It's an '05, 131K miles. Clean CarFax and decent maintenance history.


Chili Red with white, bonnet stripes, black leather, sport, premium, cold weather and chrono packages. MINI alarm and all weather mats. Middle Georgia car its entire life and all panels check out as original paint.


There are some minor negatives: cracked windshield (not in line of sight), hazed taillights, failed lock actuator on passenger door, radio controls on MFSW aren't working (but cruise control does work) and the remote key doesn't work. Still trying to find out if they have more keys.


Not too worried about the windshield or taillights, as those are pretty straightforward fixes. But I'm trying to get an idea of what the other items might cost to correct. Any input?

 

Will you be doing the work yourself? Will probably need a new key fob if it's not working, I'm not sure if you can change the battery on these. Worth a shot to look into though. Worst case the msfw parts are about $300, best case something is just loose

 

Windshield, no. Everything else: yes.


If the seller comes up with other keys, I will try to replace the battery. Otherwise, I will wait until I purchase a new key before trying to replace it.

I have replaced the actuator on a late model Mustang, I'm hoping this will be a similar type fix.

 

We are in Atlanta so feel free to bring it by and we can check it out for you. And we have 10 R53s we have parted out so we may have used parts to save you $$ on fixing it up

 

In the grand scheme of the cost of a used car none of that car's obvious issues are deal-breakers, depending on the sale price. A couple/few hundred dollars here and there. But that's a lot of miles on a Mini of that model year. At over 100K you're getting into lifetime service on many things. Assuming it's an R53, the supercharger can be an issue, and they're expensive - like almost $1,000 - to rebuild/replace. On the other hand, it could be good until well into 200K miles. You can't check the coolant pump gears/oil without opening up that end of the supercharger, so you're going in blind there. Some other (some costly) examples of what the car might need at that mileage: bushings are worn and need to be replaced, plugs, filters, fluids, wheel bearings, ball joints, catalytic converter... Do you have repair/service records? The condition of the leather seats will tell you a bit about how hard it was driven and how it was cared for during those miles.

Hazy taillights is weird. It's usually the headlights that have that problem. Are you sure it's not condensation from leaky taillight housings? Bad aftermarket plastic replacements?

Half of the steering wheel buttons going on the fritz is uncommon, but not rare. You'd have to track down that problem with a circuit tester perhaps, but new buttons are available (not expensively on ebay, for instance) if you find that's the problem.

I guess what I'm saying is that the few hundred dollars you'll be spending on repairing some of these obvious issues pales in comparison to what you could be spending on a Mini with 131K miles on it. It's what you can't see that will kill you. Just make sure the agreed-upon sales price reflects the mileage.

 

Filmy makes a good point. Also, if you're DIY handy it'll help with the repair costs on things as well. This forum and our tech articles here will be of great use to you.

 

Way: thanks, I will try to take you up on that.


Filmy: the interior is actually in excellent condition. In fact, overall the cosmetics are in very good condition. The car does not have service records, but the CarFax shows it was routinely serviced at the Atlanta area MINI dealers up to 110k miles. The price reflects the mileage.


I may have done a poor job of describing the taillights. They are basically turning white from the inside, like I have seen on a lot of MINIs over time.


A friend of mine has been towing it behind his motorhome for the last year to use at their destinations. He's a long time Porsche and Mercedes club member who is also in the car business. He's only selling because he just acquired a cheap 996 convertible that is going to be the new tow car.

 

I would be very careful about buying a mini that was towed behind a motorhome.... unless it was on a trailer, all of a sudden you don't have 131K on the car but many many more miles of wear on parts.

Tail lights - easy 15 min swap. $80 on ebay. Brand new look.

 

The batteries in the three button keys aren't really user replaceable. They are rechargeable and soldered onto the circuit board inside and the key is sealed. When you drive, a coil on the ignition switch inductively charges the key. With care they can be taken apart and a new one soldered on. It is very easy to damage the circuit board when taking the key apart- this is not a job for somebody who isn't experienced with board level electronics repair. Plus, the batteries with the right solder leg configuration are hard to find. Push the lock button and check the hatch to see if it's locked. I've never seen a hatch actuator go bad- just the door ones. If it is, the key's OK, if not then it is dead.

My suggestion is to buy one of the "general- non-remote" keys at the dealer (much cheaper than a remote key) and let me have a look at it. I can repair a key for much cheaper than a new one would be at the dealer. I have shells and batteries for the flat keys in stock.

minikeyhospital@earthlink.net
http://www.facebook.com/minikeyhospital

Dr. Bruce
MINI Key Hospital

 

The seller has located the other keys, so I will test them once I have them in hand.


Until then, turning the key in the door lock locks everything and gives me a beep. Unlocking via door lock gives me two beeps and the driver's door unlocks; the passenger door and hatch stay locked.


When you use the dash mounted lock switch, the hatch unlocks but the passenger door remains locked.


Based on the above, I believe I need a passenger side actuator and repair to the key I have in my possession. I don't know yet about the other key(s).


I have tried to repair a BMW diamond key before. That did not go well and I will absolutely send it to someone else to do next time.

 

Hit the unlock button once to unlock the drivers side door, hit it again to unlock the passenger side door. There's a separate button on these keys for the hatch if I remember correctly. With the toggle switch it's all lock or all unlock.

Bruce

 

It was great meeting you yesterday and thanks for checking out my car. I will be in touch soon to follow up on some of the things we discussed.

 

Look at my thread... Its not hard to work on these cars if you got the right tools...

 

Thanks, just let us know what else you need.