The £400 Mini Cooper
Discussion
Looks like the previous windscreen comments have been removed. They were regarding me getting the windscreen replaced on the mini.
Putting some oil on the gear linkage has helped a bit with gear selecting and general feel but as its a cheap car I'll keep going until the gearbox fails / clutch goes or I move the car on.
The MOT for the mini is now booked for Tuesday, the garage are going to reset the airbag light for me, hoping that is enough to keep it off as we couldn't see any obvious wrong with the wiring.
Putting some oil on the gear linkage has helped a bit with gear selecting and general feel but as its a cheap car I'll keep going until the gearbox fails / clutch goes or I move the car on.
The MOT for the mini is now booked for Tuesday, the garage are going to reset the airbag light for me, hoping that is enough to keep it off as we couldn't see any obvious wrong with the wiring.
There appears to be masses of advice for the gear change but it always ends up stiff. At least all the parts of it are easy enough to access! I've heard lithium grease is good for the bottom of the gear stick but it's never been a problem for my mum who has difficulty with her left shoulder.
Best of luck on the MOT!
Best of luck on the MOT!
Not the biggest fan of doing interiors but I will get the hoover out at some point when I start using it daily.
The good news is it's passed its MOT! It failed first time on headlight aim and one of the lamps not working. Once they were done, it passed.
There are a few advisories and minor defects to do:
Driveshaft boot
Offside track rod end
Power steering pipe has a leak
I haven't picked the mini up yet but with regards to the airbag light, I think the garage switched the light off and it didn't return during the test. We'll see if that's actually helped or if it will return.
The good news is it's passed its MOT! It failed first time on headlight aim and one of the lamps not working. Once they were done, it passed.
There are a few advisories and minor defects to do:
Driveshaft boot
Offside track rod end
Power steering pipe has a leak
I haven't picked the mini up yet but with regards to the airbag light, I think the garage switched the light off and it didn't return during the test. We'll see if that's actually helped or if it will return.
Great news!
Suspension components are a doddle to take off, as I discovered over the BH weekend. Track rods seem to be about a tenner off eBay and should be minutes to fit. I did scupper my outer bottom ball joint (another tenner on eBay) so be careful when taking it out for your CV boot.
Suspension components are a doddle to take off, as I discovered over the BH weekend. Track rods seem to be about a tenner off eBay and should be minutes to fit. I did scupper my outer bottom ball joint (another tenner on eBay) so be careful when taking it out for your CV boot.
Good news on the MOT.
Not too bad for £400.
Do they suffer the same occupancy sensor issues that BMW’s do? I fitted some new seats to my other half’s 116 and the occupancy sensor mat was dead causing the airbag light to come on so I fitted a bypass unit to eat rid of it. Just me as that all of the airbags go off regardless whether there is a passenger or not.
Not too bad for £400.
Do they suffer the same occupancy sensor issues that BMW’s do? I fitted some new seats to my other half’s 116 and the occupancy sensor mat was dead causing the airbag light to come on so I fitted a bypass unit to eat rid of it. Just me as that all of the airbags go off regardless whether there is a passenger or not.
Update time:
After the MOT we got the driveshaft boot and track rod ends done. The airbag light hasn't come back on yet, which is good news. When dad was doing the work some of the clips broke on the plastic arches, so we ordered a cheap set of clips off ebay.
I decided I wanted a new radio in the car with Bluetooth capabilities so bought the Pioneer SPH-10BT as it comes with a dock for my phone, meaning I can use it for sat nav as well. Quite happy with how it looks and how it performs.
I have probably done around 1200 miles in the car since, using it during the week to get to work. I have noticed that it is using quite a bit of oil, there doesn't seem to be any blue smoke coming from the exhaust though. I know minis are well known for using oil but this seems to be a bit excessive at pint over 200 ish miles. Need to have a good look for a leak, couldn't see one coming from the sump gasket like other people on the internet have had with their minis. We did notice the rubber seal on the oil filler cap was done so that's been replaced.
