Sorry for bitching, but how many of you have started out of the gate with a $4200 repair only to be faced with a another $2000 repair? Double the cost of the car while driving it only 4 times less than 100 miles.

Don't you think that would make anyone mad enough to complain?

Re:The dealer.
When you said in your other posts the dealer could not wait to give you the car...
Sounded like he was hoping it would make it out of the parking lot before failing...

That could have been me projecting. Like I said, the mechanic who I've dealt with for over a decade said the couldn't know about the tranny without taking it apart has no reason to lie to me.

The dealer claimed his mechanic was a BMW guy looked at it and said it was sound, was BS for sure, but that's not the problem anymore.

Back to the original issue:
I did not hear any rattling in the motor/SC/WP. I know this for a fact because I listened to the engine for tapping rods, etc... and was surprised at how quiet it was. This is a new problem. It's not really loud right now and it's cooling enough at idle and in regular traffic that it's not overheating. Last night I drove it at high speeds (70-80mph avg) around the city loop, which heated it up, hence the temp gauge redlining.

So simply replacing the PTO/gears is not an option.

That leaves me with
1. Buying and installing a rebuilt SC with new PTO/gears and adding a new water pump for good measure.
2. Removing the PTO/gears from the SC and installing an electric water pump thus removing the gears completely from the equation.

Which is the better option? Which is going to be more economical?

 

The fact you expected a venomous post simply shows that you knew what you posted would elicit that response in the first place.

I apologize because you caught me at a bad time, but you went into it intending to agitate. Neither one of us is right in this situation.

Please ignore my posts after this and all will be fine. I'm just trying to get my car fixed with the least amount of problems.

 

I would be pissed off too....
You might find a usable used sc....cars do get parted out...it is a risk..but $300 or so might be worth it.

 

River City -- man I feel for you - definitely catching a bad break. Odd that you aren't hearing any rattling because thats usually the tell-tale sign.

Have you and your mechanic tried the basics first?
- Cooling fan (known issue on this car) -- although moving at 70-80 should be sufficient to keep the car cool. You said it doesnt overheat at idle right?
- thermostat? Might make sense if the coolant is never making it to the radiator
- bleeding the system? Minis are notoriously difficult to properly bleed - many PROs actually struggle with it
- Last effort of course is the PTO gear - basically when it goes your waterpump is no longer getting spun.

Good luck sir -- everyone else back off the guy -- he just got absolutely hosed and for huge sums of money... I don't know anyone out there who would not be on edge, upset, sleepless and full of regret after buying a car 1 day and having to dump $6K into it a few months later. Less than 100 miles in...that sucks. I am always weary of dealers who won't let me go on an extended test drive...I usually take the car for at least 30 minutes and then I leave it idling when we get back to see if its going to overheat or not. I've bought some bad cars, I've avoided some really bad cars -- get this I had a timing belt snap while I was on the test drive. Pretty embarrassing for the dealer actually.

Hope you get this sorted out -- by the way: don't throw good money after bad -- what you have spent thus far is sunk cost. You might be best off parting the car out at this moment -- tons of people looking for parts.

186K -- sadly I think on these cars is getting to the upper bounds... there are guys with over 300K.. a few of them..but I would fathom that most of us will tire with these cars and/or crash them before they get to the 200k marker.

 

I didn't hear any rattling when I bought the car nor when I first got it home. I hear it now indicating that it happened since I brought it home.

Kinda too late at this point. If I don't fix the issue I wouldn't even be able to sell it for what I put into it minus the actual cost.

Hopefully fixing this SC/PTO/WP fiasco will give me at least a year or two with the car. I only plan on using it for longer business trips. The occasional trip to Houston, Dallas, or San Antonio.

My motorcycle is my daily driver. 15 years old and all I've ever done is change the oil and put new tires on once. It could use a change of plugs and wires, but they still looked OK a couple of weeks ago. It's got 150K on it and it's a 4 cyl. 1500cc motor. It runs like a raped ape.

 

Yeah -- I hear you man but the concept of sunk cost is -- whats done is done. You can't undo it... AND there is also no way you are going to be selling a 2005 with 186k miles for $10K + .. the numbers just aren't there. I am not sure what the KBB in your area is but I would be very doubtful it would be $10K plus....repairs made getting a car back up to "Average Condition" don't add value.

