After a long search I finally picked up my first Mini over the weekend. Actually this will be my son's car when soon. It's in pretty good shape and runs great but does need a couple of things. I had a P0456 code that I cleared. The cloth front seats are stained and pretty nasty. Is there a source for replacement seat covers, not the type you put over the seats but a replacement for the factory seat upholstery?

 

Looks like a nice mini. I did the same recently for son...

the seats are still available I think.

punch the last 7 of your vin in here:

realoem.com (part numbers)

minipartsdirect.com (parts)

fcpeuro.com (lifetime on all parts)

 

Search that error code here on the forum, seems to be related to gas cap...

 

Looks like a great start for your son's car. My kid used our Bissell spot clean carpet cleaner on the cloth/leather seats of his MINI. He started with some very gross and stained red/black seats that he ended up saving. It took a few hours of time to make multiple passes, but they were salvageable in the end. The water that was sucked up was a swampy mystery dark nastiness, yuck!

Agree with ssoliman, clear the codes and get a new gas cap if you haven't already. The o-ring gets really beat up after 15 years and however many miles.

Not sure if you're new to MINI, but there are a few known issues that need to be inspected and or addressed to make it a reliable car. This forum has tons of info so dig and plan out the projects.

 

punch the last 7 of your vin in here: TD98199 I tried a couple VIN decoders and they gave fairly generic info. Is there one that will tell me if has the LSD?

 

I should have a new o-ring for the gas cap by Thursday. The Carfax shows some service in the last 24,000 miles.

• Oil and filter changed
• Antifreeze/coolant flushed/changed
• Engine seal(s)/gasket(s) replaced
• Engine timing/front cover gasket replaced
• Rear crankshaft oil seal replaced
• Clutch checked
• Crankshaft pulley/balancer replaced
• Oil pressure gauge checked
• Valve cover gasket(s) replaced
• Power steering pump replaced

 

If gas cap ok then look at the valve on right front of engine bay. Also the diagnostic pump can leak, its in front of pass. Rear wheel. I had all 3 leak. No codes now.

 

Yes there is a purge valve front, right on the engine. Super cheap and easy to replace

 

I replaced the gas cap seal tonight. The old one was badly cracked.

 

No more code?

 

I've been out of town at Jeepstock since Thursday. I'll drive it this week. Hopefully no more codes.

 

Replaced the gas cap and the code came back. I hope to smoke check the system tonight.

 

We finally got around to working on it again a few weeks ago. I made a smoke generator and pumped a lot in but didn't see it coming out anywhere. I checked the vacuum lines under the hood and found a cracked boot on the hard line from the valve to the intake. It looked like the boot was glued in place so I ordered a new line, the one I received was longer but had the correct fittings on each end so I installed it. Unfortunately after running through a drive cycle the light came on P1477 so we pulled the intercooler again and found the new line got bent and kinked. I was able to remove the boot I needed from the new and no longer usable line and put it on the old line, everything was good again and went for another drive cycle, P0456 came back.

I'm out of time for this part of the project and need to get the Mini to pass inspection and get it licensed so we are taking it to a local independent BMW / Mini shop.

 

The problem has been fixed! Bavarian West in Manchester MO was great to work with. I explained everything I had already done and they agreed a proper smoke test was what we needed to do. They smoked it and still didn't see a leak, thankfully they thought to to pull the access panels under the back seat and try some soapy water to check for bubbles and they found it. The gasket on the fuel filter housing was barely leaking. They suggested this was something I could fix based on our conversations. I decided replace the filter at the same time and ordered the parts.

I'm not a small guy anymore so I removed the passenger seat to make things easier. It's still tight and uncomfortable facing backwards in that space but I managed. Good thing I decided to change the filter because it had totally fallen apart! the top and bottom halves of the filter were stuck on the filter housing and the element was falling apart.


I removed all the endcaps from the housing and cleaned all the element parts out of there too. Replaced the O-rings put the new filter in an put it all back together with a new gasket up top.

After another drive cycle and some more driving it passed inspection! I've been driving it for the past couple weeks and the light has not returned.

Now it's time to do some work on my Jeep before getting back to the Mini.