I never seen anyone managing to brake off the hinges of the hatchback lid on a new MINI. You are the first one I am afraid. Did you have a problem with the hatchback alignment from before? If so, with every slam you were probably damaging the support points.

We have a 3 year old '02 MC and the hatch still closes as smooth and firm as the day we bought the car.

 

The MINI Dealer had put new hinges on cars before mine and the parts department had them in stock. I didn't have a problem until the
hinges started to cease. I am just saying that if your hatch starts
to be a problem, it is probably the hinges and not the gas struts.
I bought new gas struts first and then relized that the problem was the hinges.

 

FYI... I haven't seen this exact information anywhere on the site as of yet. I may have missed it though.

The hinges on the 2002 are prone to rusting at the pivot pin (Mine didn't look rusty until closer inspection) I started noticing that my hatch was going out of alignment and found it to be that the right hinge is actually pulling away from the body!! With 44,000mi and being a 2002 I am out of warranty and out of luck. I was lucky enough to salvage the hinges with penetrating oil but I will need to remove the interior to repair the hinge.

I'll be looking for guidance on removing the side panels and the headliner.

 

Might be worth everyone with older MINI's reading this new thread on MINI2.com even if you think yours are ok and then lubricating your tailgate/boot/trunk hinges to prevent the above happening.
MINI Tailgate Hinges snapping and seizing

 

Have an 03 MC and I think the same thing is happening to mine. Door is out of allingment enough that I have it bungy-corded closed today. Called dealer and they suggested taking to a body shop. I have a handy husband. If I buy a set of hinges, do you think we could do it ourselves? And/or should I call the dealership back to tell them they should handle this? Long out of warranty. Would like to get it fixed by the best person possible as fast as possible.

 

This has happened to my car once before and is happening again. The first time, I was on vaca and my right hinge snapped, causing about 1600.00 worth of damage (I claimed that thru insurance) back in 7/08. I've noticed that the same thing is starting again, luckily the body shop is going to repair/replace. Any ideas on how can this be resolved?!?

 

my right hinge broke this weekend. first noticed it with locking clasp misalignment as i was trying to figure out the problem it rapidly deteriorated and broke.

 

A once a month squirt of penetrating oil will keep this from happeneing, and only takes seconds to do.........

 

yea, that's on the maintenance list now!

 

Did you find out HOW the hinges are fastened to the roof (car body)?
We purchased a used 2002MC in yellow and black in apparently mint condition (with CarFaX). and first noticed some wear marks at left bottom of hatch frame. (Bought MC yellow nick paint).. then light was not going out.. then had to slam to close.. then not self opening.. then top gap.. then noticed left hinge seems to be pulled from top (body).
NOW WHAT TO DO???

GW

 

Jen ~ did you get any more info. on how easy or expensive it is to fix the broken hatchback hinge. Mine broke yesterday and is also bungee corded.

 

We bought new hinges from Mini dealer (prestige motors) @ $49/pr.

I have been an auto mechanic lifetime (73 now) and I could not figure out how to remove broken hinges without causing damage !

I took Mini to local body shop and for $75 two men worked for over two hours. Replacement completed..BUT, out of alignment.

The panels up to roof on sides snap off (be careful to find snap points), then the roof liner can be moved forward just enough to slip a hand and small (1/4" drive) rachet in to hold nuts.

Stardrive on bolt(s) exterior and very, VERY tight,, need stardrive bit and at least 3/8" drive.

replace all and job done.

As noted - lubricate often!!!!

~Chip

 

I know this is an old thread, but this just happened to my 2005 MC, 50K miles on it. I noticed the right side of the boot lid was moving away from the body. I had also been experiencing trouble opening the lid (the gas piston 'stuttered' when I tried opening/closing the lid), so I assumed it was the gas struts. Well, I replaced the struts... and couldn't close the lid - my right hinge froze and started to crack.

It's in my garage now waiting for replacement hinges, with the boot open. Sigh.

 

Very common problem, and a Pain in the butt to fix yourself. It is possible though. I Bent mine, doing stupid things when the gas struts needed replaced. If you do it yourself, it takes a lot of disassembly, patience and time. Let me know if you need info!

 

OK- Hinges were in dealer stock (like $48)...
the hinges are fastened with star bolts, INSIDE and UNDER the rear ceiling drape.. OH MY !
I have never in 50 years experience, ever done a roof liner...
We went to a body shop and two guys spent an hour and a half on the project. CAVEAT!

After removing (carefully) the upper side panels there is microbial access to begin taking the top liner loose.... the less you can take loose the better the finished job will look.

A 1/4 drive rachet is about all that fits with the proper star driver and those suckers are REALLY set in.

Once that is accomplished then replacement and alignment is fairly simple...

OIL THAT SUCKER REGULARLY! and keep debris clear from the rear roof gutter !

Best of luck!

 

Getting the alignment right is what worries me - oh, and mice in the garage - but disassembly should be straightforward (how do the side pillar covers come off?).

I ended up getting the hinges for ~20 / pair for OEM from ECS. Shipping was horrible, but for the pair (~$11) but beats dealership prices or the drive time for me.

 

Alignment definitely takes two sets of eyes or one hell of a lot of measure, check, set.

