Hi fellow members,

Does this look like a proper list to you:
1. Serpentine belt..., also swap out tensioner & idler pulley?
( at 100k miles, do I also need to replace the Idler Pulley and Tensioner?)

2. Coil Packs & Plugs, or just plugs alone?
(Indy says, just do plugs now and wait for coil packs to fail before wasting money. True?)

3. Coolant Flush, to do or not to do....
(Indy says: look at fluid and only flush if fluid is "dirty". You guys agree?)

4. Manual Trans Fluid, Indy & Dealer both say DONT!
(as mentioned, both say it'll ruin the trans, its not meant to be changed. Indy specifically says "change every 30k or never!" You guys agree?)

5. Anything Else?
Do you guys recommend anything else would be prudent to do at this time?
Is the Diff fluid separate from the Trans and needs to be flushed too perhaps?


Thank you,
M in Miami

 

Here's my take from my 2017 MCS, which now has 117K.

Serpentine belt, tensioner, idler:

- Replaced the serpentine belt at 108.5K -- but did it on general principle once I had removed it for inspection, because replacing that belt is a pain in the !&#!$@**%! on the 4-banger due to super-tight clearance in front of the pulleys.

- On inspection, found it had a manufacturing date stamped on it that clearly meant it was original and 7 years old. HOWEVER, that was one heck of a surprise, because the belt condition was stellar. I can't put a number to how long it would have lasted, but it was not showing any meaningful signs of wear.

Plugs, coils:

- Replaced the plugs at 83K miles and there was a performance improvement (smoother). Specifically changed out the in-place Champion plugs for BERUs. This may have been the first plug change on the car. BMW spec is to change the plugs every 6th oil change, and BMW's oil spec change is every 10K miles, so that's a 60K interval.

- Inspected the plugs at 115K miles and they were in great shape. I won't be inspecting them every 30K any more, they'll be fine.

- Have not replaced the coils and have not been able to nail down any consensus on a coil replacement interval. However, I have run across posts in not-this-forum about older R-series MINIs where part of the boot portion of the coil has broken off and sat parked atop the plug. Given that rubber and plastic don't do well over time in the MINI engine bay anyway, this makes me lean towards replacing my coils at either 120K (every 2nd plug change), 150K, or 180K (every 3rd plug change). Safe and super-proactive would be 120K. "I think this is about enough" is probably 150K. "If nothing goes wrong I can probably get away with it" would probably be 180K.

Coolant things in general:

- One shop said to me "we don't recommend coolant flushes." Owner was in BMW Service for over 10 years, has had his own shop for probably at least as long. But when I wanted to get super-technical with questions there were things missed that have made me change to another shop. Not saying he was wrong. But I have questions about it, especially given that the same person told me -- accurately based on my observations to date -- that with regard to coolant loss more generically, the MINIs "do that." The coolant system strikes me as needing a watchful eye.

- Another shop that specializes in Euro cars and BMW+MINI in particular had no problem with the idea of a coolant flush.

- I had my water pump upgraded from the factory one to one with a metal impeller (WAY more complicated process than it sounds). Prerequisite for warranty requirements of the pump manufacturer? Coolant flush.

- You saw my post about the failed oil filter housing / oil cooler. It cracked internally. Who knows what had gotten into the coolant system. Reasonable step after replacing the component: flush the coolant, duh.

- I will probably replace all rubber and plastic coolant-handling components, excepting the already-swapped oil filter housing and the reservoir (maybe) at 150K miles or sooner. My system pressure tested fine after the water pump replacement, and yet I have still lost coolant to mysteryville since. Again, the coolant system strikes me as needing a watchful eye, and I have moved to checking the coolant level every 2K miles no matter what until I figure out where mysteryville really is.

Trans fluid, general thought:

- I can't speak to the manual scenario because I have an auto. That said: (1) no flush on a transmission ever, for all the reasons all the people say. Just not worth the risk, drain and refill if you're going to go do that tango. (2) "Lifetime fluid" is a joke. On my auto, the fluid that came out at 101K miles was brown with a reddish hue only visible ih the right light. Better but still brown when I came back at 115.8K to get some more out of there. I can't imagine fluids for the manual are going to be magically better over these long intervals -- but still, proceed with caution and manual-specific guidance.

- Make COMPLETELY sure you have the right fluid, which I mention only because it may be an informational tangle out there.

