I don't know if this has happend you anyone els.
I was cleaning under the hood and found a loose screw on the intercooler. I tryed tightening it but it was broken. It was my top right screw. Has anyone els had broken screws? I'm going to order new ones from mini.
The bottom part of the screw broke off in here --

 

tightend to hard? those screws are not very strong from what I saw.

 

I replaced mine with a set from Fatenal. They were local and I think they are better quality.

 

It has happened to me...I'm down to 2. I removed the cover once and when I went to put it back on one of the screws would not go in. I tried the other screws that worked in the other slots but no go. It feels like the inside is stripped even though it came out just like a normal screw.

Then a couple months later I open up the bonnet and another screw has disappeared. I'm guessing it stripped and vibrated out.

Our intercooler is a piece of crap.

 

It helps if you paint it and stick an red S on it.



I had a screw vibrate loose, too. The next time I was at the dealership, I went to the parts department to get one (not in stock, of course) and found out that they are not all the same length. Didn't know which I needed, so had to order both.

 

are the top two longer than the bottom two? thats interesting if so

 

Yes, the two bolts towards the rear of the engine are longer (about double) than the front two.

 

Does anyone know the best way to remove that striped screw from my intercooler?

 

How much of the screw is left? You may just be able unscrew the other 3 and remove the intercooler. Grab a set of pliers and unscrew. Or have you already tried that?

unscrew the 3 left, Remove diverter. unscrew the 2 brackets in front of the intercooler (where the 2 front screws screw into) unscrew and remove the 4 intercooler brackets on both sides and pull up to remove inter cooler. grab pliers and unscrew. Put it back together and make sure boots are on correctly. tighten down the screws.

 

Take the car back to the dealer! Let them fix the damn thing. Or is the dealer far from your location.

 

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or you could do that. It would probably be the easiest. Just don't let the dealer blame you.

 

FYI, all 4 of my intercooler cover screws were the same length.

 

Thanks for the link. What are the size and type of bolt you used?