one place wanted 790.00 the other guy came to my house and did it for 300.00. took him 1.5hrs which is about 200.00 per hr. the 1st place would have made over 500.00 an hour. no one is worth 500.00 an hr to me.

 

Today's projects included replacing the TMAP sensor and replacing the stupid Torx bolts with socket head bolts. I also replaced the OEM driving lights with Hella 500's - straight forward job - except I had to shorten the OEM harness and solder the connections. Nothing harder than soldering over your head... I can't get them aimed just right, so if anyone has hints on how to accomplish that task I'm all ears!

 

Got some new goodies yesterday. Installing on Monday.

 

Add some low end to the HK stereo. Three 8" subs and umder rated 1200.1 mono block amplifier. All Skar audio. Would've had a harder time without this forum 🤘. Amp and line converter in very bottom of trunk.

 

Performed an oil change. Decided to remove the coolant tank completely to gain access to the filter. Worked much better than just trying to pivot it out of the way, but still a pain in the ****.

Also changed out the timing chain tensioner. I thought I was getting whiffs of timing chain rattle, so I wanted to swap out the tensioner to hopefully give myself a little more time before attacking the timing chain replacement. While mucking around after the oil change and letting the engine warm up, I heard rattling again. Turns out the down pipe heat shield is making noise somewhere. When the rattling started, I could change the tone be pressing on the heat shield.

 

1. I went and looked at her because she's gorgeous.

2. I've got a few knickknacks coming today as I slowly outfit her since getting her last week: sun shades, valve stem caps, some emergency gear to keep under the floor in the boot like a winter blanket, LED flares, first-aid kit, and tire pump.

3. I'm researching cross bars, cargo boxes, and ski / board racks, but finding it very intimidating to decide what the right options are. Ideally, I'd be able to get a narrower box and a narrow ski / board rack so I could put both up there at once, but I don't know if that's possible.

 

Went out of my comfort zone and installed a new belt tensioner by myself. I say out of my comfort zone cause it’s a 2006 and I was worried that I would get half way through and a bolt would either strip or break off and I don’t have the tools or knowledge to get either out.
the lower 16mm bolt didn’t want to move at 1st so I sprayed pb blaster and let sit for 30min and it broke free. Over all it was smooth and easy

 

RIPPER - congratulations. Once you get your head around the tight quarters and the need to occasionally (frequently?) remove the front end, working on a Mini isn't so bad. Except for replacing the thermostat housing on an N18 engine -- that's just a PITA.

 

The N18 thermostat certainly isn’t an easy job, but since it only needs to be done if the thermostat goes out, it’s not high on my “pain the butt” list. Now, the N18 oil filter change…. Don’t get me started on that one!

 

Or the coolant pipe across the back of the engine from the waterpump leaks, which NEVER happens.

 

Yjsaabman - Yes, the clip on that coolant pipe is the worst part of the thermostat change. I did two thermostat changes within about 6 months of each other - one on each of our Gen 2 cars. The second was easier so I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

njaremka - I'm with you on the N18 oil change. It's like they tried to make it difficult. I don't really like driving my wife's Outback but I love changing the oil on it. The filter is literally in the most convenient possible spot. (On the Subarus, it's the spark plugs that are PITA.)

 

The coolant pipe itself adds to the joy of the thermostat getting it lined up and fully inserted into the waterpump housing. I've seen quite a few of those leak and have found the Rein brand pipes don't fit or last well. OE all the way on that one. Why there needs to be 7 hoses connected the t-stat is a whole different question...(I've kinda become the Mini guy at the BMW dealership I work at. The closest Mini dealership is about 45 min from where I work, but is also in another state.)

 

Ha! I can change the oil in my wife’s CX9 in about 10 minutes, including driving it up on ramps. The Mini takes the better part of an hour!

 

Don’t forget who was involved in the design of the N14/N18 engine. That makes it easier to understand how and why things like oil changes are so much fun to do...

