Category Archives: My MINI

A quick review does show me the last repairs done on this MINI, and here I was today, hanging out in the shop with Jerry, thinking it was lost for good. Whew. While I’m failing lately at being a blogger, it’s good to know that I’m still keeping this going as a journal, somewhat.

Anyway, everything has been problem free since the last time Hank spent time in the shop. And having the back window delaminate from the top. Besides that, problem free. Yep.

Oh, except the air conditioning system crapping out. Luckily, this literally happened during the last week of moderate temps in Arizona, so I’ve been able to wait this one out for a bit. Also lucky that this did not throw an anxiety inducing error message on the screen, unlike the constant reminders for service, the occasional tail light outage and the brake light. Wait, brake light?

I just had brakes done a bit more than a year ago. Oh, must be the rears. A quick call verifies and I make my service appointment with that in mind. MINI on the lift, examination of the brakes on all 4 wheels shows no brake job is needed. Further investigation shows that the error is for the front brakes, which are practically brand new. This is an error that was on a timer. WTF? Are you fucking kidding me? This wasn’t triggered by a sensor, this was triggered from something like X miles or power cycles or fuel cap removals? All of that anxiety to drive me into the shop (where this car will end up anyway) for no reason? So not cool.

Anyway, still trucking. Cooler now thanks for the new AC unit. Thankfully covered by my extended warranty company, who I am sure is not happy about agreeing to cover this MINI. I think they are out close to 5K at this point. Or, rather, I have saved close to 5K at this point.

Next up, road trip to Vegas in March. Listen to the show for details!

I own a car with a canvas top. I knew this particular job would be dangerous when I took it, but I didn’t know to what extent, until this happened.

Fearing the worse, I check with the dealer about a repair. No go, as you would expect. I posted in the R59 Owner’s Group on Facebook and someone had luck getting theirs repaired by an upholstery shop, and a few have done the repair themselves. So, I start call upholstery shops.

Since this is one of the things not covered by my extended warranty, I’m out of pocket for any of it. A few calls around town tell me the repair will cost $600 – $950, replace will cost $2500 – $6000. Since all of those options are out of budget, I voted to go the repair route.

After seeing posts on Facebook, and watching this Canadian do the exact fix to 4 seater in Mexico, I ffigured it was time to give it a go. Actually, it was time to give Amazon about $90, and then complete the repair.

Repairing convertible rear window, MINI Cooper Roadster

To start, these videos are extremely helpful:

• Video part 1
• video part 2.

His technique is solid and you get an idea for what is involved.

Here is a list of the items that I ordered/used during the repair.

• Blue painters tape
• 3M Window Weld
• 3M Primer
• Suction Cup Clamps
• Cheap foam 1/2″ paint brush. Daubers are overkill unless you have them already
• Straight Edge Razors
• Gloves, nitrile/latex/rubber (dealers choice)

If you follow the video, you’ll be good to go. I wanted to leave a few notes concerning this here that weren’t covered in the video.

• The Window Weld is nasty stuff. Gloves are necessary, as is covering the Window opening with painters tape. I didn’t do that, now I have little bits of Window Weld on the canvas.
• Pillows are amazingly helpful to keep the glass mostly in place while you setup the clamps.
• Good ventilation is required. Garage door open with a fan would be best.

It’s not perfect, nor is it 100% water proof, but the window is secure. I have a few minor leaks that I will have to go back at with some window weld once more to see if it stops the leaking, and I’m sure it will. I’ll be keeping an eye on it and will report back any weirdness. Also, as usual, comments are open, AMA!

This guy is mine for 24 hours. I specifically requested a Cooper even.

A few things have been going on for the past few weeks. Let’s play catch-up! To start with, Bruce has been leaking like a sieve, needing more than 1 gallon of coolant over than past week and change. Secondly, I have been running an experiment, still trying to figure out the best way to drive this MINI with the automatic transmission.

For the last week, I have been making an attempt at moving the lever to the left. Not hitting the sport button, not turning off DSC, just moving the lever to the left. Oh, and then activating manual mode by moving the shift lever forward or backward. And, I have to admit, that it has made things markedly better. While throttle response is still horrendous, doing this has shown some improvement. Not quite enough to get me to stop wishing that this rubbish slush box was a manual, but enough to shut me up about it. Mostly.

Not sure exactly when the coolant leak started, but 2 weeks ago day after tomorrow, I actually had the overheat message on the screen. a quick stop to let him cool down and dump in some Prestone (shut up, I know), and I was back on the road without issue and have been ok since. Except for the very strong smell of coolant after driving to work or home. And the extraordinary use of coolant over the course of that time.

Since I’ve needed to have the Nav looked at since I bought this MINI, and since there is a dealer directly across the street from the office, and since I was beyond needing an oil change, I figured I would take him to the dealer. Extended warranty is covering the coolant leaks (thermostat and oil filter housing). The Nav is toast and would need a replacement head-unit to work correctly again. Oil has been changed. Oh, and I was told that one of my tail light assemblies would have to be replaced due to it getting melted at some point and causing an occassional brake light error.

While this is one of the best R5X MINIs I have even driven (and 1,000% better than Bruce), I’m still sticking by my previous comments in stating this is the MINI quality forgot. I know it’s something we have been talking about quite a bit on the show, but I thought another mention here wouldn’t hurt. I’m afraid of this MINI, which is something I thought I would never say. 90k miles on the clock and while I have already fixed the major things that are going to leak (typically), I can only sit back and think “what’s next?”.

Quote courtesy of Mr. Benham.

It’s not very often that a car needs tires and brakes at the same time. In all of my years of driving, I’m 100% sure this is the first time it has ever happened to me. While I didn’t really need tires, as it turns out, I did. Front brakes only this time instead of the full round to save a few bucks. Rears are ok and can be done later.

Due to weather and other circumstances, I went ahead and let Jerry do the front brakes. Usually I would have done this myself, because it is a fairly easy job. I’m now reminded of the other reason I do it myself; to save money. It’s a good thing I had it in the shop for that, as something else happened this week that needed to be repaired.

Because you guys always want to know, the tires are Yokohama YK740 GTX. 60K mile warranty and so far, even with the candy coating still on them, they work really well in wet and dry, have a good ride and are quiet. After a few hundred miles are on them, I’ll try to find a stretch of twisties to try them out on.

Brakes are stock this time around. I’ve been hearing bad things about EBCs that have been recently produced so, to keep things simple and because #notracecar, I stuck to stock.

Fuel pump is stock too. Oh, wait, right, I didn’t tell you about that. I filled up on Monday and had the smell of fuel for a few days. I mentioned it to Jerry and he dropped the tank and pulled the fuel pump. The car didn’t think there was a leak, but there was one. Smaller than a pin hole. New one was sourced and installed the same day. This was warranty work and I’m glad for that. I replaced the low pressure fuel pump in Roxy if you recall. It was some time ago, but I remember the part cost about $200 from the dealer and the installation was pretty straightforward if you had 3 hands. That part for my car has doubled in price and with labor it was over $700 to fix.

Jesus. When did cars get so expensive?