So it's been four years since I posted. Wow how time flies! Well, I did nothing with the MINI since but finally I decided to make it my daily driver. The car is now 17 years old and still has a little over 4000 miles. I changed the oil, washed and waxed it. Will need new tires, time and weather dried them out.
I noticed the AC is not cooling well enough. Probably needs a recharge.
Can I just get a can of coolant gas from Pepboys? Will it be OK to recharge a 2003 car?
Thanks.
I'm sure I'll have more questions soon

 

So, i used one of those DIY cans this week to charge up my system, but managed to over charge it slightly, but it was enough to keep my compressor from working. So I would not advise using those. If you do want to re-charge the system yourself, I would suggest doing what I had to do to fix mine, and buying/borrowing some manifold gauges so that you can see the low and high side pressures while you add the refrigerant.

Or you could probably find a local shop that can top it off or pull the old stuff out and put new stuff in for not too much money.

 

Thanks Racingguy! Yeah I'll have a professional do it. Not gonna mess with it myself.

​​​​​​Paul.

 

So, it sat outside for another 4 years?

Values of these things are increasing. You should not daily a car like this after storing it all of these years.

Put it on Bring a Trailer with a reserve and see how she does.

 

If it does sat outside for 4 years, I would do a full fluid change. Not using a car does strange things, also inspect the inside of the fuel tank.

I dont know if Mini has a plastic of steel tank, if it's steel, then definitely suck out the fuel and consider replacing the tank.

In Europe, ethanol is added to the fuel (RON95 has 10%, so they call it E10 and some RON98 has 5%, making it E5). Shelf life is about 3 months for ethanol added fuels, and it will eat through your car if it just stands there.

 

I posted this spreadsheet in the JCW subforum. I just went through the whole "what is it worth" thing with an '06 R53 I just purchased from a family member. I made a list of all of (what I thought were) the nicest non-GP R53s listed on Bring a Trailer.

BaT MINI Cooper comparables

As you can see, prices can vary greatly.

 

No way am I selling it now. I've forgotten how much fun it is to drive! For the past six years my daily car was and still is a Nissan Versa with a horrendous CVT. I'm slowly bringing the MINI around. I'm catching up on all I missed since parking it in the driveway. I've been watching YouTube videos on the MINI, especially concentrating on the potential problem areas. Looks like I'll need a strut tower reinforcement plates. I'll order those tomorrow. I still have the letter dated 12/2015 for the power steering recall. Hopefully it's not too late to get it fixed for free (need to call the dealer).

Also, I installed the clear bra when the car was brand new, now it needs to be removed since it is all cracked. Problem is that it won't peel off in one piece, it rips too easy. How can I quickly remove it?

To sum it up, I'll need the AC recharged, strut reinforcement, clear bra removal, new tires. Everything else looks good. I'm sure something else will arise, but for now, that's it.

 

Try a caramel disc

 

Those are great for removing decals and things like that. It's gonna take his hood stripes as well, if they aren't painted on.

 

So after all these years she's back on the road!

The car runs well but for one problem, I'm getting intermittent missfire, it happens only when I try to start the car. It cranks over a long time and sometimes starts very rough causing the check engine light along with the traction light to come on. I had about a quarter of the tank of old gas in it before filling up. The gas was probably 10 years old or so. It is especially difficult to start when the engine is hot. I'm trying to burn off the fuel now and treat it with Chevron fuel cleaner.

What do you guys think? Would the old fuel cause my intermittent missfire?

 

I would’ve definitely removed the 10 YEAR OLD fuel before I filled it. Your fuel filter is probably toast. Add that to the list. You know old gasoline turns to a varnish sludge, definitely not good for the fuel system.

 

too late now :(
hopefully the injector cleaner will dissolve the crap