Hey guys! My name is Cooper, and as you can imagine with a name like this I've always loved MINI Coopers. Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to own one, and I recently decided to find one that needed a bit of work, so I could fix it up and have it for my first car. Yesterday I was able to get a 2005 MINI Cooper S Convertible for a pretty good deal. It has some error lights on, so I need to figure out what they mean, but it shouldn't need *tons* of work.

Unfortunately for me, Virginia seems to have decided that it's now winter time, and I don't have a garage (though I could probably fit it in my shed). I hope to have it running by the spring though.

 

Welcome to the forum. You will find all kinds of help around here.

 

NICE ride! Does it have the automatic or manual transmission?

I’d budget for a copy of the Bentley manual, they aren’t cheap but you really get what you pay for, and sometimes used ones come up on eBay for less.

With what shops charge to work on a MINI, it’s easy to justify.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of topless MINI motoring seeking the roads less traveled.

 

Manual! Didn't have may requirements for a car, but I knew that I wanted a manual.

Haha thanks for the advice, a friend of mine has owned several MINIs over the years and he's letting me borrow his Bentley service guide, at least until I get all the little problems fixed. It's a pretty sweet book, and I'd rather put in a little bit of work instead of a ton of money at a shop!

 

Congratulations! You have the most reliable of the 1st Gen drivetrains.

Have you been able to retrieve any codes yet?

If you don’t have a scan tool handy, you might be able to bring them up this way;


I haven’t had a chance to try this myself yet.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

I have a BlueDriver Bluetooth OBD II scanner, and I've pulled a couple codes. Now I need to figure out what's causing them...

 

What are the codes?

Somewhere around here there’s an exhaustive list of all the possible codes that can come up and what they mean.

Plenty of help around here too, other members have likely had the same codes and will be glad to tell you how they fixed it.

 

5E5C RPA Push Button Error
5E19 CAN DME/DDE, Engine torque not adjustable
5E43 Steering angle sensor internal
5DF4 Wiring supply voltage less than 9v
5DA0 Wheel speed sensor front right electrical failure

I've already replaced the front right wheel speed sensor and reset the codes (Also the ABS/TPMS lights went off), but the code is still there. No idea what the other ones mean, I need to do some googling

 

Mini Coopers are notorious for weird electrical problems when the battery voltage is low.

Your battery needs to be +12.6V or so - fully charged - when the car is off, and when running needs to be close to +14.5V.

The other problems may go away once the battery is fully charged.

 

Great looking Mini. Welcome to NAM! ​​​​​​​