i posted this to the NAM main forums, but haven't received responses.

looking for anyone on kauai who has a mechanic they trust, or any qualified mechanic period.

THANKS!!

 

Just spent a 2 week vacation in Kauai and saw almost a dozen MINIs motoring on the
road, so someone must be there to keep them running.

 

I think you left me a spotter card - I was parked at the post office. 2002 dark green with white top. Trust me, about 6 months ago there were exactly 3 minis on this little itty bitty island, and none of them were mine.

The two owners I knew used a mechanic at our Nissan dealership, and of course they were over their heads, so service took an extremely long time. I myself went there for an oil change and you would have thought I was asking them to open the engine to look for a loose bolt. SCARY!

Kauai is beautiful but incredibly slow to catch on. Currently there is only one mechanic who specializes in European cars. I was hoping to find another option.

I hope you had a wonderful vacation!!!

 

I remember leaving a spotting card on such a MINI across from the Kauai Museum
on June 20 in the afternoon - the day we left for home at the end of the vacation.
There was an accident at the entry to a gas station a half a block further
up on your side of the road when we entered the museum, and you were gone when we
came out of the museum a little after 4 pm.

The vacation was mostly good - really liked several gardens, several restaurants,
a Napali catamaran trip and a helicopter ride, but the travel was arduous,
and most of the beaches were difficult (difficult access, soft sand hard to walk on,
dangerous ocean or a lot of rocks and coral) but we did like Kalihiwai beach very much,
and the area at the southeast of Salt Pond was great for a sunset sit with a martini or a couple beers.
The B&B's we stayed at - Hale Ho'o Maha up north at Haena and
Bamboo Jungle House in the south in Kaleheo were both great, too.

Hope you find a good mechanic soon. Hope you don't need one soon.
Happy Motoring!

 

i was going to ask if you had seen the accident. i didn't see it happen but the wreck itself had it's own story. that chevron is located in such a weird place and if you aren't familiar with rice street, it can be hard to navigate.

i lived in florida for 10 years and i had just assumed all oceans are the same. NO WAY! the current here is so strong i have a very hard time holding my ground. there are a few easy-to-get-to beaches that are banked up by the coral reef, so the waters near the shore are calmer. i wish i'd know you guys were here, i would have gladly told you a few private easy-to-get-to places. if you ever come back, drop me a line!

as for my mechanic search, nothing so far. :( i'm not in urgent need for a mechanic (knock on wood) but there are a few little oddities happening lately that could just be some small idiosynchrasy (that word doesn't look right *LOL*).

example: i have a standard transmission, no bells or whistles. every few days the ABS and Brake warning lamps come on together. from what i gather, that particular combination can mean a failure of the ABS or a bad sensor. who knows?

2nd example: if i idle for more than 15 mins, the car overheats very quickly. from what i've read it can be a bad relay, the power transmission fan, or who knows what. i can hear the fan that is closest to the firewall of the car (as opposed to just behind the radiator) so i know that one is working. but i don't know for certain if that is the power steering fan.

and i'm too cheap to buy a do-it-yourself manual to see a schematic of the engine compartment.

i just want someone familiar with MINIs since there are some odd little easy fixes before i haul it off to nissan and pay to repair something that wasn't broken.

now, how much do i owe you as a therapist? the going rate is about $125/hour

 

Get the Bentley manual (you may be able to get the earlier 2002-2004 edition for cheap),
or the Haynes manual which is less expensive yet. If you have one,
then your mechanic can have access to it as well. And even if you can't do
the diagnostics or repairs yourself, you'll know more about what's going on and
what need to be done and whether your mechanic is feeding you ********.

I think the 2002 models had the power steering fan and the radiator fan on
the same circuit which makes me think the radiator fan or the sensor
controlling it might be bad.
As a consequence, a more common problem was the power steering fan going out with loss of
power steering and the radiator overheating simultaneousely in the early models.
I know that the ABS and the tire pressure sensor together usually means a
bad ABS wheel speed sensor, but not sure what an ABS and brake light together means.

 

I will see if I can locate a good mechanic on Kauai for you-

Stay tuned.

 

i *LOVE* your user name! how cute is that??

any help is greatly appreciated. i don't have any major issues (yet - knock on wood), but a few things i'd like to get done to make sure she's all good to go. i bought a used 2002 so i'm not sure of its history. i'm pretty sure i need new belts, for example - nothing major.

i have a great mechanic here, but he mostly works on asian import cars cuz that's what you get here. he's a great mechanic and VERY reasonably priced. but he's not familiar with MINIs. :( i think the whole european car concept is intimidating to some folks here on kauai.

MUCH MAHALO for helping me out! i look forward to any contacts you can offer.

~ k.

 

my boyfriend ordered what he thought was the right digital manual, but all it listed were the BMW series cars - none of the MINIs were listed. :( is there a difference between the bentley manual then? are the BMWs and the MINIs pretty much the same under the hood? i assumed the parts were, but not the way it's all designed and put together.

?

thanks!

 

You'll need the correct Manual for the 2002-2006 MINI (both Cooper and Cooper S). BMW is not the same as MINIs.

Most normal repairs can be done by any good mechanic. It just takes a little longer to figure out how to do it.

My contact on Kauai did not have any good MINI mechanic to offer.

Routine maintence can be done by your mechanic.

Electronic problems or anything big can be done by MINI of Hawaii in Honolulu. Too bad Super Ferry is not running to Kauai.