Other general recommend:

- Stay on top of CBS service intervals.

- Check your shock/strut dust boots. Originals are cheap rubber. My car has never been in a rock salt or winter zone and one of the boots looks like someone tried to mess with it on purpose.

- If you are skilled in gauging the condition any suspension/wheel component rubber/plastic, do so. Personally, I try to integrate that with brake pad changes and annual brake inspections, but you get the idea.

Hope this is helpful!

 

I wait for Brake Light to change pads but inspect monthly. I favor Ceramic Brake Pads from EBC.

 

My SOP with other cars was to replace the serpentine (or V-belt) on the factory's schedule. For instance at 60K miles.

For all my cars the factory didn't call for replacing the idler or tensioner. When I bought my 2002 Boxster with its serpentine belt accessory drive system I bought a complete set of new idler rollers and tensioner. Sixteen years and 317K miles later they were still unused, still in the plastic shrink wrap.

The flip side is with my 996 Turbo at relatively low miles an idler roller bearing failed. Had the car on for this. It was a warranty repair. But I had the tech replace *all* idler rollers and even the tensioner just on principle.

Then some few years and thousands of miles later, and out of warranty, darned if one of the replacement idler rollers went bad.

Some MINI models though seem to have a "problem" with accessory drive hardware and replacement of at least the part that seems to fail could be a good call. But I don't know which models/model years and which part is involved.

For plugs and coils...I always replaced or had replaced plugs on the factory schedule. Never had a coil go bad. But on a whim with my Turbo with the engine not manifesting any issues I had the tech replace the original coils. The car had 140K miles on it. Even though the plugs still had about 10K miles to go before they were due tech said best to replace these "while he was there" replacing the coils. I agreed. After new coils (and plugs) the engine ran better. I had had the plugs replaced before on schedule and the engine never reacted good or bad to the new plugs. So that the engine perked up was due to the new coils.

My point is there is the chance new coils could have the engine running better.

Coolant flush? For decades -- and based on what my auto tech buddies advised me to do years ago -- I have replaced the coolant every 4 years. I don't flush the system but just drain the system and refill with fresh coolant/distilled water blend. I use the factory coolant. I did this if I could refill the system via gravity. With cars that I couldn't I had this done at the dealer. The tech used a vacuum lift system to completely refill the cooling system with *no* air pockets. Fresh coolant every so often prolongs the life of all the cooling system components because fresh coolant has anti-corrosion additives. These get depleted over time and that's when water pump seals, o-rings, hoses, radiator/heater core, suffer.

As for transmission fluid servicing...I've had the manual transmission/diff fluid changed in my cars since car #1. Often (probably always) at lower miles than the factory calls for. Oh, and the factory in all cases called for a transmission/diff fluid service. Thus I would recommend you get the transmission/diff fluid changed unless the factory specifically forbids this. If you get the fluid changed use the factory fluid. And of course add the proper amount of fluid.

Brake fluid: With at least one exception (which I regretted later) I have had the brake fluid flushed/bleed every 2 years. I have this done at the dealer because the tech can cycle the ABS pump to flush the old fluid from it. Also, if the clutch hydraulic system can be flushed/bled (with some cars the clutch hydraulic system shared fluid with the brake hydraulic system) I have this done at the same time.

At any time if tire wear indicates an alignment problem I'll get the car aligned. Best to do this with new tires fitted. But I have noticed an alignment issue and had the car aligned with tires that were not new and the alignment was quite good. Might add alignment stays good for many thousands of miles. I mean 100K or more as I am careful to when parking the car to *not* bump the curb with the front (or rear if backing in) tires. I avoid cutting turns too sharp and running the front or rear tires up over or down a curb. Avoiding potholes is wise too, although I have hit some and the alignment was unaffected but one pothole ruined the right front tire (run flat). So I just seek to avoid potholes on general principals.

 

@2014MCS_Miami , re serpentine belt and pulleys, your bigger Q may be your crankshaft pulley. They tend to start to go and get wobbly on all MINIs (mine was in trouble below 100K miles, I caught it only because I knew to watch it). When they go wobbly, they will transfer that to the belt and even if the belt isn’t damaged, that transfer will cause unmanaged wear on other pulleys — all of them.

@RockC , you give very good guidance across the board. I think I’m going to change out my coils at next plug change and use a 120K coil change interval from there, based on your experience and the fact that BMW doesn’t specify one.

