Last Saturday I bought a 2003 Mini with 157 thousand miles. Runs good, idles bad. The control arm bushings are bad. The PO blew a tire and messed up the right side fender liner and ripped off the arches. The interior was a disaster.

So far I have:
Super cleaned the interior, vacuumed and carpet cleaned the seats
Scrubbed the interior panels with my drill mounted scrub brush and awesome cleaner. Then 303 interior spray.
Replaced the burnt out bulbs for the interior lights.
Painted the front wiper arms and replaced the wiper blades
Installed new right side fender liner
Installed the wheel arches that were not installed and then recolored with forever black.
Forever blacked the vents under the windshield
Reset the TPMS so it's not flashing anymore.
Ordered new headliner material
Ordered new poly control arm bushing
New cabin filter on order
New rear wiper arm and blade on order

I need to
Replace the header because the cat was removed and straight piped. I get a rear oxygen sensor check engine light. Thinking of new exhaust from front to rear.
Drop the lower frame and install the control arm bushings when they come in
Also going to replace the ball joints while I have it down, along with the sway bar bushings.
Good tune up, fuel filter, etc.
Change transmission oil
Recondition the headlights
Find out why it has a airbag light on

More than likely I am going too:
Replace the timing chain
Replace the fuel pump
Replace the thermostat and housing
Replace the water pump
Replace the starter
Replace the AC system
Replace the assy belt and tensioner
Replace the Harmonic balancer
Replace the cooling fan
Upgrade the coolant tank to a metal one.

My ultimate goal is to have a safe and reliable Mini, not really a daily driver. I bought it to tow behind our motorhome when we go on vacation so I want to replace anything that might give me trouble. And to drive to work every now and then because I just love this car.

 

They are fun to drive. Welcome to the club

 

Rear Seat Before

Rear Seat After

Front seats before

Front Seats after

New fender liner installed with arches reattached

Vent covers re-dyed with forever black

I have new leather coming for the shift boot and the parking brake lever.

 

Great work on the cleanup. One question: did you let CSI examine the back seat first?

Good luck with the rest of your project. I'm undertaking an MCS rescue very soon.

 

I believe some one had a child on the passenger rear. The cup holder had a lot of goo like old melted candy in it. Took me a while to soak it and get it all out. I also think it sat for a while because there is tree stuff all imbedded in the paint.

Roof

Ignore the old fat guy in the reflection.

 

I started cleaning and dyeing the bottom plastic molding

New rear wiper arm and blade installed

Going to clean the carpet today. Hopefully it will dry fast and I can get the interior put back together. Lots of rain in the forecast for next week.
I am also going to remove the headliner board because the new fabric will be here today or Monday.
New leather for the shifter and parking brake are on the way.
The Powerflex bushings for the control arms are shipped and supposed to be here on Monday. I need to order the ball joints.

 

This is what the cabin filter looked like when I pulled it out.
It makes me wonder what other maintenance they didn't do.

 

That's about the worst I've seen. Some of the pleats appear to be literally full with dirt. You're right to wonder about what else was neglected.

 

WOW - that filter is gross!

Nice job on the clean-up!

 

A pretty good day today.

I got all the black plastic trim dyed. I also did the drip rail around the top.
Oops, wrong picture.

Wow the carpet was super nasty.

That's much better. It was 93 degrees today and the fan helped it dry extremely fast.

I took black dye and re-dyed the edges of the factory floor mats. Yes I'm crazy like that.

I scrubbed all the interior plastic pieces and reinstalled the interior. Much better!!

This droopy headliner is next.

Mail lady delivered the new headliner material today so I took out the board.

I need to order the 4 screws that go to the silver pieces on the side of the radio, I also need the 4 screws that hold that center console in. They were all missing when I bought the car.
Broke out the new code reader and it has 9 airbag faults, The big one is showing the air bag controller has an internal fault. So the question is do I send this one off to be repaired or do I order a used one? 70 to 90% percent chance of rain almost all week so probibly no work for the next few days.

 

I got the headliner board cleaned and ready to install the new fabric. Hope to finish that up this afternoon.
New control arm bushings should arrive today.
New ball joints are on order.

 

Well that going to work. I flip it and still short.

 

Did you turn on the ignition key while those seats were out - even if simply to unlock the steering wheel? If so, those airbag fault codes might relate to that.

 

I did but my new code reader erases the faults but then they come back instantaneously.

 

Hmm, I must have missed this somewhere.

Even if you did not turn the key you could still get the airbag code if you removed the seats. When removing the seats, it is best to disconnect the battery and make sure they are reconnected before hooking the battery back up. I believe the airbag fault is stored in a different computer or module or partition of memory or something like that. You can't delete that fault code with a cheap reader, and there are people that advocate for coding changes to get rid fo that fault when changing out seats to ones without airbags to eliminate that light. It can be done with a reader I think, but a more advanced one with more features. I am sure someone more knowledgeable than me will chime in here. If you search for 'seat airbag code' or some similar set of keywords using the advance search function you'll probably find some useful information on how to erase that code permanently.

 

^^^ Agreed! I'd forgotten about disconnecting the battery supply current before unplugging seat airbag connectors. My only reference point is the one and only MINI dealer service receipt on my car in 2011 at 3.4k total miles (just 600 miles driven subsequently in 10 yrs before being sold to me) wherein the car was throwing codes (cleared at owner expense) which turned out caused by unplugging said connectors apparently while doing a test-fit of Racetech seats for intended tracking before deciding otherwise. Perhaps must be cleared by dealer's CAN bus software? If so, seems likely less $$ than replacement cost of the suspected defective controller.

 

The first code that pops up is internal fault. I am thinking of sending it off and have them repair and reset it. I did see a used one on all mag but it don’t know the model number of the one I have in the car. Starting to get rain from Fred so no messing with the car till Thursday at the earliest.

The closest mini place would be in Atlanta, over an hour drive.

I jacked it up and put it on Jack stands. They PO did cut the cat out so I am going to have to order a new manifold with cat.

 

The cleanup is impressive. Great work on the carpets and the black trim.

To remove the headliner, did you remove the A-pillar trim? There's a lot of discussion on the forums about whether it's necessary.

 

Inpa will reset airbag codes. You’ll need a windows laptop to install it on

 

Thanks, it has been a labor of love that’s for sure.

I did not remove the A-pillar trim. Since the board is a thin fiberglass and it doesn’t go under the trim that far it didn’t take much to pull it out from under it. I did not want to risk breaking 18 year old plastic.

 

Any suggestions on where and what cable to buy the cable and to get the software that will work with my Mini?

I just spent 100 bucks on a scanner that is supposed to clear SRS faults. It says fault clear success but they come right back.

 

I bought one off Aliexpress (the INPA white cable, see link below). ssoliman is right, for some things you will need INPA for actually clearing the codes.

https://aliexpress.com/item/32834279956.html

For the software, I found some supporting threads on NAM if I recall correctly

 

Ordered a new exhaust manifold with a cat this morning. The downstream sensor is showing a fault since the cat was removed by the previous owner. That is the only fault I get with the check engine light so hopefully that will clear that fault out once I get it installed. The rest of the exhaust looks good.

 

Thanks!!
I ordered the cable and will see if I can find the software. I am really excited on getting this car back to the way it should be. I relooked at the cable and it says it doesn't work with my car. We shall see when it comes in on the 2nd of next month.

 

Everything you need: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...3641-inpa.html

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