My wife and I were on our way to Long Beach, CA to ship our car to Honolulu, HI. We had planned a great 3 day trip across the Midwest, and southwest our last stop before shipping being in Barstow, CA, a town about 2hrs outside of Long Beach. The mini was having a great trip, and ran flawlessly at 29.6mpg all the way across the scorching west, ready for its new home in Hawaii.

Friday morning in Barstow that all changed. I moved the mini out of our parking spot at the hotel closer to our room so that we could organize our luggage for an easy removal when we got to the port. After the car was loaded I started it back up and heard a loud POP! My heart sank.

The #4 spark plug had popped out of its hole (plug wire still attached) and hit the hood. Upon inspection I found that there were no threads remaining for the sparkplug to screw back into.

Knowing that I needed to make this ship in 3 hours at the port I first called mini roadside, and then my service advisor and tech back in Milwaukee. My MCS has a pulley/Alta, denso cold plugs, and wires. With no stock parts in hand, the odds of MINIUSA covering a spark plug failure looked grim.

My tech suggested that I keep an eye on the temp, ground or insulate the plug, and drive at moderate speeds (staying out of boost as much as possible) to the dock, and get it to Hawaii.

So that's what I did...and arrived on time at the port. To further complicate things, my gas gauge wasn't reading correctly. The "miles to empty tank" readout was climbing, and my mpg was pegged at 99.9, also for some unknown reason the needle would not fall below 1/4 tank (it stayed about 1/8th of an inch above it).

Because of this last problem the port wouldn't accept the car for shipping (the needle needs to read 1/4 or below...no ifs ands or buts). So not realizing that there was a problem with the fuel readout in general, I had the tank drained the next morning...with no fuel at all in the tank, it still read above 1/4. I then drove my 3 cyl. mini to the dealership in Long Beach (on spring and cherry) to have them at least fix the fuel readout problem. They said everything was working fine, and there was nothing to fix.

After already spending an extra $400 on a flight change, and $100 on a hotel I parked the mini in storage, and flew to Honolulu.

So this is where I stand:

-The mini needs a new head
-The gas gauge needs to be fixed (product of missing plug?)
-The car is in Long Beach

I can get a new head, and do the work myself, but I have no place to work...this is where I start to beg, and plead for anyone in the LA/Long Beach area to help me out. I would like to fly back sometime in the next couple of months and fix the mini and get it on a ship. To do this I will need to drive it to someone's garage, and rent their space to work for probably a day, perhaps two.

I understand this is an odd request, but any help or advice would be a great help

My internet access is limited until our place is fully set up next week...so if need be please call me at 414-915-0710 if you would like to reach me in a timely manner.

Thanks,
Jake

 

Is this to say that a "thread insert" (helicoil) is out of the question? I have repaired many heads with this procedure and I have never seen one fail. It's quick and easy on most cars.

 

Jake,

Man that sux... I'd help you out, but I'm in Texas.

Someone will step up to the plate, keep the faith.

Mike

 

What year is your car? I have an 2005 and have been getting a bit worrried about this problem as I am running IK22s and a 15% pulley as well.

I thought it had been corrected by MINI.

 

Sorry to hear about that.
I left a VM with Steve's Auto Clinic. They can be very helpful.

I have heard about a number of people losing a plug with aftermarket plugs. It seems they have to be checked fairly regularly.

 

talk about bad timming. Was road side service able to bring you to the nearest service center for the repair?

 

Jake, I put the word out to some friends on the coast, hang in there, I'm sure this will get worked out.

 

so the plug issue is common when certain types of plugs? am i reading this right?

 

Coop d'etat vbmenu_register("postmenu_1092961", true);
4th Gear
, you should maybe trade a free stay at your house for the service. Who doesn't like to visit Hawaii.
Best of luck. I would help you out, but I am on the East Coast.

 

That was my first thought - why not just use a helicoil? I've used them on my dirt bikes (magensium and aluminum) with great success.

-- mike

 

Hi there....

Give me a call any time, and I will help you out.....

We are currently in Monterey at the Historics and I will be back by Tuesday.

Feel free to call me on my cell at 562-712-3270

Peter
Team M7

Currently in Monterey

 

But I would gladly offer up my home garage,,,fairly well outfitted!

Now I am a bit nervous too. I do not have a pulley but did just change out my plugs for NGK Iridiums (same heat range as oem) Wonder what Mini's position on that would be...The only Mod "not really a mod...is a K&N panel air filter in the stock box, and a Milltech exhaust is on the way,,,but am staying away from a pulley!