Hey everyone,
Just purchased a 2006 Mini Cooper S, Love the car the way it drives and handles. Always had an intrest in them so when I sold my truck due to horrible gas millage, I got the Mini. Hopefully I can learn something new here and enjoy the mini even more!

The down side though is the factory warranty was up a while ago of course, and I bought it from a small dealer so it was an "as-is" buy and now after a few days of driving with no problems one has occured. I'm pretty sure my starter just went out......not cool. So really bummed about that, Now I just need to find time to tow it to my freinds garage and take a look at a little closer.

 

Welcome. Sorry your car needs repair so soon. I have just recently purchased a 2007 MCS, so am new to the MINI world as well.

 

Check your state laws. Often vehicles come with a 30 day, 3000 mile warranty or something similar.

 

Yes mine was out of warranty but had a 30 day exchange policy.
How is Washington, have wanted to visit the west coast for some time.

 

+1

 

Unfortunately in Washington State there is no such law. When you buy a vehicle "as-is" wether it breaks down 30 days after driving of the lot or if it breaks down within a mile after driving it of the lot it is your responsiblity now. So my next few days are going to be spent diagnosing it. Just sucks cause its a newish car with not a whole lot of miles... oh well do what you got to do.

 

Sorry to hear about this. I haven't heard about a starter in a MINI going bad. Plenty of help can be found at our local club site- http://www.psmini.org

Val

 

So, let's switch gears and figure out the problem. Why the starter is bad. Or if it is the starter. What are the symptoms?

 

Beautiful. Really everywhere in the Pacific Northwest! Doesn't matter where you go in Washington, there's something for everyone... Seattle, the Olympics (go to Port Angeles... take the Coho ferry to Victoria BC for a great day), San Juan Islands, anywhere along the Cascades (especially Mt. Rainier), perhaps to the Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mt. St. Helens, SW to the coast (Long Beach Kite Festival is a must! Hop down to Cannon Beach in Oregon to the south, or head over to Westport for some Dungeness crabbing off the docks where you can rent crab nets for the day), the badlands of Eastern Washington (Frenchman Coulee... Other than the Snake River Valley, kind of a mini Grand Canyon), Snake and Columbia River Valleys. Highly recommend a trip!

 

HA HA ha haaaaaa too late for that already pulled the starter and have a new one on the way. The damn thing smells burnt up too omg lol.
But I will still tell you what happened, Started it in the morning and the Starter did that sqreechy / grindy sound as it started up. Made a stop in town and the same thing happened when I started it again! Thought to myslef "that's not good lol" (yes I did chuckle when it happened cause I found it amussing). Went on to my next stop in town and when I went to start it the third time...."Click"...."Click" thats all it does.
But did not get angry, it is mechanical, mechanical things fail, it happens.
The Starter seems like it's buried in there but it was actually extremly easy to pull out!

 

Check your state laws. Often vehicles come with a 30 day, 3000 mile warranty or something similar.

 

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Grew up in SW Washington, now I live across the Columbia in Portland. There is beauty everywhere. The valley is great to live in, clean crisp air, temperate climate. Then you have the nice coast and the beaches (I do have to complain that the water is always !@$%ing cold year round) along with great fishing and other seafood. The Cascades make for great driving roads and nice skiing in the winter. Central and Eastern Oregon are a great change of pace and have some interesting things like the painted hills and also great rafting. By car, San Francisco is only 9 hours away. Los Angeles is around 17 hours.

My dad would take a trip down to the coast in the summers, bring back some fresh caught halibut and tuna and filet and vacuum pack his own fish.

Best of all, hardly any bugs! You might get mosquitoes for a couple weeks in the summer, but then they all die off again.

 

Welcome from the opposite corner of our great country. Good luck with your starter!

 

I'd be checking the battery first - any auto parts store will do a load test for free....

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I already did that though lol. Battery is in Complete working order, sucks cause I need to go grocery shopping and I can't really do that on my motorcycle to well. Starter isn't goining to be here for another 8 days lol fml!

 

Sorry to hear about your problem right off the start, but I guarantee you will love your car. These things are a blast to drive. With two dealers now in Washington, I sure see a lot more MINIs driving around, at least on the west side of the mountains.

 

Ya I'm Lovin it now, Got it running again! It was a starter issue, which by the way was so siple to switch out (just by lookin at it looks like a pain in the A** but its not, not at all) And ya seeing a lot here where im at too now, they got a little popular in my town lol

 

Where exactly are you located in Washington? And let's see some pics? I'm from tri cities btw.

 

ha Same here lol, Car is all stock, haven't really got any other pics of it yet.

 

Nice! I like it. We should get together sometime. You ever auto-x?

 

I have a few years back but not with a mini cooper, So its been a while.

 

Welcome and congrats on the car! Nice color combination by the way.

Best of luck!!

 

You should come out and auto-x the 9-10 of June at tri-city raceway in west

 

I don't know about taken it out and runnin it like that just yet, I want to get to know the car a little bit more before I get rough on her . But Ya I may show up to watch a little bit!