Hello every one, I hope to be buying a mini Soon! I have a few questions

1 It it a good deal? 2003 cooper S 6 speed fully loaded nav, cold weather, hid head lights, driving lights, sunroof, you get the idea. 136k mi one owner for 8k and the few issues listed below.

2 What color is the coolant suposed to be? The coolant in this one is brown-ish. My fear is head gasket failure. No drivability issues or check engine light, no milkshake in oil. Is head gakset failure common?

3 It has an oil leak(s). It is coming from engine lower down, other than that I can't tell the car is too low. What are common places for oil leaks. I hope it is not the rear main.

4. The light for the auto on climate control does not light but seems to make heat and the fan works. Is this a sign of a problem or just a bad bulb?

5 Is there any thing I should look at in particular on these cars?

6 How long can these cars last milage wise?

The car was a blast to drive! I love the car but these issues have me worried/ Thanks for the help,

 

2. BMW coolant is blue.

5. Check the low speed radiator fan, thermostat gasket, Control arm bushings, engine mounts/bushings. The bushings are wear areas that generally give out at about 75k, so if they were never changed they may be quite knackered by now.

6. They can last a long time, but nothing like a Toyota Hilux.

Thats all I can comment on.

 

Couldn't help but notice your username... don't care for the E30s?
I just bought an E46 having said goodbye to my 03 MCS after wrecking it.
I had 90k miles on it and my 02 sensors were bad, my NAV had gremlins that rendered it useless and I had one Xenon headlamp that worked only part time. Other than that, the car was outstanding.
Color of my cooland in the tank was blue but hard to tell from the color of the tank discoloration.
It's hard to tell how long that MINI will last. Ask for service records or if they maintained it, like most members on this forum do, you need to be the judge of how capable they are.
Good luck.

 

Check all the stuff argawen said to as well as the ball joints, and strut top mounts(for mushrooming).

Common oil leaks include, valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket, crank sensor, supercharger inlet horn, possibly the dipstick tube. The good news is once you get in that area for everything(except the valve cover) it's all pretty much right in front of you, so if it's two(i.e. the crank sensor and inlet horn) you can easily do them at the same time.

 

Ha Ha my user name's intent was to say the mini is a great car but it is no E30. I love my E30 but due to age and the fact it is a vert I don't want to use it as a daily driver.

I complained to the dealer about the oil leak and they had it looked at and said someone stripped the oil pan. They are going to put on a new oil pan so I hope that fixes the problem.

I talked to the former owner who traded the car in and he said oil changes were done evey 7k.

When you say look for mushrooming I assume this is the front strut mounts that are part of the unibody right? I did not see anything when looking for accident damage but I will check for this next time I see the car.

 

Yup Its the strut top mounts and the pieces of metal they bolt up to that are part of the body.

 

OEM coolant is blue, but older MINIs have a history of the cooling looking brown and gross. Mine certainly was. That may indicate that the coolant hasn't been changed. Might want to check maintenance records.