For those of us that have owned our MINIs for awhile we know the quirks, faults, and idiosyncrasies of our cars. I would imagine the folks who have upgraded and/or are in the process of upgrading have some "best practices" to keep these cars from breaking down out of the blue. I wanted to create a thread for the new folks to MINI ownership and this thread so they might learn from our experiences. There are a bunch of how-to's on here but what are some things you would all recommend to keep MINIs running as best and as long as possible.

A few things I have thought of are:

1) Get an oil change about every 5,000 miles or less.
-From a personal opinion I would also get fuel system/fuel injector
cleaner put in the gas tank after every oil change to keep the valves
as cleans as possible.
2) If it's an N14 engine, replace the turbo oil line since the OEM unit is faulty.
3) Get an oil catch can to help prevent carbon build-up.


What else should people maintain in order to save money down the road?

 

Replace the transmission fluid every 30k miles.
Use Gummiphledge on all weather stripping.

 

coolant every 4 years. brake fluid every 2 years.

 

Ditch the catch can. Absolute waste of $300.

Clean the valves by hand, or if you have an air compressor, make your own walnut blaster to clean the valves. This is the only tried and true method for having clean valves.

I would add cleaning out your intercooler once a year. That in principle is a giant catch can. It's not a huge decrease in performance every year from oil buildup in the intercooler, but it helps to clean it out before the oil gets really stubborn. I just fill my intercooler up with a little bit of gasoline, put rubber gloves on outlets with zip ties, and shake it like that really bad nanny. You'll be surprised how much nasty crap is in there.

Both intake and intercooler cleaning projects will keep you busy in the winter

 

If you're using DOT4 brake fluid (which you should be using for Auto-X or Track duty ) like ATE Super Blue or Motul RBF 600, you need to shorten it to six months. Higher temperature rated brake fluids LOVE to suck up water much quicker than other street car fluids.

 

Just thought of another one.....

When replacing rotors and pads make sure to get new brake sensors as well. Stainless steel brake lines would also be a good idea.

 

Ha, get rid of them!

Cut the sensor wires down as short as possible, strip them, tie the two wires together, heat shrink tube them, secure them out of the way, and never have to deal with those stupid things again!

 

Hahaha or that works too