New NAM member from socal (formerly a VW guy)
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2nd Gear
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 56
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From: Redondo Beach
New NAM member from socal (formerly a VW guy)
Hello all,
My name is Mike and I just bought my first Mini. It is a 2007 Cooper S w/ leather and nav, auto, and 32k miles.
I'm formerly drove a MK4 GTI VR6, which I sold to get the Mini. I ran my former car to high mileage and did most of my own work, so I'm pretty accustomed to the maintenance and repair needs of German cars.
So a week into owning the car, the CEL comes on, and I start hearing a squeek from the water pump. Dealer tells me needs water pump, and there is a vacuum leak from the valve cover gasket. Total bill, $1900.
From my VW experience I've learned not to panic at dealership quotes for repairs. Anyways, how hard is it to change the valve cover gasket on these? I found a youtube video of a guy doing it in 3-minutes, so the idea of letting the dealer do it seems absurd. On NAM is sounds like the water pump is a 3 hour job. Should I just do both myself?
My experience from working on the VW is I've replaced the following on my own: Cams, water pump, entire cooling system, intake manifold, and tons more...so I think I can handle this myself.
The only thing that scares me is I don't know how finicky these Mini's are.
2nd Question: Is there a good code scanner to get for Minis? My VW had a VAG-COM which was a lifesaver and made ownership so much easier.
If you made it this far, then I commend you. Cheer!
My name is Mike and I just bought my first Mini. It is a 2007 Cooper S w/ leather and nav, auto, and 32k miles.
I'm formerly drove a MK4 GTI VR6, which I sold to get the Mini. I ran my former car to high mileage and did most of my own work, so I'm pretty accustomed to the maintenance and repair needs of German cars.
So a week into owning the car, the CEL comes on, and I start hearing a squeek from the water pump. Dealer tells me needs water pump, and there is a vacuum leak from the valve cover gasket. Total bill, $1900.
From my VW experience I've learned not to panic at dealership quotes for repairs. Anyways, how hard is it to change the valve cover gasket on these? I found a youtube video of a guy doing it in 3-minutes, so the idea of letting the dealer do it seems absurd. On NAM is sounds like the water pump is a 3 hour job. Should I just do both myself?
My experience from working on the VW is I've replaced the following on my own: Cams, water pump, entire cooling system, intake manifold, and tons more...so I think I can handle this myself.
The only thing that scares me is I don't know how finicky these Mini's are.
2nd Question: Is there a good code scanner to get for Minis? My VW had a VAG-COM which was a lifesaver and made ownership so much easier.
If you made it this far, then I commend you. Cheer!
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Joined: Jun 2011
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Last edited by rum4; Feb 26, 2012 at 12:56 AM.
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