There's also some full leather mini seats quite local to me for £150, so I might go for them and fit them over a weekend.
I'll be using the car over the winter now, the few things to get done while i'm using it are check the oil consumption and get the roof black. The gearbox is quite a bit better than when I first got it but it's still not perfect, it might be case of going for a cooper s box when the clutch needs doing.
After the MOT we got the driveshaft boot and track rod ends done. The airbag light hasn't come back on yet, which is good news. When dad was doing the work some of the clips broke on the plastic arches, so we ordered a cheap set of clips off ebay.
I decided I wanted a new radio in the car with Bluetooth capabilities so bought the Pioneer SPH-10BT as it comes with a dock for my phone, meaning I can use it for sat nav as well. Quite happy with how it looks and how it performs.
I have probably done around 1200 miles in the car since, using it during the week to get to work. I have noticed that it is using quite a bit of oil, there doesn't seem to be any blue smoke coming from the exhaust though. I know minis are well known for using oil but this seems to be a bit excessive at pint over 200 ish miles. Need to have a good look for a leak, couldn't see one coming from the sump gasket like other people on the internet have had with their minis. We did notice the rubber seal on the oil filler cap was done so that's been replaced.
There's also some full leather mini seats quite local to me for £150, so I might go for them and fit them over a weekend.
I'll be using the car over the winter now, the few things to get done while i'm using it are check the oil consumption and get the roof black. The gearbox is quite a bit better than when I first got it but it's still not perfect, it might be case of going for a cooper s box when the clutch needs doing.
Edited by mattyowen5 on Sunday 13th October 15:26
The rocker cover gasket went on on of mine. Few quid off ebay and job jobbed.
Right up until the last bolt that snapped level with the head.. Still, came out easy enough which was a bit of a blessing. Just be careful with them! They seem to attract curious prices for some bolts, some want £8 plus postage for a used bolt! Managed to acquire one from a local scrapyard for about £8 less than that. After that though, I put in about 1L every few months and this is used daily. I also have the sump gasket leak which I can't be arsed to fix.
Right up until the last bolt that snapped level with the head.. Still, came out easy enough which was a bit of a blessing. Just be careful with them! They seem to attract curious prices for some bolts, some want £8 plus postage for a used bolt! Managed to acquire one from a local scrapyard for about £8 less than that. After that though, I put in about 1L every few months and this is used daily. I also have the sump gasket leak which I can't be arsed to fix.
Court_S said:
Good news on the MOT.
Not too bad for £400.
Do they suffer the same occupancy sensor issues that BMW’s do? I fitted some new seats to my other half’s 116 and the occupancy sensor mat was dead causing the airbag light to come on so I fitted a bypass unit to eat rid of it. Just me as that all of the airbags go off regardless whether there is a passenger or not.
Our R56 did, passenger seat went after 9 years. The mat itself was easy to change, took me about an hour with the seat on a workbench in the garage. I bought a second hand one off ebay, as BMW dealer prices were stupid and didn't include the extension loom which could have caused its own problems.Not too bad for £400.
Do they suffer the same occupancy sensor issues that BMW’s do? I fitted some new seats to my other half’s 116 and the occupancy sensor mat was dead causing the airbag light to come on so I fitted a bypass unit to eat rid of it. Just me as that all of the airbags go off regardless whether there is a passenger or not.
I find them really easy to work on, easy shedding tbh. Well done OP.
There's definitely oil coming from the rocker cover so that'll be on the list to do. I find the performance of the mini fine, I had a Ford Puma 1.7 last year with similar power, this feels roughly the same. Its a little different to my Impreza but this enough for a daily.
The mini has been pretty good on fuel, I have been getting between 38 and 40 mpg.
The mini has been pretty good on fuel, I have been getting between 38 and 40 mpg.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff