Bought my '03 MCS this past Saturday and started doing PM and cleaning right away. I am thrilled about this little machine and still can't believe my good luck in finding it. Swiftycoop runs smoothly and quietly. I have parked it over heavy brown paper each night to look for leaks, so far just a very minor stain which I believe is from a power steering hose...that's all. Here are a few pictures.

 

Nice price for that car! Enjoy

 

Wow...that's beautiful MINI for less than $3k. Jealous.

I bought mine for $2100, but had to replace about a thousand things in order for it to be roadworthy lol

 

Wow, that's a steal! Great looking mini.how many miles?

 

141k....I have lots of plans, looks like no mods have been done before I bought it. I have already bought a 15% Cravenspeed pulley and ATI damper to install. Going to have some fun in the garage!

 

congratz!

 

Nice pick up!

 

Welcome, I really like the BGR/Blk!

 

Just make sure you thoroughly get underneath your MINI and check and double check all the common maintenance stuff! I got my MINI almost a year ago and I still haven't been able to budget in any performance parts! When I was first replacing my LCA bushings, I didn't have to remove the brackets...the rubber was so bad I pulled my control arm out of the bushing with one hand.

I guess I'll play Debby Downer and let you know what could be going bad in the future. Just so you know, my R53 has only has 115k miles...in the last year, I have replaced:

• Reboot CV axles
• Control Arm Bushings
• Inner & Outer ball joints
• Fuel cap
• Strut mounts
• Heat exchanger
• Wheel bearings
• ALL motor mounts
• Crankshaft position sensor
• Oil pan gasket
• bypass valve
• radiator fan assembly
• Redline tranny fluid
• Glove box
• Driver side window regular
• Passenger side window motor
• Crank Pulley

Oh, and this weekend, I'm replacing:

• Thermostat
• Thermostat Housing
• Serpentine Tensioner
• Axles
• P/S lines

And my entire A/C system is shot, with no plans of being replaced. And I haven't been able to replace the blown speakers yet either. And I'm missing turn signals and side scuttles and the curved corner trim pieces on the weather strip on the roof. And my struts are leaking. So it's not all smooth sailing, but if you regularly monitor the condition of all the components, you should be prepared.

In any case, if you do the work yourself, it's pretty fun and relatively inexpensive! Definitely nothing to be scared of...the car drives so well when it's working that it justifies the occasional headache.

 

Wow Sarom058, that's quite a list of things you've done on your car. You are having way too much fun in the garage! As a matter of fact, you must also be a mind reader because I spent a few hours yesterday and today making a list of suspension and brake items that need replacing. With age and mileage of my car I am sure about everything is shot. Thanks for the heads up on possible future problems....I will be prepared.

 

Oh, yes. I spent my entire summer underneath my MINI!!!

Hopefully you have better luck than I did though! Keep us updated.

I brought mine into the stealership last week to schedule my PS pump recall, and apparently it has never been to any MINI-affiliated service EVER...such a proud dad moment haha

 

Great deal!

It's a relatively easy car to work on so enjoy your experience.

Have you checked to see if the power steering pump recall done? Easy enough to check and get resolved by the dealer if not done yet.

If you do end up going to the dealer for the recall, they'll be doing an inspection on the car and tell you all the things they think are going to need fixing.

 

how do you check to see if your power steering pump recall was done?

 

Enter your VIN to find any and all open recalls for your car.

http://www.miniusa.com/content/miniu...rt/recall.html

 

Yep, or you can call the dealer, if its been replaced at a certain time and has the newer pump then they will let you know when they look at it. Mine was not replaced as it was a newer part number.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ailure-21.html

 

The Power Steering recall has not been accomplished yet, per the website. One more thing on my to do list.