Just spoke to MINI of Sterling, our car was supposed to go in on Friday to take care of the two recalls.

They just requested we postpone our appointment until after the New Year if possible. They are completely swamped with recall repairs right now and it is affecting the rest of service.

If you are suffering from the cold start or any rough running issues, or have a regular service coming due on your car, and have received a letter for a recall they welcome you to make an appointment to bring the car in, however they cannot see you earlier than mid-December at this point.

If you are not suffering from any driveability (is that a word? ) issues and aren't due for any routine service other than this recall, they ask that you please wait until after the New Year to get it resolved.

If you're wondering what recall I'm talking about, then you probably don't need to worry about it. This recall only applies to specific cars, MINI is notifying owners of it by mail.

If you don't have the recall on your car, but are looking to make an appointment for any type of non-emergency service at Sterling, they probably can't accomodate you until mid-December at the earliest.

 

Since I seem to be Kelly's fave over at Tate, she shoehorned me in next week for the recall and other stuff. Hope to get the cold start and the slight yo-yo go away....

 

Towson is booked about two weeks out for recall and other appointments right now. I called last week and got in for next week for the recall.

 

I'm booked for next Wednesday 11/24 at Crown for 3 recalls that I received by mail.

 

After reading some of the posts here on NAM about problems with the new software (v39) that they load as part of the recalls, I had decided to wait on having mine done anyway.

 

I'm surprised Mini of Towson has a waiting list for service, the guy who tried to sell me a car there before I went to Mini of Richmond boasted they had the largest Mini Repair Facility on the East Coast with the most repair bays.


Anyways I took my convertible in to Mini of Sterling today for my leaking roof. I don't think they know whats wrong cause I took it in at 7 am and got a call at 5 pm telling me they need to repair/replace or something the whole roof. When I got to the dealer to get a loner call later that day, my service advisor told me another Mini Convertible came in with the same issues, leaking in the rain and bad rattle, and they were trying stuff on that car then would fix my car with the same issues (so if you got a Mini Convertible at Sterling right now its being used as a Guinny Pig) Anyways will see what happens, all I know is I hope to not be driving this Buick more then 2 days.

On a side note I was having a conversation with the operation manager (real nice guy) and he was telling me that most places won't open a Mini Dealer because they make really no money on them. He wants them to open one in DC to take some of the DC metro people that flock to sterling but not sure it will happen.

Howard

 

Normally they don't have one from what I've heard. I take it to mean that they are getting slammed by this recall just like Sterling is...

Anybody know if the 7 series recall campaign is still going on too? That's the one where owners were instructed to immediately stop driving the vehicle and have it towed to the nearest service center... Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. The ECU was then pulled for reprograming and the cars were in the shop for a minimum of 3 weeks!

When I was at Sterling in the Summer there were some pretty PO'd 7 series owners over that one...

 

They normally don't. Usually when I call for service they tell me they can see me same day if I want. They are just very busy with the recalls right now, as MB says, and there is an unusual wait right now while they clear the back up.

 

I had an airbag light come on last week. I called and was able to get an appointment (yes, they returned the call with in an hour!!!) for the frist week in Dec. They said they were very sorry they could not fit me in sooner. That was the first day I was off to go in so it worked out fine with me.

 

Isn't an airbag light going on considered a dangerous situation, it could mean in an accident it wouldn't function, I would think that takes high priority.

Howard

 

I'm happy with Sterling's response. I'm good about strapping in and have logged so much time in cars with out airbags that the light does not bother me. That is not to say that I am against airbags i think anyone that has them and removes/disables them on a street driver needs to have their head looked at. I know that all the MINI shops are hard at getting the cars fixxed. My car is running fine and I take a back seat for someone who's car is not.

As many here know, I'm a slowpoke anyway. Thanks very much for your concern though.
John

 

Well, I picked up my 05 Cooper Convertible back from the shop today. It was there 2 days. They said they fixed the leak and it was because some molding wasn't put in the right place (guess will see what happens next rain storm) Also they had to order a new NAV screen to fix my dead pixel as well as some other outside molding is coming off they had to order. Hopefully I won't be waiting till January for it to come in and get that stuff fixed. Had an AUX input installed while I was there too, they charged me 39, +99 for labor. which is a bit pricey for labor but, oh well. Will see how it goes.

Howard

 

Mni purl went in yesterday, yes on a Saturday for her recall fix. I called about two weeks ago and suggested a saturday visit not thinking it possible but... it was. Much better for me to go on saturday even though I missed sleeping in. They took me in at 815 tried to talk me out of an oil change and got me out of there in about an hour and a half. Just enough time to take a walk to Wegmans for a tasty treat, droll over two orange convertibles, try out my new ipod and harassas Jim in sales. All in all a good expierence. The new people there seem nice and efficent, the new store is cramped but nice. In spite of having to wake up early and spend money on a non puma related item it wasn't so painfull.
Hope the rest of you have as nice of a visit as I did. And the almond croissants at Wegmmans rock.
lj
Maybe Sterling is listening......

 

I would caution all of you that have an MCS that are contemplating getting the upgrade to 39.2 as part of the recall notices to read this other thread on NAM.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...6&page=1&pp=25

It convinced me to wait.

 

is there service manager at Sterling? I constantly call and try to get a hold of someone important and all I keep getting is voicemails and no return calls. My gosh its sad Pontiac had better customer service then Mini.

Howard

 

Trad somethingorother helped me. I assumed he was a mini guy. Yes Trad. very nice. good luck.
lj

 

We took in our 2002 MC for service at Classic in Cleveland to fix the herky jerky throttle problem caused by the recall update. They said nothing was wrong. Both my wife and I can feel the difference in the idle. It drives fine until you stop at a light or stop sign where it feels like the car is going to konk out. Those guys are clowns in the service department.

Also, we have a MCS Cabrio with 600 miles on it. Where is the leaks coming from? I only take it out in nice weather. I do have a part on the drivers side that keeps falling down and causes a terrible rattle. Anyone else have this? What is the fix? I am sure the clowns in the service department will be clueless on how to fix.

 

Tradd is my mini service advisor, but he has yet to return my calls or emails regarding my Mini.

 

More likely all the airbags will deploy.
Usually the sensors are to determine if the passenger air bag needs to be deployed also.

 

My appointment at MINI of Sterling went well. There was a fault with the seat airbag, not the connector as had happened in the past. This job required a few hours and they provided a car (a Chevy from a rental company) for my use.

I mentioned that the windows were a bit loose in the up position when the doors were open. This is common with early cars, I did not know if my car was within specs or not and asked that they look at them. I told Trad I could put off any work until the new year given the workload with the recall. Rather than make me come back again they installed a kit on both windows. I was supprised at the difference.
Needless to say I am a happy camper.
Happy Holidays everyone
John

 

Seems many haven't had issues with the upgrade if they reset the ECU after. I have MTH as well, so after the upgrade, I'll just re-program the fuel maps etc.


On another point, when I called Mini of Mt View (in SF Bay Area) in mid Nov, they scheduled me for Jan 14th for the upgrade..... For what it's worth.


Matt

 

We just had the update and the car seems to be running fine, so far.
2003 MCS