Hey Everyone,

We are in the market for a F57, currently looking at a 2018 Cooper S convertible automatic with 25k miles.
I did a quick search and could not find a thread giving tips on what to pay special attention to during a PPI nor problems to expect as the vehicle ages.
From powertrain stand point, it seems the B48 motor has fewer issues than the previous generations by far, a trend that is also seen on BMWs; I have a 540 with the B58 and it's been great so far and we've owned a R53 for many years and also just sold a R56, so I am well aware of gotchas on the older cars. The only recurring things I've seen on the third gen cars seem to be upper motor mount, potentially the OFHG, and more specific to the convertible cables coming apart on the top mechanism. Anyone know if there are warning signs of the convertible top cables starting to fail (noises or changes in operation.)
Does that about sum it up?

Thanks in advance.

 

You may find this thread re the B48 (also B46 and B38/6 by implication) of interest. Not a long list of stuff there, but an additional place in the forum to keep an eye on. Sounds like you know your way around BMW engine history so you probably won't be surprised.

 

Might want to ask your question on the MINI convertible group on Facebook. That being said, the F57 doesn’t really have any common issues, and any other issues it may have are no different than the F55/F56. There have been some reports of broken top cables on older F57s, but I wouldn’t say that’s common. My 2019 F57 (bought May 2018) has been faultless since new, thankfully.

 

Thanks, I had seen that post although I did not watch the DIY video.
We pulled the trigger on a CPO 2020 with 22.5k miles. Going to be the other half's daily in France and our fourth MINI. Encouraged by the relative lack of issues on this platform. Just going to have fun with it.

 

Hi,
You are going to *LOVE* your convertible. Nothing like a bit of wind therapy with the radio blaring! What color?

When I was researching the F5* here are the things I found:
1. FIrst two years had potential bearing shell issues in manuals that resulted in new shells or new engine. Crank moved laterally, "crank walk"/
2. First year maybe two had leaking oil filter cartridge housings, apparently fixed right away. Also hearing failures at higher miles not sure years
3. Serious issue, wire harness under hood in rear corner oppose transmission side allowed water intrusion and rotting wires. Expensive to fix replacing part of the wire harness. Fix ranges from $1500 to $2500 it seems Fixed, but not sure exactly when Possibly 2018
4. Front control arm bushings fail early, perhaps 30-40K miles. An upgrades part came out, don/t know the date
5. Top motor mounts fails early. There was a first revision that also failed. A second revision October 2020 we still don/t know if works
6. Top strut bearing. I learned of that relatively recently. Don't know the fequency
7. Left rear tail light corrosion or melting including harness plug. Right side unaffected. Don't know if Union Jack light has the same issue
8. Automatic before electronic shift lever has a lever position switch the spring breaks on. About $1500-$2000 to replace assembly. It will break again. It is a plastic scissor spring. There is a metal one aftermarket (don't recal where).
9. B pillar door rub and pain wear at shoulder. After market clear vinyl shield highly recommedned!
10. (only a couple) 3 cylinder sounds like rattling marbles upon start at idle for minute or more. I experienced this one in very cold.

Hope this helps!

 

I have had on my 2017 F56S:

• #2 (failed between 70K and 100K-ish miles, documented here),
• #5 (documented here, don't know when it failed but yeah, happens all the time on BMW-branded vehicles with the same engine too)
• #8 -- BTW -- the lever that the spring controls is plastic, but the spring itself is metal (and breaks as described anyway). Documented here. At the time replacement springs were not highly available as they are now, so I had to make my own - that was fun.

Re #7, literally was helping someone else with this the other day (left rear as noted, melted at ground pin), and though my left rear hasn't melted (yet?) it has shown signs of poor electrical connectivity, especially in stark winter cold.

Guess I'm off to look for #3 and #9

 

Hahaha nice!! When you get that last two, "10/10 Would still Recommend" goes in the signature lol!

I have mor equestiosn about the spring thing. I saw a thread with a different spring shape. Wondering if there are two different spring issues.
Here is more video about the failure:
https://www.securevehicleagainstrolling.com.au/

Here about the scissor shaped spring that is apparently plastic:
https://www.minif56.com/threads/tran...y.92009/page-3

Seems your coil spring is a different shape, possibly a different application.

Hope you can take a moment to help me understand these better!

 

I'm not seeing a "scissor shaped spring" in either of those two links. In the first link the video shows the white plastic lever and the coil spring that regulates its movement (though the coil spring is barely visible), and all the parts shown are identical to my own. There is no pic at the 2nd link (page 3 of the thread), but in page 1 of that thread there is a pic of the coil spring. I haven't read the entire thread (4 pages) but the link you provided to page 3 -- the word "plastic" is not on page 3.

Can you clarify?

 

Yeah, lot of content. The 5th post on the first page has a photo of a scissor shaped spring/clip that is claimed to be the faulty part. It is a different type/shape of spring than a coil spring so maybe there are two types of failure. Just not sure. Thanks for taking time to help figure it out!

 

Ok. These are the same spring and the same issue with the same repair.

Post 5 at the miniF56 link you provided has two photos.

The first/left photo in that post shows the spring in an uninstalled position — literally just the spring, all by itself. When installed, the spring does not sit in this position/shape. The post also misidentifies the part as a “clip.” It is not a clip.

The second/right photo in that post shows the upper half of the shifter assembly body.

To see what the spring looks like in the installed position, see the last photo in post #11 in this thread.

 

Shame on me I thought I read that whole thread but stopped after packaged springs Wow, what a great write up!! Thanks for all the investigation, documentation, and time spent on this. Well done!

 

Thank you for that list @cargusjoh and the links @cjv2 . Being a 2020 and a manual hopefully some of those early issues do not happen and obviously that auto trans probem is of no concern for a manual. We had brake light failures on the R56, but on the right - required replacement of the entire taillight cluster - twice. Our new car has the Union Jack lights, we shall see.

Delivery expected thursday

 

Congrats!! You will love it!!