I got my MINI at Northwest MINI and it was an absolutely fantastic experience. However, there were two things wrong. I noticed on the second day after delivery, swirls and holograms in the paint on the passenger side. The other issue was leaking washer jets which resulted in a stain on my stripe. After throwing emails and pictures back and forth with my MA, I finally decided to drive down to the dealer (more than an hour away).

They immediately recognized the imperfections in the paint due to a poor detailing job. I knew that was the issue thanks to NAM's great Detailing 101 forum . Anyway, my problem is with the way they addressed my leaking washer jets. My MA and the detailing manager was not there and these were the two i was emailing. So after re-explaining everything to the service guy on site, he said that the leaking is due to an overconcentration of the washer fluid. That results in bubbles as the car moves and eventually finds its way out of the nozzles. I asked him what he could do about the stain and if he can replace the stripe. He said nothing can be done about it and its pointless anyway because no mattter what, every time i use the windshield wiper the car will get stained. I really didn't like this answer but its the one he kept giving me. So all he did for the "leaking" issue was take out all of my fluid, then put in the dealer fluid diluted with water.

Okay, first of all, the fluid was leaking before I ever used the nozzles. And I already squirted out all of the original dealer fluid while spraying down the car and put in my own fluid. I asked the service guy if I have to dilute the it every time i need to refill ... he said "oh yeah, of course." I then asked him if this sort of information was in the manual and he said .. after a pause ... no but it should say it on the bottle of washer fluid. When I got home and checked the bottle, it says to "Use at full strength."

The nozzles seem to leak the most when its hot weather and its getting more and more like fall in Washington so I dont know if my nozzle problems will go away because of that or if the diluting thing really worked. I was worried about the fluid freezing in the winter and the guy said that the washer fluid has anti-freeze in it and that should keep it fine. Does this seem like a fix?

Was this guy just trying to brush me off you think? Thoughts? Keep in mind i am 18. Oh the door was buffed out nice and clean and the detailer did get some of the stain out of the bonnet stripe but not all of it. I already found some leakage of the rear wiper when I got home but i figured thats just some splatter of the fluid that was on the nozzles already. We'll see if the heavy weeping/leaking continues. Other than that, its allll gooood mootoring fun

Oh and kind of unrelated. But i got my checkered mirror covers. As I was installing them, I noticed one of the clilps on my original silver covers was already broken!! This was before I even put anything in the mirror, it was me looking in with a flashlight. I didn't even bother trying to get a replacement because the service guy didn't seem to be THE friendliest (didn't even tell me his name until I asked .... ) and I did the install myself and I'm sure they will pin that on me .. Oh well, don't really need them cuz checkers looks aweseome!!

 

Since the stripes were stained by the fluid that came in the car, I would insist that the dealer replace the stained stripe. If they refuse try calling MINIUSA.

This isn't something you should have to live with or pay to have fixed.

Talk to the MA and the detailing manager and don't accept "no" as an answer.

That's what I would do and I just turned 63 today.

 

Happy Birthday!! I will join you in17 days!! Did you sign up for Social Security yet? My wife won't let me.

 

I don't really buy the "dilute your washer fluid" answer.

If you dilute it with water too much, the fluid could freeze in the winter and cause other problems.

Maybe you might wanna give your MA a call again and explain what you were told?

 

The MINI Fuild does require to be diluted, look at the bottle.....

Now as far as this situation goes lets bring a few other items out.

I talked to the SA at NW MINI that you delt with. The fluid you put in was causing the fluid the come out completely in foam. They offered suggestions and showed you the MINI fluid and what it recemmended, he also offered you a full detail at no cost. Also, your mother was with you, so he was not trying to brush you off. He was trying to work with you, and you post here like it was that they did not care about you. If you dispute what I posted here please let me know. I know the SA you dealt with and I have very good working relationship with that person, your MA and the entire team at NW MINI. NW MINI works to ensure the customer is taken of, and they support our group PSMINI.org Let me know if I can help.

 

Let me be clear, in no way did I ever say I received terrible service, the detailing job on the door was superb and they put info on my key to detail the rest of the car my next service since some swirls still existed outside of the door panel. Also, I was never shown any fluid or bottle, just informed about it. The point of this post was to see if other members thought that the reason why the nozzles were leaking because of the over concentration of fluid. I know for a fact other mini owners have this issue since they posted about it in this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d+stain+bonnet

and here:https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...g+washer+fluid
(sorry I can't find the long one that i posted in)

Anyway, I wasn't bashing NW Mini, on the contrary... read my first sentence of the post. I apologize if you or the SA took offense to that "brushing off comment" but I threw that sentence in there because I've previously had bad experiences with others and was also asking if it seemed to you guys if that was what was happening. I was not saying that is indeed what it seemed like. Just one of those ghosts of the past that I am constantly wary of after learning my lesson. The overall experience there was pretty good (wait time, comfort, hassle), plus I got to spend more time drooling over MINIs.

Now I haven't really driven the MINI after the service and we'll see if that water dilution method fixed the nozzles. If so, I am quite a happy customer. It's puzzling because the washer fluid bottle didn't say anything about diluting with water. Oh I'm not using the MINI fluid from the dealer if thats what you meant.


Edit: Oh and I was looking for local MINI clubs near my area. Is PSMini the only one? If so, is there an age requiremet to join? I ask this because I see things on the schedule like Winery Runs ..

 

I am not trying to bash you either, I would like to make sure you are happy with your MINI and enjoy your MINI to the fullest.

PSMINI is the main group, we have been around going on three years now. We have our own forum at www.psmini.org we have sponsors for discounts and we have alot of good people.

We have no age requirements, we do drives all over the Puget Sound. In fact the dealer is sponsoring one to Mt. Rainer in October, the dealer is also sponsoring track dat this Monday. The winery tour is open to everyone, you can not drink but then again it is about the drive. We do monthly drives and have detailing sessions at Griots all the time. Please come join us, again age is not an issue.

 

Thanks for the birthday greetings. I signed up for SS at the earliest possible moment. I figure I better collect mine before it's all gone. I was already retired so it made sense to collect as early as possible.

Happy birthday to you too.