Both outer sides of the hinge has some slack. One person places the hatch in appropriate position (obviously with the gas pistons off) while the other snugs the hinges, inside and out.. then its a matter of a little this way and a little that way, open and closed - to get the hatch properly centered, then sock the star bolts up tight... try again, install gas pistons, check and readjust as necessary.. figure 1-3 hrs

~good luck !

 

Dang.. Ever since I got my mini I've noticed that the passenger side of the hatch does not close all the way, i.e. I see light from inside near bottom seal. I figured it would be an easy adjustment but now it looks like a PITA.

Funny how different people in similar careers can have totally different experiences. I've got 3.5yrs experience as a mechanic between Mercedes and Audi dealers and I've pulled more headliners than what I've got fingers.


If I understand this correctly, I need to remove the interior C pillar trims, then let the rear of the headliner hang down, then I can access the torx screws that mount the hinge to the roof, and it is these torx screws that can be loosened to allow the hinge to slide for rear hatch adjustment? Perhaps this will be on the to do list --I hate how that hatch sticks out on the right side when closed. At least mine still opens/closes fine minus a picky handle switch.

 

By George I think he has it !

However, on the inside top of the hatch itself (rear door) the OTHER side of the hinge is mounted on the hatch and it is held by a star bolt.. it IS possible there is some adjustment there, however, I have yet to be able to loosen THAT star bolt...
Good luck!
~Chip

 

Pure luck - and perhaps I'm going to offend the MINI gods, but I'm finished. It only took 1 1/2 weeks! Why the holdup? The parts took a whole week to ship - ECS has good prices, but their shipping charges almost negate the cheaper pricing, and they take forever to ship (at least for the parts I ordered these two times).

Once I got the hinges (Monday), I figured it would take 3 hours - nope. I had to go buy a T40 (what I thought was a T40 was one size smaller) Torx. Then, I started pulling the headliner apart - I took off the trim ring around the skylight, popped the covers off the pillars, and took the headliner out of the rubber seal. So far so good - except once I got my socket in there it bottomed out. Home Depot didn't carry a 13mm deep socket - at least sold individually - and it was too late to go to Lowes. I picked up the last 13mm 3/8" drive deep socket today - the remainder of the procedure took 30 minutes tops.

I mentioned luck earlier because I didn't have to do any alignment whatsoever. I don't know if this is because my other hinge moves freely, or if it was just luck.

Also, if you have a garden rake and a fluffy pillow, your helper doesn't have to work as hard holding the hatch up :D

I've attached pictures of the new hinge installed (that is dust - no apparent rust from what I could see), how I undid the hinges, and the almost broken hinge. That too was pure luck, as it was just ready to break. You can see through the metal if you hold it up to the light.

 

Oh, and the frustrating part of this process is that I now have to get some paintwork done because there is bare metal around my hatch and the side of my car. I have touchup paint, and touchup primer - I primed the larger / more obvious parts that were on the hatch due to fears of rust, but I think the - very skinny - area on the body is a bit beyond my skill set.

I don't mind doing the mechanical stuff.

And to all who responded, thanks for the info!

John

 

Well done!

Moral of the story, a little squirt of oil now and again will save a lot of work and money.

 

Last weekend, my daughter's 2002 seemingly broke a hinge on the boot hatch. I did some research here and the other site, and determined we could fix it by simply getting new hinges. I read that it was 1-3 hours vs. around $700 at a body shop. Found the hinges at a local dealer for $92 delivered next morning. Upon opening up the head liner a bit just pulling it down, I could see that the hinge did not actually break, but pulled the washer and nut through the hole in the steel that it attaches to. I had a few washers that we were able to step from large to smaller and more than adequately cover the ripped out hole. Once we got the first one done, we moved to the second (driver side) hinge. That one had ripped through prior to us buying the car and the PO had done a half assed version of what I did. Easy enough to duplicate our first one. We attempted to close the hatch after to start the alignment process. It was so far off downwards that we had to adjust the torx screw all the the other direction. It was ok height wise, but was way off to the left. The passenger side hole had mushroomed out considerably making this impossible to correct. Rather than remove the hinge again, I grabbed a few punches I have, and a BFH. 8lb sledge. I beat the mushroomed part for a bit around the hinge and bolt head. My help could see it went in considerably while viewing from the inside above the headliner. Incredibly, when we shut the hatch on the first try it was perfectly aligned left to right. We decided to stop there. It would be far better to make sure that the hole is "flat" prior to installing the replacement hinge. The entire hatch sits down about half an inch further than it should, but I cannot imagine how I would be able to adjust this to raise it equally. Unless it leaks I will just leave it at that.
We completed this repair in and hour and ten minutes. 3/8" drive T35 socket, and a 1/4" drive with a couple wobble extensions and a 13mm socket were the only tools we used.

I do feel that this is a terrible design flaw. To be expected to lubricate your boot hinges monthly or every oil change is absolutely ridiculous. Having owned many vehicles in my lifetime, I have never had one that required such a silly maintenance task.

If someone could link this over to the other site, it may be helpful to others.

Thanks again NAM, I have continuously been able to troubleshoot and repair her Mini thanks to this site.

mike

 

I don't think they need to be lubed that often. Every couple of years should be fine, as a standard 'Inspection II' item.