My best advice to you is either fix this car the right way -- just get the rebuilt SC from Way Motorworks -- I think its $895... and spend a few hours doing it yourself....I've been told its a fairly straight forward job. Or pay a mechanic about 4-5 hours labor to do it...and drive it.

I would be pretty wary of driving that car on long business trips. The car has shown you its ugly side and hidden secrets on a few occasions already. To lose a transmission and a supercharger in the same few hundred miles - as ZippyNH has said leads me to suspect some serious abuse this car has gone through.

My car (I've owned since 67k and has almost 100k miles now) has been pretty reliable. Minus the typical issues of power steering pump (has yours been replaced yet?), Lower control arm bushings, cooling fan, AC Clutch. I still have retired it from long distance duty -- I drive 15 miles each way to work.

You have more expenses coming your way if the items listed above have not been sorted.

Which leads me back to my other suggestion - cut your losses and start parting that thing out. You might actually get more money back than you put into the original purchase. That would require space, time (a long time to sell through), etc.. though.

Good luck whatever you end up doing.

 

I've got no place nor time to part out a car.

Most likely I'm going to replace the SC endcap with the PTO gears, seals and and oil and sell it at a huge loss.

 

i see rivercityrocker's point and the other side as well.. i'm in sort of the same dilemma (except i haven't spent any money yet)

yes it's a 10 year old car, but i'm sorry, this is a bmw, aren't they supposed to be built better than toyotas and honda's? they certainly cost more... and it seems like a lot of people are having major troubles with cars that are a lot less that 10 years old

i have an 07 ridgeline, 36k miles, i bought i new, it's been to the dealer exactly 0 times. nothing wrong, i've done all the fluid changes myself when the computer says. and i only paid 25k

if i buy a mini at close to 40k, i'd expect a much better car, but the horror stories i read about here, and the "oh well, it's a mini" statements just don't inspire confidence

i mean really, a car that burns oil if you press the gas and drive too hard (post on here somewhere about this)? if this was a yugo, we'd understand, not something that costs so much to buy and repair

and the statement about the older mucle cars is quite correct, the small block chevy (ford, etc) has been around forever, parts are super cheap, and there are no computers, vvt, vanos, turbos, or any of the other issues that most people seem to be having

starter for a 78 350 chevy: like 50 bucks, an hour of your time, and 3 bolts

replace any parts on cooper: get an appointment, drop car off for a day or 2, spend a ton of money, dealer finds 4 other things wrong, none are in warranty, plus they have to recode the dam computer most of the time (why does it take half the frikin day to do that anyways?), then you have to recode again to put back all the custom stuff you did.

i'm not trying to insult anybody, i'm just trying to express what i believe a lot of people are feeling. my statements are based on my impressions of reading all the posts here on nam for the past year or so that i've been looking for a mini and i really have no idea what it's like to own one, although i hope to

good luck whichever way you go, there is certainly no shortage of very knowledgeable people on here that are willing to help someone out.

 

That's exactly my point about MINI/BMW. I figured I'd by a premium car and get a premium car. 10 years is not very old for a car. Maybe mine was abused (some say it was a track car), but I'm sorry guys, I was a track photographer for almost 10 years and I've never seen a track car that was bought stock and stayed that way. I've been to dozens of tracks and shot track days (including MINIs), I've shot SCCA races, I've shot the SCCA Run-Offs, thousands of Auto-X events all over this country. Texas Motor Speedway, Texas World Speedway, Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, Barber Motorsports Park, Heartland Park, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and on and on. I've been around racers enough to know that there is not one that owns a track car with NO MODS.

Maybe my car only cost $6000 (initially) and that may be chump change to some of you, but it's not to me. That's the most I ever paid for a vehicle. Then to turn around and drop another $4200 and then face another $1500 (at least) repair is unacceptable to me when it's supposed to be premium car. Especially considering I haven't even owned it for a MONTH and I've put less than 100 miles on it.

