So goes the saying, "Happy wife, happy life" lead me to purchase an '03 R53 for "her" summer joyride car. Mini ownership has been on her wish list since seeing one at the NAIAS many years ago. A few months after completing my Jeep LJ-R build I began searching for another project. She said, "why don't you buy me a Mini convertible?" I said no to the convertible, and decided to see what was out there. She has never driven a Mini, where I had the pleasure of driving a '09-'10 JCW on the roads around Nurburg, Germany. I enjoyed the JCW much more than the Renault Megane Sport the the driving instructor and I were trading off. Anyways. . . from here the typical story unfolds. Search the 'net, join a forum, PM a seller, meet up, make a deal, tow car home. One chapter closes, another begins. . .

Pic attachments were taken from the seller's driveway.

 

Congrats and welcome. I love the colors.

 

Great to see another Gen1 being take care of.

 

AGREED!!!

Congrats on new Mini

 

Gettin' 'er home.

The seller was upfront and honest about the history of the car during his ownership. The ad listed the known issues:

1. won't start: top priority
2. windshield: low priority
3. rust near DS tail light: low priority
4. a/c: low priority
5. rear hatch hinge broken (comes with new hinge, no time to install): Repaired on day 2
6. a little dirty: 13yo son + shop vac, and 30min with a pressure washer & foam cannon took care of that
7. a few door dings: don't care
8. steering u-joint is sticky: high priority after car is running
9. can overheat at times (leak in reservoir): high priority after car is running
10. the tail lights could be replaced: don't care, no action.
11. Car had been sitting for quite a while: Assume the worst for waking a car from hibernation: brakes are crap, rubber gaskets are shot, all fluids have to be replaced, possibly replacing hoses and lines too.

I rolled the dice on the purchase based on looking over the car, the seller's word, and buyer's euphoria. The tow truck with a stinger & dolly picked up the car, after the deal was made, and delivered to my workplace a couple miles away. I was hoping for flatbed service to break free the brakes, so I wouldn't have to deal with that. Oh well. My BIL arrived with truck & trailer to transport the car to my house.

I used a forklift to pull the car onto the trailer. On the first tug forward, my son left the car in gear. The front wheels rolled while the rears stayed locked. At least the engine turned over! A pull rearward freed the rear brakes and from there it was easy loading.

 

Day 2, 1st day home.

Wife is happy with the surprise purchase, wholly endorses another project. Though an unforeseen problem has arisen: my 13yo son, 10yo daughter, and BIL are all wanting promises of future ownership. Freakin' vultures I tell ya. First order of business is to give a quick clean up of the inside and outside. Son tackles the inside (teachin' him young) and I tackle the outside. Now, it's time to start investigate the no-start condition.

The state of the electrical system is quite healthy, thanks to a new battery. The key fob communicates with the car (woo!) and all electrical systems are working: windows, fuel pump, sun roof, interior, exterior lights, etc. The starter solenoid does not engage when starting. Hmmm....

I cleaned up the battery terminals and easy-to-reach chassis grounds. I measured 12.3V on the battery cable at the starter, matching the battery voltage. With the ignition in start, 0V was measured on the starter solenoid lead. Time to pursue this path. Whack the solenoid with a sturdy wooden rod did nothing. The car did not crank during multiple jump-start attempts. I attempted to remove the ring terminal from the solenoid to address the corrosion issue. During this process the plastic "nose" piece decided to disintegrate. So, a new starter and exhaust gaskets are on the way.. Remove the coil, exhaust header, and heat shield, and finally pull the starter.

After that, I followed the EWS tests on RPM Motorsports website. Doing the jam the fuse in the EWS connector test, I was able to measure 12.3V on the solenoid lead under start. I am currently (electrical pun possibly intended) waiting delivery of the starter so I can install it and try the EWS fuse test again. My hunch tells me the problem is in the software. We shall see next week when I receive the starter and have time to install it.

I plan to progress slowly with this project. Once the engine is running I'll perform a cooling system pressure test, cylinder compression test, and a cylinder leak-down test. If results are good, then I'll continue the project. If not, my BIL might get his ownership wish. . . we shall see.

 

Nice find! Glad the seller was up front. Unfortunately, my seller wasnt dishonest but more so unaware, I ended up with a lot of unforeseen issues with my MCS but I still love it.

 

The no-crank condition has been overcome, but now I'm working on no-start/slow starting engine speed. Accomplishments this weekend. . .

• new starter installed (CarQuest reman)
• exhaust manifold gaskets installed
• all under hood grounds, ground lugs, and battery terminals cleaned

After the above tasks, I still had a no crank with EWS connected. Then I noticed I left the clutch switch connector disconnected. Connected the switch, now I can crank with EWS connected- phew!

The car came with a new Super Start AGM battery. After several fruitless attempts at charging the battery with my old charger, I picked up a modern charger with AGM settings. So, now it's on the bench charging. We shall see. If the battery charge fails, I'm probably going to do the front-end service mode thing to have a look around and pull the alternator for testing.

