Headlight and Mini nightmare....

[miss notax]

Hello :-)

Well, just got back from the Mini dealership who have been seeing what's wrong with my Xenon headlight and apparently the whole unit needs replacing. I'm off to the Lake District tomorrow afternoon (about 6 hours drive!) so need it done for then, so just just agreed to spend a horrible amount of money on that.

I also have a long list of other things they have found wrong with it. Apparently the front shock bushes are split, some other hose has split (small oil leak?) and it's overdue a brake service. I simply can't afford to get all this fixed - and will get it done by my local garage rather than BMW anyway - but are any of these serious enough to worry about this weekend when i'm driving 600 odd miles? It feels ok to me - I haven't noticed any huge pools of oil under the car, or knocking from the suspension!!

I have only just moved house and I really can't afford all of this now (I know i'm probably paying over the odds for the headlight but I am concerned about not having both headlights working the long drive this weekend!).

Thanks for any thoughts....

[mike9009]

Hi

Very difficult to diagnose from a few lines of text whether it is likely to need changing before or not. Explain the situation to BMW and ask for their recommendation. They 'should' give an honest answer for each defect, in the hope you may go back.....

Mike

[DanGT]

As above they should be able to tell you."some other hose has split (small oil leak?) and it's overdue a brake service". What pipe some are ok and some will be a real problem and what is a brake service a clean and check or are parts going to be replaces?

[coopert]

Hi Sorry to hear you are having trouble. I hear lots of people go to dealers and get a huge list of faults. I would suggest if you are not too far from Sussex get in touch with Sussex Road and Race. They are far cheaper than dealer and have far more experience. Kevin is so helpful and was John Coopers chief mechanic so knows the cars inside out. Have a look at their site www.sussexroadandrace.co.uk I wouldn't go anywhere else! A view shared by most of Kev's customers.
If you want assurances of their knowledge Kev's company are the only ones to have won every class in the Mini Challenge series since it began.

They will definitely help you and not sell you things you don't need!

Good Luck

Tom

[Defcon5]

Is it a preface lift r53?

Xenons are a common fault, its the igniter that breaks, and its built into the casing, hence the need for a new unit.

You don't need a new ballast or bulbs, and you can get new headlight units for 150 quid off ebay

[CarsOrBikes]

I wouldn't be too concerned over shock bushes comment, that'll probably wait ok, and the leak if from a split pipe sounds like it'd be worse than slight. But you'd need to say what pipe. The pas pipes can leak often, not always that bad, although need doing