I have an $800 entry-level camera. It's mostly plastic and not weather-sealed. I also have a $6000 magnesium frame and weather sealed pro-level camera. Both cameras have nearly the same features, the pro camera delivers a little more performance, but what you are paying for in the pro camera is the confidence that it is bullet proof. It's going to last longer, take more abuse, not break down.
My point is you pay MORE for BETTER. It seems that with a MINI the opposite is true.

Yes, it's a fun car to drive. Yes, I like the looks. Yes, I understand things break down. And I'm not speaking about MY car personally, but I'm speaking from digging deep into the problem areas which are typically glossed over by people that just can't admit that the MINI is a real problem vehicle. Or when they do admit it, they accept it. Maybe they have money to burn, I don't.

Don't give me that crap about "you didn't do any research" either. From what I'm finding out these are very common issues. YES, I did research first, but cursory research only reveals the rose-tinted glasses MINI-lovers results, which are pretty much "these cars are great". It's not until you have a problem and you start digging deeper that you find out the serious issues. And then people STILL defend the cars like it's OK that they break down A LOT. A seal on the supercharpger that breaks down and leaks out essential oil causing gear failure on almost every car is not something that should dismissed. It should be a RECALL. If it only cost a couple of hundred bucks to fix that would be one thing, but it's EXPENSIVE.

I run into this in the photography forums as well. People who refuse to admit that a certain camera is a POS just because they happen to have one and like it. It's a pride thing I guess.

I have made the decision to keep the supercharger as is. Get rid of the PTO gears and mechanical water pump and install an electric pump. My mechanic has an employee that does this kind of stuff (Yes, my mechanic is not some dude who lifted a Jeep once, as someone implied, he actually has employees) I haven't decided whether to sell it after the fix or not. I'd rather not because I don't want to fix the car and hand it over to someone else who gets a great deal because all the major problems are dealt with. And on the other hand I'd hate to hand over a car to some poor schmuck and have it explode on him. I'm not that kind of guy.

I guess my rant is over. In any case, I do like the car, or did for the few minutes I got to drive it. I just wish it wasn't such a pain in the ***. Third time's a charm?

 

I'd have to agree, when I researched the mini before purchase, and I researched a lot. I couldn't find most of the problems until I looked specifically for the after purchase. Mini owners will defend these cars to death. Sometimes they need to get their heads out of the clouds and recognize a problem.

 

I defend you vehemently river city. But regardless I think 186k is a long life. Also one thing most people take mods off upon selling and certain SCCA classes don't allow much in the area of engine mods. I think one class only allows suspension. EDIT: Just confirmed it here -- you have to go all the way up to street prepared before you can even change out the pulley. The Street classes etc.. are very strict.

http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...nd%20links.pdf

Swapping the suspension on a mini for a novice like me took about 3 hours. If I did it again I would be done in 1.5 or 2. If you asked me to install coil overs I could do it in 45 minutes.

I'm not defending MINI - ALL cars should have the same reliability these days. Hondas and hyundais built their names on reliability.

As you stated about the camera forums there is fierce brand loyalty here.

I will only counter argument you on one thing. MINI does not have a reliability association...they probably never will....their brand is built on character and handling...as a marketer myself that is the essence of the brand. Their designers, everyone puts emphasis on those things. I am not sure if reliability is a compromise that comes from that.

Hang in there...keep ranting. More than anything this forum is supposed to be a PLACE OF SUPPORT. Those who come on here and are respectful and want to contribute and learn / share their ups and downs are welcomed. Those who gave you crap forgot the community aspect of this.

 

wow 186k, i will admit to not reading the whole thread word for word...

i'd expect some problems with that kind of miles.

but regardless this seems to be a common theme more and more around here. there was one post about a guy who said the dealer told him he needed 9300 in repair, and all he did was go in for an oil change or something

 

Very well said, kahn!

 

ive been reading, now that the OP has calmed down a little bit, i think i can say a few things.

