Hey guys!

I went and looked at an R53 today.

2003 Mini Cooper S
British Racing Green/White
154k miles

Within the last 10k miles, the owner has done the following:

Cheap height adjustable coilovers
15% pulley
strut mounts
radiator
engine seals
serviced the supercharger
A/C compressor
all new aftermarket water hoses

He had to drive 20 miles to meet me. When he arrived, I turned on the air conditioning and made sure the radiator fan was running...it was. I then quickly set the on board diagnostic to show actual coolant temp. To my surprise, it said 112 degrees C!!!!

In comparison, my last 2003 R53 was stable for a few minutes at idle at 88 degrees C with a disconnected radiator fan.

What could cause such a high temp, if not the thermostat?

Additionally, the power steering pump is already replaced, but whining loudly and leaking pretty substantially. All new hoses though. How much can I bump off of asking price ($5k) for this?

 

Are you leaking antifreeze or is it just over heating? Do you see fluid stains below the expansion tank on the heat shield? Do you smell antifreeze? The expansion tanks are notorious for leaking at the seams. I had a similar problem, replaced the plastic tank with an aluminum unit, problem solved. I would do a pressure test to see if you are leaking somewhere.
Are you sure the leaking is not coming from the PS hoses and not the pump. Does the noise stop when the reservoir is topped off?

 

How does someone without extra money for the purchase perform a pressure test? I can swing a pre-purchase inspection, but to pay for more than a half hour of labor would be eating out of my car-purchasing budget...all the other MINIs in AZ are rubbish, but I need a car today, so there's not an option to walk away and go for a different one.

No smells or stains, but the coolant expansion tank was a little lower than I liked. When it was 112 degrees C according to the diagnostic computer in the dash, he was able to open the expansion tank lid by backing it off slowly and allowing pressure to escape before opening the cap with no spillage. My old MINI would never have allowed that lol.

He actually has already installed a new expansion tank, 180 degree thermostat (meh) and all new fancy colorful water hoses and plastic connectors. Is it possible that improper installation of a thermostat housing or something could cause high running temps?

When it climbed higher than 114, I shut it off, but not before hearing some (perhaps paranoia-induced) very quiet succession of ticking noises (almost like exhaust cooling).

Is there any way to identify if a car has been overheated without disassembling a bunch of stuff? Since this guy has the navi package on his R53, he doesn't even have the crappy pseudo-gauge that base R53 owners get. All he has is that crappy little dummy light that blinks if you sit in traffic for too long. (Also it's running Peak coolant, ewww)

 

First of all, there is always another car. They make thousands of them everyday. Don't for a second believe that this overheating car is the only car left in Arizona that is within your budget. If you don't have any money for a PPI then you certainly don't have enough to fix whatever is wrong.

 

Not necessarily true. I don't have time to fix a head gasket, but I can basically replace anything else that would be the culprit myself. I can't afford to pay a mechanic for an expensive $200 pressure testing session...but I definitely can swing a new thermostat and some hoses.

Anyways, this morning, I asked this guy for receipts. Basically, he's owned the car for 10k miles. When he bought it, it wasn't working well, and basically, he overhauled the engine bay, especially the cooling system, and then put a bunch of Ebay bolt-ons on the car. He also serviced the supercharger. The following parts were purchased from Ebay:

Water pump flange
water pump
hutchinson lower mount
strut mounts
coilovers
cravenspeed sc kit
rad cap
182 degree thermostat (DOH!)
thermostat housing
belt tensioner
water hoses

Now, if the car had been running this stuff for a long time, I'd turn right around. But it was installed very cleanly, on a lift, at a buddies' shop, all engine bay pieces are attached properly and everything is clean, and it drives great (minus the bad coilovers, but I don't mind, I'll get my stance bug out of the way, trash the coils, and get some Koni Yellows).

Honestly, it sounds like a bit of wacko decision making when it came to a few parts, and I can anticipate preventatively cleaning a few things up next weekend (thermostat, add a tensioner stop because I don't trust ebay, proper coolant, scangauge). But it doesn't sound like a blown head gasket. And we would be getting a pre-purchase inspection anyhow.

 

+1

 

An R53 is not a car that should be taken on if don't have the funds to have basic repairs done. My car was in great shape considering the mileage 110K and it being a one owner car that was very well taken care of with an extensive maintenance history. With that being said the following things need to be done of have been done since I've gotten the car in September.

Brakes/Rotors $140 great deal on Amazon and I did the labor
Aluminum Expansion tank/cap $125 , I did the work myself
Transmission Flush $50 , I did the work myself
Struts $400, I attempted the job, broke the pinch bolt. I will need to drill out the bolt so I had to buy a new drill and bits $150, also a MUST HAVE an impact wrench $150. Had to buy a tap die set once I drill out that pinch bolt $95
New Tires. $550 not including mounting and balancing
The Following items need to be done:

Valve Cover Gasket
Intake/Return PS Hose
Crank Case O-Ring
Oil Filter Housing Gasket and Cooler O-Ring

If I don't do the work myself, we are talking about $1000-$1500 in labor costs.

Things I want done:

Reduction Pulley $450 if I don't do the work, $220 if I do it myself
New Exhaust System $900 if I do it myself
New rear Sway Bar. haven't even priced that yet

There are tons of other maintenance items that I haven't even mentioned yet.
This is just an idea of what to expect, and you are complaining about spending $$$$$$ on getting a car checked prior to you purchasing this car.
This is not a "put gas in and drive" type of car. You may want to way your options very carefully. I hope it works out for you.

 

Not my first R53, guys! I rebuilt my last one in my garage last summer, still have tools, and I'd be ordering parts tonight and pulling it apart and replacing any parts that are shown to be bad within a week!

