Hello! New owner of old mini! its been my dream car forever and now i own a 2003 mini cooper!

the car seems to be in great shape, Im getting ready to drive from Anchorage Alaska to South Lake Tahoe in northern california. hoping to do lots of paragliding and hiking and hopefully all with no car troubles! I dont have many things, seats folded down in the back is plenty of room and im getting a thule box for the roof for mah skis and snowboard.

Does anyone have any suggestions for maintenance i can do prior to my drive to ensure my mini is in good shape to drive for a looooong time?

2003 base model
manual transmission
new clutch was installed last year
80k miles
steering wines kinda loud but whatev, ive read plenty on that
my idle is harsh at times, it almost conks and then revs high and has a loud fan haha it hasnt shut off on me but its a little startling.
passenger window does a chatter once in a while when closing the window, not sure about that one but it wont prevent me from driving, i was thinking of just pulling the door appart and taking a look at it, i dont know much about cars but im pretty good with working on things, learning, and leaving them intact after im done

im planning on changing oil, checking plugs, transmission flush, i think i read radiator flush was a good idea too.. and front brake roaters need to be replaced.

Any feedback is much appreciated! I'm lovin this car

 

a crappy idle sounds like a good enough reason to do the fuel filter... you will be amazed at how nasty it is.

 

Oh nice! From what i read already for the idle i was thinking "thats just how it is" ill add fuel filter to the list, Thanks man!!

 

Be sure to replace all brake fluid when doing the brakes. With other cars I've owned in the past, I've just turned rotors, changed pads and called it good.

Shortly after I got my MINI, I changed the brake fluid (didn't change any other brake parts) -Wow, felt like new brakes.

 

ok ill look up a tutorial, ive done the brakes on my volvo without replacing the fluid but ill make sure to do the fluid on the mini. the front rotors from what i can see are pretty worn so im sure they need replacing. really i am not having any performance issues with braking you can just see that the rotor is a potato chip right now hahahaha

 

Enjoy the drive! I took my R50 from Victoria, BC up to Kitimat/Terrace, lots of beautiful highway up there. It's pretty easy to shatter those speed limits on those long straights though, watch out

 

hahahaha shatter muahaha

and these little cars are so fun to drive, its like they were meant to go fast! mines not even the sport model but every time i get in the driver seat i feel like im in the Italian job!

 

Yeah, they might not be objectively fast, but 100MPH in the Cooper feels pretty quick! I had lots of fun up there.

 

Heads up on the fuel filter, I just replaced mine (and yeah it looked terrible) but try not to mess up the fuel sending unit. Once I replaced the fuel filter, I must of broken the fuel sending unit that the fuel filter is attached to because it was not "sending" gas up to the engine. Also be careful dealing with the fuel, the stuff is nasty!

Good luck and have fun!

 

haha thanks for the heads up, how did you break the sending unit? Ill be extra careful, i honestly dont even know what a sending unit is so ill google it a bit before i do my fuel filter.

Im gathering a list of things and ordering the parts all at once and im gunna spend a few days monkeying with the car.

I dont know how much a dealer charges for things like the fuel filter but dang the kits under $40... thats awesome!

anyone have a suggested retailer i should send my business to? someone else on this forum linked the fuel filter kit in a DIY writeup @ecstuning.com.

 

I guess I broke the sending unit by tugging a little too hard on the housing for the fuel filter. the sending unit is connected to the fuel filter and is a bunch of tubing in the fuel tank. If the car doesnt start after changing the fuel filter I would check to see if you are getting fuel to the engine.

 

ohhh ok, ill try not to wrench it out like a beast then.. haha