New to the mini community. Already addicted to my 2006 Mini JCW. I bought the car from a ford dealership and will be taking it in to a checker flag mini dealership to give it a once over. It has 98,000 miles on it and I expect them to find something wrong somewhere. I purchased a 2 year 25,000 mile warranty with the car so hopefully that will save me a few bucks here and there.

What should I expect to pay just for an inspection?

Also looking to replace the OEM air intake filter with something cheaper with better performance. Any suggestions?

 

I think the price for an inspection is going to vary. If you looking for an after the fact "Pre-Buy" inspection, they may charge one to two hours of labor. Labor rates vary from dealer to dealer. You'll just need to call your local dealer and see what they charge.

That said; be prepared to be handed a laundry list of things that they recommend. Unless the car was well maintained by MINI, they won't have records and are going to give you a list with thousands of dollars worth the stuff they think you should get done.

 

Since you have the warranty, as long as the mini dealer you take it to can use that warranty, they will find something and should not charge you for an inspection.

I did the same with mine and told them to only fix what the warranty would cover.

 

MINIs start to leak a LOT around 100k. Get your car on jack stands and inspect the car yourself while the warranty is good. Items to check:


-Low pressure power steering lines (both ends)
-Pow Steer reservoir O-ring
-Crank sensor O-ring
-Pass side hydraulic engine mount
-Oil filter O-ring
-Oil Pan gasket
-Oil filter/cooler housing to engine block gasket
-Oil switch/sensor on oil housing
-Timing belt tensioner


Make note of wherever you see a mess. Clean up the mess. Add UV engine die, drive 200 miles, and see what is going on. Dye and a UV light are cheap, and doing a proper inspection yourself could save you thousands of $ if you find it now under warranty.


Also, if there's the slightest hint of oil on that Crank Sensor O-Ring have it replaced. They habitually go bad. And a dealer charges $600 to change this $2 part.

 

Thank you all for the advice. I'll be taking it in this week. I'll get back to you with an update.