I'm on winter break, so time's plentiful and MINI North Scottsdale parts department hooks me up.

I'll clarify my concerns.

I know these cars mechanically, any I am willing to do any repairs myself short of internal engine work, because I've never done that before and I don't have the time to learn.

Unfortunately, this is the first car I've ever bought myself, and I don't have an alternate source for car-purchasing tips.

I'm not sure how to politely and economically diagnose cooling issues on someone else's car. How does one identify early signs of internal engine damage due to cooling issues? Will a pre-purchase inspection be able to give me any insight? The oil looked good.

 

I would get a block tester $50 for the unit and chemicals. It will tell you if you have exhaust gases in the coolant, sure sign of over heating. Other than checking to see if there is coolant in the oil or white smoke coming out of the exhaust system, to my knowledge there are to visual signs that can tell you that the car has overheated and has problems.

 

With the engine stone cold, take the coolant tank lid off, have him crank it while you watch, if you get bubbles then you have a head issue. Check oil, is there a milky substance on stick or top of tube? Then you have coolant getting into oil. If you have either of these symptoms you have a head problem for sure. But the reverse is not true. Just because you don't have the symptoms does not mean the head is fine. So you could try that first. If you have these issues walk away. If not then dig a little deeper.

What's the reason for such a rush to have to by this particular car? And I don't care how nicely the parts were installed. No one installs those type of parts to drive carefully. I'd fully expect him to have gotten on it hard a few times.

 

I wouldn't even look at an 03 with those kinds of miles for that price I definitely wouldn't touch it if it was overheating

 

I paid 4600 for my 02 with 122k miles, but the only thing aftermarket it had was rims and the Alta cat back. It also came with a fuel service history from the dealership where it was taken for oil changes and inspections frequently

 

Just my opinion based on my area but I would definitely try and talk him down even more due to it running a little hot, I would start at 4 and work your way up from there

 

I wouldn't even buy it at all running hot. Thats just asking for a headache.

 

I wouldn't either it's like a 5k gamble, car could blow up tomorrow or it could be a simple and cheap fix. I'm guessing he probably got it already since he needed a car yesterday hopefully it's an easy fix and you love it good luck man!

 

If I needed a car that bad I could find a 500 dollar beater that I didn't care about and hold on to the 4500 and save up some more till a good one popped up

 

If he's in Phoenix he's not looking real hard, or he got caught up on wanting all these go fast parts. Here's less miles for less money. And it's stock



03 MINI COOPER S-6speed-supercharged-108k mi - $4500
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/cto/5936630282.html

 

That posting didn't have any photos for the longest time. I remember the name of the owner. I didn't buy the car I originally posted about, by the way, it was built with eBay parts.

Instead...I bought one from Cali. 117k miles. Well, bad decision.

70 mi on my way back to Phoenix, the water pump started making bad noises. So I drove back to LA and to O'Reilly's, but I was too late and they closed. Luckily the previous owner is from NAM and was willing to let me fix it in his driveway tomorrow morning. Until then, I'm sleeping in my currently water-pump-rattling mini at an auto parts store...Fun.

The things we do for a car...

 

Hope it's the pump and not the gear on the supercharger side....

 

How to differentiate between failing water pump bearing noises (rpm-sensitive growl/clicking bearing) and bad water pump drive gear?

 

Pretty sure you at least need to take the front end of the car apart. Not sure whether or not you need to remove the supercharger from the motor or not but it would make it much easier to work on.

 

You do have to put the car in front end service mode, there is a way to get the water pump out without removing the supercharger but I would probably just remove it. There are videos are YouTube that will show you how to take it out without taking the SC out. Sucks that happened with the car you just bought Idk why you didn't buy the first one like we all said to 😂
Just kidding but after you get the water pump replaced hopefully it will be a lot more reliable and last a long time for you
​​​​​

 

Was the car overheating?

Is it leaking water? From my experience you know the wp is bad because it starts leaking.

Sounds like it's the supercharger but I could be wrong.

You can change it out in service mode but it's not quick and easy by any means. I remember reading a post on nam where the guy explains why and how he did it. Much easier and better to pull the sc but I get your situation.

I would make sure first that it's the wp before tearing it apart in the guys driveway. Listen very hard to the sc, watch some videos to compare noises if you aren't sure. If you take off the wp and there is nothing noticeably wrong with the wp, you almost have to take off the sc cover to check the gears.

If it is the supercharger making noise and it's not overheating I would drive it home. Just keep a close eye on the temp gauge. Plenty of us have driven their Mini around with bad wp gears and didn't know it. In my case there was enough of the gear left to keep the wp spinning. It's already broken so it can't make it worse as long as the engine doesn't get hot.

Good luck

 

This the video that addresses the water pump without removing the supercharger. What this guy does not go in detail about are three important items: 1.) At about 6:35 into the vid the guy points at bolts, he says two, that he loosened up to move the black plastic duct. There were THREE on mine and you need to have a flexible socket extension in order to get the bolt that is facing the water pump. This third bolt is one PIA to retighten, be sure to have some some open end wrenches. 2.) He also does not discuss that in order to get the water pump out, he says three bolts, you also need to remove the two bolts that hold the 2nd part of the pump to the engine. These bolts are perpendicular to the water pump and are accessible, use a flash light to see. If you take all five of these bolts out, the pump and pump-to-engine piece (the rubber o-ring slides into) come out pretty easy. 3.) It is much easier to work on the back side of the pump area if you remove the t-stat housing as well.

If you have not done this work before, I can only say you have at least 4 hours, perhaps more. If you are going to do, I would also have the gaskets for the black super charger duct, one green and one orange.

 

So how'd this go? You still sleeping in dudes driveway??