My Mini had 170k on the clock. I also confirmed with the previous owners that they replaced it themselves with an advanced auto parts one. When I went to change the oil. I noticed the power steering fan would have been in the way and oil would drain right through it. I then realized someone installed the fan bracket backwards and was angling down!! Anyways, I'm going to try and warranty the pump and order a new fan. I want to finish one project at a time. I'm going to try and get the control arm bushings and ball joints in today.

 

Yesterday was a great success. I changed both inner and outer ball joints and installed the power flex control arm bushings. It seems like everything that was supposed to be hard was easy and everything easy was hard. The bushings pressed in easy with the home made tool. The inner joints were not too bad once you raised the engine a couple of inches. What I did have a hard time with was prying the control arm in while lining up the inner joint. The driver's side seemed harder. But I got it. Now time for an alignment.

 

I feel like this is my daily diary entry. So today, I was driving and tried my cruise control like I always do and it did not work. I drove a short distance down this washboard of a dirt road and when I got back on the highway I tried it again and it worked. I half joked with myself that the dirt road may have "shaken" the problem out of it. Well, after a few time of shutting the key off and restarting, my cruise no longer works. Could a bad brake or clutch switch cause this problem? My brake light only illuminate when I press the pedal down; the car only starts with the clutch pressed. When I press the cruise on button, I get two flashes. I wasn't going to worry about the cruise until I had everything else fixed but now it is driving me crazy.

 

Just thought I would give an update. A new ignition switch fixed the cruise issues along with the car not shutting off. I now have 190,000 miles (20,000 since I traded at end of October 2014). New PS Pump and Fan, front end bits and a reverse switch are the only things I've had to do to her (proper maintenance of course).

 

Way to go BearyBee.

I am always impressed when the use of proper maintenance provides miles and miles of driving fun.

Keep it on the road.

Motor on!