 

You should not need to pull the alternator for testing, unless putting the Mini in front end service mode is something you enjoy doing. You just need to approach the charging issue (since you suspect one) analytically. Why didn't you monitor the alternator charging the battery? Charging the depleted battery with the charger will tell you next to nothing. The question you should ask is are there expected current going into the battery from the alternator?

 

The car won't run or start. The battery has been drawn down from many (failed) starting attempts. In the now, attempting to start with a fully charged battery. . .

• battery voltage to the starter: 12.9V, voltage drops to 9-8.5V when starting
• voltage to starter solenoid (off): 0V, voltage when starting measures 9-8.5V

So, at the moment ripping the face off the car to clean up the alternator connections and anything else I can find seems like a good idea.

 

My bad that I was not paying attention to your postings but if you indeed had the exhaust manifold off when you did the starter it would have been quite easy to change the oil filter housing gasket.

and if you do go to front end service mode, and if it was me I would, change the crank sensor o-ring and put a new water pump on it.

 

Every bolt that I remove gets treated with the wire wheel and a kiss of anti-seize, so going back will be that much easier. The exhaust manifold was surprisingly easy to remove so I don't expect much of a time or difficulty penalty if I need to get back at the starter or oil filter housing gasket (didn't even consider that, so thanks for planting that seed).

I did see a glimpse of light (and not an underhood fire!) , when the car made a combustion sound and puffed a bit of fuel smoke out the tail pipe.

 

I changed the spark plugs. . .

 

It's alive! The alternator is seized.

Today I removed the starter, took it in for testing (passed as expected), and reinstalled it. During starter R&R process I replaced the oil filter housing gasket (thanks again Whine...) In the process I managed to misplace an exhaust manifold bolt somewhere in the chassis. I'll find that later. After no improvement to the cranking speed, I decided to remove the belt and try to spin everything independently. That's when I found out the locking tab in the tensionser spring is bent inside the housing, so it won't come out. After a quick snip with the HandiCut the old belt was out. I reached down to spin the alternator and it won't budge. That was the ah-ha! moment. Then the car fired effortlessly on the first turn. . . at 12:30AM. . . with open headers. . . while everybody else was sleeping.

The tasks at hand tomorrow are

1. engine compression test
2. possibly cylinder leak-down test
3. coolant system pressure test
4. code scan with the Schwaben tool

If the compression test results are good, then I'll get to live out my dream of putting the car in FESM, which ought to be a warm up for a crash course in Mini maintenance. On the list. . . .

1. Alternator (have to yank pulley and buy one)
2. Coolant system refresh kit install (water pump, t-stat & housing, expansion tank)
3. hydraulic belt tensioner
4. adjustment pulley
5. drive belt
6. front crankshaft seal
7. oil change (filter & gasket, heat exchanger gaskets, drain plug)
8. valve cover gasket
9. fuel filter kit
10. clean alternator connections
11. clean anything else triggered by OCD
12. replace hoses as I see fit

Needless to say, this is going to take a while. . . .

What are the other "while I'm there" tasks should be addressed for a R53 w/ 150k miles on the clock? Supercharger maintenance is one I'm flirting with. Anything else?

 

Warning: attached pics contain potentially offensive images- especially to residents in the southwest US.

 

Nothing to see. Just a life of high sodium diet. You can do the same frohliching Daytona beach all the time.

 

Thankfully it's all light surface corrosion and wipes off with a finger. I haven't found any heavy scale, pitting, or rust-related damage. So, that's good. I haven't snapped any bolts off, yet, so I'll take that as another win.

 

Marvel Mystery oil does a job cleaning up the salt/white oxide bloom.

 

How many miles on her?

 

150k

 

My compressor looks like that with almost 300K. But I replaced my alt, so its still looks pretty new, but yes the salt up here beats its up pretty bad.

 

Nice to see yet another MINI saved. Great car to teach the kids on as well as just being a fun project overall.

Add the harmonic pulley to your list. Either ATI or the slightly less expensive PRW one. Both are better than the OEM one. You're already in there so just go ahead and replace it too. Engine runs smoother too, so that's a bonus.

Depending on how long you plan to own this, I'd do the front suspension refresh. Drop the subframe and replace the ball joints, endlinks, and control arm bushings.

If you have more budget, replace the struts, strut bearings and inspect the hubs to see how if they're still smooth at 150K. Same with the axles. Any splits / cracks in the boots means either replace boots or swap in new axles.

Definitely flush the brake fluid since you said the rears were seized. Who knows how long it's been. Maybe even new pads and rotors? Centric is a good brand for a daily.

 

Folks, my passenger side door lock will not unlock with the electronic key, whether hitting it once or twice. Since I'm the owner of a recently purchased 2004 MC40 I'm not sure it's supposed to. Is there a module that could burn out and need to be replaced? Something more mechanical possibly inside the door? Answers greatly appreciated!

 

Does the dash switch work?

Each door lock actuator has two motors for locking and unlocking. The unlock motor is probably bad. New actuators are about $150, or you can try cleaning the brushes and commutator on the motor. How to is here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Repa...ck-Actuator-L/

You can also replace the motor for about $15, but the shafts are too short so it needs to be extended using part of the old motor. I think the how to thread was here on NAM.

 

Yes, the dash switch does work. Thanks for the repair link -- extremely helpful.