Cooper S - What to look out for

[Meatball]

Guys im going to look at a 54 cooper s over the weekend for the mrs, is there anything to watch out for with these cars as i know nothing about them.
thanks

[CO2000]

Meatball said:

Guys im going to look at a 54 cooper s over the weekend for the mrs, is there anything to watch out for with these cars as i know nothing about them.
thanks

Noisy clutch when taking off in 1st but its more of a listen out than a watch out !

[MarsellusWallace]

Listen for timing chain rattle on startup

[Meatball]

Thanks for that

Am i right in saying the new shape minis were prone to power steering pump failure?

[mike9009]

Meatball said:

Thanks for that

Am i right in saying the new shape minis were prone to power steering pump failure?

Yeah they can and do fail. We had a 54 plate cooper s that it failed on. No signs or noises just failed one day. The power steering does whine - but this is perfectly normal.

The other problem we had was with airbag lights .... But that should be fairly obvious.

No more probs than any other car we have had really and they are an excellent steer. The supercharger whine was addictive - but costly in fuel terms!!

Enjoy....

Mike

[gonzales]

The only other thing I can add to the list is to check if there is a plastic casing over the EC module in the footwell. Mine didn't have this and was in and out of the garage several times when the module spat its dummy after a heavy rainfall. Cheap to fix though (the plastic case not the EC module).

[helix402]

See the honest john guide.