Nice pick up! Great color!

How many miles? What type of transmission?

 

Any things u can point out that I should check on the dealer gave me a 30 day bumper to bumper. It's going to a mini dealer tomorrow to get the pre buying inspection on it. Those are the dealer pics they had listed that I just saved on my phone. It's got 87k miles 6speed manual I took the hood stripes off already. I posted some pics in the 1st gear forum room but I guess my phone didn't save them.

 

Nice pick up and low miles!

The dealership should give you a pretty good write up but here is a list of things to look for... may seem like a lot but that doesnt mean ALL of it will go wrong.


Lower Control Arm Bushings (do not go OEM; they can fail every 45k miles. Powerflex all the way)

Axle boots leaking grease? These little dears can get pricey if you purchase OEM replacements

Camshaft position sensor o-ring (is it leaking?)
Crankshaft position sensor o-ring (is it leaking?)
Dipstick tube o-ring (is it leaking?)
Oil pan gasket leaking?
Valve cover gasket leaking?

State of the power steering hoses? (leaking?)

Coolant reservoir tank leaking?

Belt tensioner can be heard when it goes. Mine died at 89k miles. Its an obvious sounds that anyone can hear.

Check out the engine/transmission mounts

Any records on when the crank pulley was last replaced? Visual inspection yields nothing until it goes. Avoid OEM replacement if at all possible. Some people can get 90-110k miles out of a crank pulley, I was on the 45k and 44k mile plan.

They should be able to tell you if the transmission fluid is ready to change. (dirty)
Strut mounts bowing up (they typically last 40-50k miles; made of rubber)

They will tell you if they believe the shocks are going on whether or not they have started to leak yet.

They should give you a measurement on how much brake pad life you have left. Along with tire tread depth.

I hope they remove all 4 spark plug wires from your coil pack to inspect the terminals. New, they should be a nice shiny chrome exterior. Over time, corrosion sets in and that nice shiny chrome becomes a dark, dull almost copper color. Once it finally breaks down, you get no or little spark generated to send to the spark plug. And then shortly after, a check engine light. Easy to pull off a plug wire and look.

Just a couple of items. The dealership should give you a good idea of what you are looking at… once they tell you what is wrong, remember to breath when you scan over their price to fix it. Just keep breathing… And then come back to the forums and everyone can help you troubleshoot the repairs. It helps if you are handy with working on cars. Cuts down the cost of ownership significantly!

 

Oh wow, the pics show up now.

That is a GOOD looking color.

 

Awesome thanks. The dealer I bought it from is giving a bumper to bumper 30 day so I'm trying to make sure I get It all taken care of before that expires lol

 

Check for strut tower mushrooming. Strut tower defenders are called for with Gen 1 MINIs. Easy to install, tower nuts 25# torque.
Passenger seat air bag sensor failure recall notice - 15V-205-M650215. Sign up at MINIUSA owner's lounge so they know you own it.

 

That is a beautiful car! The color is perfect, and it looks bone stock. CooperSAZ ticked all the boxes. Unless something has already failed, or fails in the next 30 days, I doubt you'll get the dealer to cover it, but at least you know what to watch for.

The one thing I'd add is if you can't get a good record of when the fluids were changed, I'd change the brake, coolant, and transmission fluid, and probably the oil too. The coolant especially tends to be neglected in these cars. The engines have a cast iron block and so it needs to have the coolant changed every 2-3 years. It's a pretty easy job, and the gallon of coolant you'll need costs about $25 from the dealer. The hardest part is bleeding the system, but even that's not too hard.

 

Something else to consider replacing with either oem or metal from ebay is the coolant expansion tank. Time and heat take their toll on the tank's plastic glued seam and they are well know to separate...never at a convenient time. The cap transfers over no problem.

 

Pre buying inspection is a great idea, even better to do before buying. I wouldn't be modifying it in anyway since if it has lots of problems the dealer might need to take it back. Hope it goes smooth, best of luck!

 

Well it doesn't seem to have to many problems I know the sensor gaskets above the oil pan need replacing which they are taking care of but other than that idk anything specific that's wrong with it right now that's why its going to the dealer to get checked

 

how does it wear out, the spring fatigue or break ? what kind of sound did it make?

 

For me, the damper started failing. Once the damper starts to go, it is unable to control the spring of the tensioner and the tensioner/spring starts to make noise/vibrate. It creates a chattering sound. For me, it almost made the MINI sound like it had a diesel under the hood. I recall vividly, I was backing up into the garage from work, just about to turn the motor off at idle and the chatter started. What is that? haha

You can access the tensioner from underneath through the wheel well or you can remove the passenger side engine bracket and raise the motor up a little. I would replace the passenger side mount while you are in there as it also clears out additional space to reach the tensioner. Once you remove the drive belt, I believe the tensioner is secured to the motor via 3 bolts.

Not a bad video to try and illustrate the noise…

HERE

 

ahh both my cars the dampers pretty much failed long ago, but they dont really make any noise

 

I would consider changing those out. haha Bad things happen when the tensioner fails even more...

 

I have not found a source for the dampers yet, after replacing one and having it immediately stop damping too I'm not gonna bother yet

 

This is what the inspection from the dealer yielded. Much better than I had hoped for. I'm stoked means less money on repairs and more money for modding

 

How handy are you with working cars? Or do you plan on paying the dealership?

Looking at that oil pan gasket makes me glad I did mine. $27-ish…

Interesting that they found the engine oil cooler to be faulty.

$383 for control arm bushings? Every time I was quoted for those it was in the $875-950 bracket for both.

Wow, not a bad list at all. Could be MUCH worse. hehe

 

Why does he think the oil cooler needs replacing? Leaking oil? If you decide to pay to replace it make sur he replaces the entire oil filter housing with the cooler piggybacked on top, or eventually you will be messing with it again to replace the filter housing to block o ring to stop the rather rapid oil leak that starts when that oring starts leaking.

 

The oil cooler is leaking. The dealer I bought it from is replacing it all for free per my 30 day bumper to bumper warranty. Since mini did the inspection my dealer is honoring the woRk needed in super happy i don't have to worry about much with it. That was a full pre purchase inspection. I'm satisfied with what they gave me 😎

 

The oil pan gasket is just dropping the pan by taking the bolts out slapping s new gasket in and put the bolts back in?

 

Oh nice, yes, then you are in good shape then.

You have two pieces to remove prior to starting the crusade on the oil pan. In front, you have to remove a couple of bolts that attach the A/C compressor. Prior to that, you need to remove the drive belt.

In back, you have the lower engine mount or dog bone which is really straightforward.

Then you drop the oil and remove the bolts securing the oil pan and drop it. Clean up the pan, replace the gasket and then torque the bolts in sequence.

In pics:

In front, I put my MINI in service mode, but its easier to reach to compressor and remove it.










In back with the rear engine mount:

 

Awesome thanks for the info 👍🏼

 

The most important are the control arm bushings. Replace with powerflex. the oil pan can be done when you get around to it. or when you are tired of it marking territory. The oil cooler the dealer is mention is a rubber seal and 2 o rings square in cross section. again about 1 hr to replace all 3. The dealer has inflated the price quite a bit. They are quoting a book rate. not actually what it takes.


I just bought my second Gen 1 MCS and I have inspected and or replaced everything on the list mentioned above to get me to new car state. All I have left now is some trim and a new damper pulley. and I wont have to worry about anything for about 100K miles. My other mini made it 255K before it burnt a valve. But everything on the list above needed touching at one point in time.

 

I had figured the bushings are the most important. That's what I'm pushing to
Get fixed over everything else