Re coolant & components, I was watching B38 and B58 tear down and service videos last night (guess I was in a mood) and the coolant system, including specific parts identified by service techs in the videos as commonly leaking and developing specific weaknesses, was spotlighted for me again. The system is definitely something to treat with proactive care, in terms of the coolant itself, all rubber or plastic parts, and the water pump (which has a plastic impeller). As the Bxx engines age I think we’re going to see more of this. It’s showing up in the not-MINI BMW models with these engines for sure.

 

To be clear I replaced the coils (in my Porsche 996 Turbo) on a whim. In part prompted by the fact at 132K miles due to a CEL and an O2 sensor error I replaced all 4 O2 sensors. To my surprise the engine ran better. Even with bad sensor --- it was a heating circuit -- the engine ran fine. When the error first popped up I was hundreds of miles from home. I pointed the car towards home and while upon every engine restart after a fueling stop the CEL came on -- and with the same code -- the engine never manifested any untoward behavior. I made it home with no drama.

To be sure I was just as surprised the engine ran better after new coils were installed.

The advice I was given years ago was to don't fix it if it ain't broke. Thus just engaging in premature replacing of various items like in this context like coils, O2 sensors, accessory drive hardware (and assuming the factory doesn't have any of these (or other) items scheduled for replacement on miles/time) is probably not advised.

One replaces a working part with a new one, yeah, but the new part brings with it some risk of early/premature death.

So after say replacing say a water pump prematurely one still has to be on guard the new pump can manifest a problem due to early/premature failure.

Of course one can do what he wants. But again in this context one must be prepared if he replaces the coils with no signs of any coil issues he may replace perfectly good coils with well, perfectly good coils.

However, there can be exceptions. There can be items that are justified in prematurely being replaced. I recall years ago Mike Miller who wrote for and maybe still does a BMW magazine offered advice to preemptively/prematurely replace some items on some BMWs because the items went from ok to bad with little warning. Mainly cooling system hardware.

That this was good advice was made clearer to me when on July 3rd on a drive from the SF Bay Area to Lake Tahoe I was on 50 highway east of Sacramento. Traffic -- July 4th holiday traffic -- was very heavy. It was a slow crawl up the western side of the Sierra mountains. It was hot. The slow traffic and heat started taking its toll. As I drove I saw more and more vehicles pulled over due to overheating. There was a mix of vehicles but I noticed there was a fair number of the previous generation of BMWs. Mike Miller was right about preventive maintenance.

 

@RockC I follow.

In my case my thoughts are largely in line with the concern of items going from ok to bad with little warning -- just like you said, mainly cooling system hardware. On my old R56 a plastic cooling component (that is now well-known to be a failure point) was brittle to the point of splitting under human contact (happened to me while doing an oil change) at maybe 142K miles. That lesson learned speaks for itself in terms of the apparently ongoing discussions about component failure in BMW cooling systems. That includes, for example, the oil filter housing that has been the subject of much discussion in both BMW-branded and MINI-branded vehicles. In my book, with exceptions that need more info to define, all the rubber and plastic cooling system components are wear items -- and one can see that, as you noted, across the BMW line.

With respect to coils, different reasoning -- it's the inability to determine when wear parts are wearing out in non-critical fashion that leads me to impose an interval. Coils being fairly basic and straightforward pieces of tech, I figure that's an acceptable approach -- the question is where to put that interval (or whim, to your point). We all know coils don't last forever. When you can get some improvement out of changing them like for like, though... not so clear until you just go ahead and change the things and happen to find out (as you did). And lower power output on coils can have unseen and difficult to undo impacts over time -- sub-ideal fuel burning and all the fallout from same, from fuel economy to carbon buildup come to mind, pointing towards additional sensibility in being proactive (while still needing to figure out what proactive should actually look like).

With respect to non-interval-bearing items on the rest of the car, absent known points of sensitivity or failure-prone parts that can be upgraded, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" is certainly my $0.02. I have seen more things than I care to recall have trouble later from being tinkered with, on all the cars I have come into contact with. Let the parts last so long as they can, if they can.

 

See also, this thread...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...periences.html


Cheers,

Charlie

 

I still haven't figured out the how-to-determine, but I'm starting to notice some things that make me think 120K -- every other 60K spark plug replacement, in other words -- might be a sensible interval.