As for things I did, well, the other day... it has been warm in the NE and I took the opportunity to start and warm up the 2 garage queens, the R56 and the JCW. Not quite ready to drive them on the street given all the salt that is on the roads.

 

These quotes are making me even more glad I have a 2019! It's tight to get to the oil filter, and a short 32 mm Socket makes it easier to get off, but, it's really not much trouble. Sheesh, the N18 must be a bear!

 

the n14’s is way easier to get out vs the n18. That coolant hose is really in the way as much as the n18.

 

I looked up a video on changing the oil filter on the N18. Yep, looks like a bit of a pain.

 

my 09 n14 is way easier than 14 n18. I can move my coolant tank out of the way and pull the filter out with no real issues on my n14, but that damn n18 the filter housing just won’t fit through there will getting caught on the hose.

 

As a BMW tech I can tell you that up until the most recent family of engines came out (B46, B48, and B58), BMWs usually had the filter right up top in the front and easy to access. As for the latest Minis, I deal with the X1 and the X2, which are the same architecture, and the little access doors in the belly pan they give you are a joke. I usually just remove the belly pan.

Friday I ordered a new radiator and radiator support for Grumpy.

 

Really? I like the ability to simply swivel two clips 180 degrees and open those access doors. Takes 3-5 seconds, and I can remove the filter and drainplugs without getting oil on the belly pan. Taking 10 or so 8 mm Screws out to remove the belly pan is much more time consuming. To each his own, I guess.

I took the belly pan off for the first time yesterday, because I saw a discoloration and wanted to know why...turns out, there was so much grease applied to the grounding wire on the starter, some of that grease had dropped onto the belly pan and stained the fibrous material. So, no big deal. It was a bit of a pain to take all those 8 mm screws out. That said, I was impressed how nice everything looked...no oozing from any gasket areas, CV Joints nice, very clean...reminds me of my Toyota engine/transmission appearance...which is a good thing!

 

As a BMW Tech, do you have any idea why they would design it like this? I would hate to think that it's because they really want to make it difficult for the avg guy. I have an F57 and it's way more involved than any other car I've owned, but I still do it myself. Speaking of that, I swapped out the battery last month, and IT was also way more involved than necessary!

 

My 2 cents...
The belly pan is for aerodynamics and that means better gas mileage, for which both the EU and US have requirements. So, no, not to make life difficult. Note, this also improves the car’s performance, which is why MINI put one on the GenII GP. As for the N14/N18 engines and the oil filter location, I could only guess that there is something about the engine internals that made it desirable or necessary to put the oil filter where it is. Also remember that engine was a consortium engine with other applications. Maybe those other applications drove the design and MINI was left with what they got... That is a really wild “A” guess.

As for the battery, on my F56 it is readily available and should be an easy change out. If you are referring to the BMS coding when doing a battery change, I seem to recall that is also a gas mileage thing. It optimizes the load on the alternator to minimized the energy used to charge the battery. Yes, it is off in the weeds, but it adds up with other “off in the weeds things” when looking for tenths of a MPG...

Maybe Yjsaabman knows more about this.

 

Nope, sorry. I'm only a tech, not an engineer. There's plenty of things on BMWs I curse, like the entire N63 engine. It doesn't matter what your working on, they all have things that are dumb. And things have only gotten more complex over the years. A lot of it you just have to get used to working on. Like pulling the front clip off an R50/52/53 to do much on anything. VWs and Audis of that era are pretty much the same and you get used to it. My solace comes from thinking the engineers that designed the stupid stuff are doomed to an eternity of having the repair it in hell.

 

Interesting take, thanks. Regarding the battery, it is necessary to remove a lot of trim (and even the air box) just to access the battery on my F57.

 

Yup. Rain tray, strut brace, a few other bits of trim, wall on the front of the battery box. You can do it just with the lid removed from the airbox, but getting the hold down back in can be tricky.