Ive had my mini for 1.5 years and it still puts a smile on my face every time i look at it regardless if im driving it. am i a die hard mini fan? doubt it, fan yes

i wanted my mini because everything considered they are a spunky quick little sports car. they have interior styling like no other car, they have personalitly and that special X factor when driving, a civic SI is a good car too, but it doesnt give you warm fuzzies. i found mine with 28k miles, i know thats not alot, but i can tell that it was owned by a DIYer.

i found mine at a VW dealership and purchased an aftermarket warranty, its already saved me some money, my oil pan bolt stripped out and all i had to pay was $50 for the deductible.

i did research on minis before i purchased mine knowing full well that the supercharger will die, power steering pump will die, belt tensioner will die, and the rubber cranky pulley will explode.

all have plans of what ill do when that happens, such as when the power steering pump goes, they are working on making a bypass, this will most likly be my route, SC dies.... maybe go turbo or sprintex etc....

dont let the dealer prices ruin the fact that your car is amazing, are these the most reliable cars? ill say no, but better to have a first gen than a 2nd gen. even if this car wasnt tracked, it was still driven spiritedly and not used as a straight commuter. ever see a corvette with 186k miles? mustang? not often

there are quite a few mini r53s with that high mileage still going strong. the fact of the matter is, these ares were quite advanced for the time period they were built, lots of technology requires money, which is then moved onto the product. this car has an adaptive ecu which will work with most mods that wont excede your injectors, the stock ecu can adapt even to a step larger injectors and still run with very minimal effort. that requires alot of testing and coding, and again price. etc.... (edit: the amount of options you have also requires a larger production line)

i think at the end of your unfortunate circumstance, everything will be fixed, and youll have basically a slightly used mini with 186k miles on the body and motor. it is sour up front and you pay end up selling it, but im sure if you dont keep it, somone else will have a car that responds to them as the way it responds to me.

 

By all accounts, especially if the car was track driven or driven badly, spiritedly, or whatever other euphemism you wanna call it, then everything should have failed by 186K. Form everything I've read making it to 186K without anything being fixed is a MAJOR MIRACLE.

In effect, if the car was ragged out then buying a MINI with 186K should have gotten me one that had the problems fixed.

So either the MINI was driven VERY gently to 186K or it miraculously survived 10 years and 186K of VERY bad driving.

 

These cars are a crap shoot. I've had a couple MINIs that needed nothing and I've had a couple that had all the "normal" (there really shouldn't be any normal problems these days) problems. One of my 06 MCSs was taken very good care of but the supercharger failed at 50K miles and the front crankshaft sensor leaked oil and had to be replaced. One of the other 06 MCSs I had didn't have any issues when we got rid of the car at 120K miles. I changed the supercharger out with a rebuilt one at 110K miles just to be safe but that car was driven cross country a couple times and never left me or my daughter stranded.

Having owned/driven MINIs for the last ten years, I know they aren't the most reliable, are expensive for the dealer to maintain, are complex if you want to work on them yourself, but are great fun to drive.

If I couldn't do all the maintenance on our MINIs I wouldn't own one out of warranty, which means I wouldn't own one period. Since I can do all my own work I just make accommodations for the MINI issues. They are too much fun to own/drive.

 

May I interrupt these interpersonal disputes for a short word on sunk costs? What you have already spent is absolutely irrelevant to your decision on whether to spend even more or not.

 

There is a discussion going on, not interpersonal disputes. And regardless what YOU may think, sunk costs are ABSOLUTELY relevant to whether I spend more money or not.

Maybe sunk costs don't play into your decision making processes because you're independently wealthy or whatever, but when I spend my hard-earned money I want to be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I just put in a new transmission and I don't want to turn around and give it away to someone else.

So next time maybe you don't interrupt, because your financial decision making processes aren't the same as mine. And because you obviously haven't read through the whole thread, I have already said I was going through with a fix. Which means spending more money.

If you want to offer suggestions on the best option in your opinion about the FIX then be my guest, but if you want to give your personal financial opinions you can just keep that to yourself.

 

It has nothing to do with how much money you have. It has to do with return on investment of what you are about to spend. The concept of sunk costs is not my personal fiscal opinion. It is basic economics. But you can resume telling people what they can and cannot post while claiming you're not engaging in interpersonal disputes. Bye.

 

You're argument makes no sense. It's not basic economics. As far as I'm concerned at this point there is no "sunk" cost yet because It's basically being spent all at one time. Either I fix the whole thing or I don't. Why you want to argue over my financial decisions makes no sense to me either. I don't want your financial advice.