Ok, I've seen a few recent posts of 02 & 03 MINIs A/C breaking down. Seeing as we read more about problems on these types of sites, I was wondering if there is an average mileage that the A/C breaks down or maybe it doesn't more times than not. So what's your mileage if still working (say, over 75k miles) or when did your's give up?...and are you a heavy user or not? I'm at 80k and still going. Not a heavy user. Just hot summer days in evening rush hour traffic.

compressor replaced at about 87,000 on an 02 last summer (5+ years of age)

not inconsistent with previous experience of a:

Trooper

Caravan

Element

Audi 4000

............ over the course of 30 years ....

Mine makes a whining sound that is engine speed dependent. It didn't always do this.

No problems at 72k on an 02 R50. Light user.

83,000 miles this week, march 2002 and all origional A/C working still... knock on wood.

Compressor and expansion valve replaced at 16,750 miles- 2005 R-50.

03 R53 with 158K miles. Occasional top off of refrigerant but still cools well, even down here in the steamy south of Georgia. BTW A/C seems to work more efficiently since I recently occluded the vent on the top of the dash with foam rubber.

04 MCS
Compressor replaced under warranty. Don't remember mileage but I would guess less than 30k.
Just over 60k now with no further problems (knock, knock).
I'm in So CA too, so I probably use it the same time you do.

Mine stopped working at 55k.

...
Come to find out, the compressor was unplugged during previous work at the dealer and therefore just needed to be plugged back in. Thankfully, the dealer covered the work.

AC still cooling like brand new with no maintenance whatsoever, 2003 Cooper with 146,611.

Scott

have 2006S with about 45K miles. AC still works. Knock wood

2002 MCS with 108k. Perfect.

~50K mine stopped working (not blowing cold air).

In to the dealer now and all it needed was a recharge and it is good to go.

Sigh. 2005 @ 34k, seems like the compressor is out. Not 100% sure of the problem, but I can't afford a $1,500 repair bill right now.

Very light usage.

Mine quite at about 65k. Replaced under warranty!

2003 MCS

Currently at 98,000 MI. and still working fine. I will say that rarely use it though. I don't like the way the car drives with it on.

-Chase

'04 MCS. Very light user. Refilled at 45K, worked again. A year later, it's still full, but not blowing cold. Fortunately I don't miss it much, but am a bit that my 23 y.o. CRX AC worked just fine while my 5 y.o. MINI's has crapped out.
The even more annoying part is that nobody here seems conversant in the system, and even the Bentley manual doesn't really discuss troubleshooting.

03 MCS w/ 204,000 miles - ac still working strong.

02 MC, 80K miles. SouthEast Missouri, high temperatures AND humidity. My AC took waaaaay too long to cool down the car. I put a temperature gauge on the air vent and only got 74 degrees. I put about 1/3 can of 134a in it, now I get 49 degrees air.

Compressor died with 60,000 on the clock. It just stopped spitting out cold air. No noise. No vibration. Nada. It cost $1,300 at the dealership to have it fixed.

Just tried it the other day and nothing but hot air!#!$ 2003 Mini Cooper S with 107K... how do you know if it's the compressor or it just needs a refill?

I thought because it didn't make any noise, it would just need a refill. But I was wrong. For me, I had to depend on the honesty of the dealership.

DeniseK, did they replace your compressor, or something else?

Yes, they did replace the compressor. That was to the tune of $1,300. I thought I was just out of antifreeze. Silly me.

Our AC went out in our 2003 MCS at 72000 miles. Dealer told us it was the compressor. We got a second opinion locally since our closest dealer is 300 miles away. It ended up that the magnetic clutch was bad. Since MINI wont sell just the clutch, the mechanic was able to get a used clutch and install it for under half what I would have spent at the dealer. Blowing COLD now!