, but I’m going to be keeping my eye on it. Plus, I still have the fuse so I can put it back in if needed.

I’m still planning on replacing it before…well, before too long. But until then, this seems to be doing the trick quite nicely.

Any reason why this would give me problems?

(12) comments

New Battery
Posted in My MINI — by db on 02/20/07

More from the “in case you were wondering” files.

Roxy has a dead battery. Not completely dead, but it won’t hold a charge or keep enough juice to actually start the car.

Just found out it’s $135 for a replacement from the parts counter at my ex dealer.

So, it looks like the MINI battery is good for about 4 years here in SoCal. Or enough starts to go past 145K miles.

(9) comments

So, who has seen it?
Posted in MINI General — by db on 02/17/07

I’ve been calls all weekend about the R56 and due to prior obligations, I haven’t been able to see one yet. Here is what I’m gathering (again, from what I have heard).

  • The S goes great!
  • The Cooper with an automatic still has a bit of grunt
  • No matter how you slice it, the center stack looks cheap
  • The new seats, telescopic wheel and other interior bits are very nice
  • Sparkling Silver looks great in person (although Todd still says he is 30 years to young for that color)
  • Mellow Yellow looks great

If you have seen it and have some words about the matter, you should check out this post over at Motoringfile. I, for one, will be very curious to see what everyone thinks.

(3) comments

Something kinda cool
Posted in MINI General,MINI News — by db on 02/15/07

If you haven’t logged into the owners lounge lately, you should today.

That’s for those of you that didn’t get the email.

What email?

I think you’ll have to wait a few more days for that ;)

I do have to say, that in this, the age of YouTube, they couldn’t have found a flash player that doesn’t suck? Must be all that Windows server-y goodness on the backend ;)

update. In case you are stuck with a slow connection, or REALLY hate the OL (like I do), Gabe has them posted up with the Google flash player here.

(0) Comments

I drive too much
Posted in My MINI — by db on 02/11/07

For those of you that wonder just how much I do drive…

I snapped this with my camera phone on December 12th, 2006

This one I snapped last week on Feb. 7th, 2007

Thats 5,111 miles in 57 days or an average of 89.67 miles per day. I actually drive more than that, so I must have had a few days in there where I gave Roxy a full day of rest.

I NEED to find work closer to home.

Oh yea, added another MINI blog to the side over there. It’s Steve’s R53. Go on, check it out.

1 comment

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