NAM community,

I've leaned on you guys for 6 years now. I need to consult the braintrust here yet again, but this time, for a sorta fun project...

I love my 2002 MCS. Suffice to say, this car has been the most fun, most trouble-free, most loyal car I've owned. I can't think of a better way to pay Dale back for 100,000 miles of faithful service than to keep him tearing up the asphault until he can go no more.

I've done all my own oil changes, brake services, filter changes, and coolant flush. Original everything, no mods, other than a drop-in K&N air filter. I had the infamous leaking coolant bottle and dying power steering fan, replaced by MINI around 50K. I'm doing the tranny fluid swap and power steering fan screen this weekend.

I've seen all sorts of neat mods here in terms of stainless steel coolant bottles, upgraded brake lines, etc. My question is this: what recommended mods/practices/services would you recommend for an aging 1st gen MCS whose owner wants to keep it for the looooong haul. I intend to drive it daily, which accumulates roughly 8K miles yearly. No racing/autocrossing.

Thanks for any help you can offer. I love this car, and I wouldn't consider trading it for the world. I don't mind dropping the coin on items that assume another 70K+ miles. The above is the history of my awesome car. Can you recommend what he needs to make his twilight years as full of hellraising as his youth?

 

you sounds right on track with preventative maintenance only thing I can think of is replace the fuel filter, spark plugs and maybe research replacing the oil in the SC. I'm at 104k with my 04 mcs and I'm inline with what you've done.

You could always add a pulley?

 

Just regular maint should keep it going, plugs, belt, and fluids. Thats really all I've been doing. I do have the stainless coolant tank, but thats only because the plastic ones kept leaking (even the "newer" one supposed to fix the problem). I've also had little things break - dip stick (replaced w/ Craven), oil cap (donno what happened), and coolant cap (probably related to coolant tank, plastic cap, metal tank - not the best combo).

I've never replaced the oil in the SC - or even researched how to. I was expecting mine to go around 100k, and bought a new one - but its still sitting on the shelf.

Good Luck!

Nik

 

So all the various sensors and senders that monitor everything on the car are good for over 180,000 miles?

 

At 100k one of the best payback you could get for a daily driver is to replace the front o2 sensor! While they are rated for 100k you will actually feel a difference in the vehicle response if it is replaced at 60K. The vehicle will be more responsive and will burn less fuel, also I recommend using an original part for this all important piece! The next thing is to have the compression checked by a competent repair facility, if its good the engine will be good for a long time to come. Remove the fuel injectors and have them cleaned, there are a few places that provide this service with a three day turn around time for a cost of about $20 per injector; the service come complete with a report of before and after. Check the brake calipers by looking for uneven ware on the inside vs outside pads on all four wheels. If wear is uneven replace all four calipers (rotors and pads if needed); this will bring back the stopping power of a new car. Check the fuel pressure to make sure it has not dropped off from spec, using a smoke machine check for vacuum leaks around the engine, if all is well there is no reason the coop will not stomp like the days of old........unless of course the driver chooses not to indulge

 

The sensors outside of the O2's can just be done as needed. As most of us know they go out completely at random. My trunk sensor has never worked even with 2 replacements.

Dont forget the cabin air filter.

I didnt think of the O2 good call. Today I installed new rotors and pads and the JCW brake kit w/ s/s lines, now I have to bleed them. Next week I'm flushing the coolant, thermostat, tranny fluid and another oil change.

 

Besides some of the things already mentioned, I'd say brake flush. Old brake fluid collects moisture which is bad for your braking and your brake lines.

 

I had to replace the forward o2 sensor at around 150,000, but that was because of poorly routed wire from factory, caused a short.


Nik

 

Awesome, thanks for the info, everyone. At this stage, when I start thinking of a maintenance item, it quickly spirals out of control. Example: Rotate tires -> change brake pads -> flush lines -> upgrade braking system?

I don't mind doing these things, at all, I just wanted to get a quick pulse check on what others are doing around this same age of MINI. I only just recently heard about the supercharger oil, and I'm gathering info on it now as well. The o2 sensor is a new one on me though. Thanks for all the replies!!

 

Well going the long haul, a bunch of the guys over at the m3forum I'm usually on are pretty experienced with this sort of thing, with guys running their m3's over 200k miles! The kinds of things that come to mind are things that you know are going to go at some point. We do a bunch of preventative maintenance stuff that I think translate to pretty much any car, so here's whats coming to mind:

-Replace your thermostat. It will go at some point, you might as well take care of it.
-Radiator. Definitely flush it, and check the necks for any cracking periodically.
-Suspension. I dont know about these cars' suspension too well anymore, but the arm bushings may need replacing at some point? Someone else can verify Im sure!
-Belts! Check 'em for cracking.
-Water pump. BMW water pumps are pretty crappy, grab a Stewart. They're pricey, but have a lifetime warranty!

The biggest thing that I've learned from those guys is just to stay on top of your fluids. Dont let the gas get too low; it's bad for the fuel pump. Tranny fluid and engine oil should never be let go low. Make sure it has enough coolant at all times. These cars are very well-designed machines, but they are designed to have all the respective fluids in check. Good luck! I'm doing the same with Moe, he's with me until he can't move anymore!

 

All good things that can apply to just about any cars! Worth pointing out though that you really cant replace the water pump like you would in a BMW, its mechanically driven off of the supercharger, not electric like many BMW's. However the important thing in our case is to pull the supercharger off and replace the oil on the waterpump side and on the nose gear side. K-heuvo did a pretty good write up on this, and with a bentley manual it seems pretty doable by someone who has worked on cars before (it's easier than a clutch but maybe a little more challenging then something like struts). At 100k miles this is definitely a good piece of preventative maintenance.

 

hmm, i didnt know it was attached to the supercharger... must have been a way to save some space! btw, i knew it was belt driven, mines belt driven as well!

 

Gotcha . I will be the first to admit I am not all that familiar with the differences between the different BMW models and years. In any event I wasnt there when the decision was made (duh), but attaching the pump to the SC was probably a space saving thing, and is in fact quite clever. Unfortunately it wasnt implemented perfectly, so in some cases you see a loss of the oil between the SC and the WP, which results in the drive gears destroying themselves. That wouldnt be a huge problem is it werent for the fact that nobody can get the required gears to replace the one that break. Better still, this has happened as earlier than 50k in some cases.

So you have 4 options basically;
1. Pull the SC and relube it every 50k-70k miles (cheapest if it's DIY project)
2. Wait for the gears to shred and buy a new or used SC (second cheapest if you find a used one and its DIY, second most expensive if the car overheats before the problem is noticed)
3. Wait for gears to shred and replace with electric water pump (third cheapest, most expensive if the car overheat before the fix)
4. Replace with electric pump before gears shred. (assuming you get a good WP this completely negates the chance of catastrophic overheating that can sometimes result from the failure of the gear driven WP)