Hello,

I have been looking for a late model MCS for the past few months and I think I have finally found the one I want to buy. I was able to get the VIN and talk to the local Mini dealer who serviced the vehicle. It has been well maintained and the dealer just did the Inspection 1 service less than 500 miles ago. They indicated that a pre-purchase inspection would not be necessary because the Inspection 1 service checks everything that the pre-purchase inspection would check. So, I may decide to forego the pre-purchase inspection.

I have four questions related to the 03 model year:

1) This car only has 28K miles on it. What type of problems have other owners encountered with the 03 model year as more mileage is put on the car? The dealer said that the power window motors sometimes fail as well as the cable that unlock the door from the inside that is connected to the inside door latch. Are there other things to be aware of? Consumer Reports gave the 03 year bad ratings for engine cooling and transmission. Anyone have problems with these?

2) Does anyone know if the 03 Mini has an indicator light for the passenger side airbag that shows you when the air bag is inactive let's say because your 9 year old son is sitting in the front seat and they don't weigh enough. Mini USA customer service said there is a light near the rear view mirror on the roof of the car that illuminates when the air bag is off because the weight sensor in the seat detects a person with a lower weight than required. I don't seem to remember seeing this indicator light.

3) Apparently, one of the options added to the car was overhead airbags. These are in addition to the front and side curtain airbags. Does anyone know if this was truly an option in 2003?

4) The salesman told me that with a supercharged engine, once you have arrived at your destination you should let the engine idle for 20-30 seconds to let the supercharger slow down to idle engine speed before turning the engine off. Is this true? Are there other things that are required when starting/stopping/maintaining a supercharged engine than for a regular gasoline engine?

Thanks,
Mark

 

I have a '03 MCS. Midway through the model year (around June or July '03) MINI made some quality changes related to the vehicle. Among them was the installation of more forgiving shocks. I have had no significant problems with mine (although the steering rack was replaced twice under warranty within the first 2,500 miles). The '03 did not have a locking glove compartment and when you hit a bump there have been problems reported that it will pop open (mine has on occasion, but not very often).

1) Transmission issues were reported for those who purchased the automatic CVT transmission. Apparently, they do not last very long (I have a manual and it has had no issues). There was also a defect in early 2003's with the overflow tank for the radiator since it was made of two pieces and would crack and leak. This was fixed on later 2003's (and is an inexpensive and easy replacement).

2) I believe the passenger air bags are always on on the '03. There is no cutoff switch. Put the kid in the back. Its safer anyway.

3) The '03 I believe has side airbags in the front seats, front airbags and head side roof curtain airbags (six total I believe). i'm unaware of any additional ones that were offered in '03.

4) Total BS on idling the engine. That used to be true with turbos, not superchargers. The supercharger is not always on to begin with. There is no difference from a regular gas engine other than the addition of the supercharger which is a way to get more air into the engine to increase power. You do, however, need to use premium gas with a 91+ octane rating.

 

As far as the first two, i'm not sure, but the curtain airbags were an option from the first model in '02. Secondly, the reason to let the engine idle for a couple seconds is mainly to just give it a chance to cool down a little bit. This goes for turbocharged and supercharged cars because of the amount of heat produced by these items, on a cast part. It'll just help add some life to your engine because of the rapid shut off, when the s/c may still be spinning a bit faster. Also, superchargers are always spinning with the engine, since they are run off of the engine itself. Turbo's are the ones that are not run by the actual engine pulleys, but by the gases coming out of the exhaust.

 

Letting a turbo / supercharged engine run for a few minutes is not a bad thing. If the heat is too high, the oil to lube the turbo / supercharger may coke which will cause the oil passages to clog, and/or possibly jam the bearings.

Although, the sc on the mini is not some phenominal source of boost, so I doubt it builds enough heat to coke synthetic oil.

 

The "cool-down" is not needed on the '02-'06 MCS, which has a belt-driven supercharger, not a turbo. A turbocharger may continue spinning after shut-off because its turbine is not connected to the rotating assembly of the engine. The supercharger in the R53 is driven by a belt that is turned by a pulley connected to the crankshaft. Unless the belt is slipping, the supercharger always turns at a predetermined relative speed to the engine. And if the belt is slipping, it would not cause the supercharger to turn faster. This relative speed is determined by the difference in diameters of the crankshaft pulley and the supercharger pulley. When the engine is at idle, the supercharger is also "at idle", and there is no lag time between when the engine slows down and when the supercharger slows down. When the key is switched off, and the engine stops, the supercherger stops at the same time, regardless of whether the the key was turned off with the engine idling or at redline.

Also, the supercharger is always "on", or turning, when the engine is running. Because of the operation of the bypass valve, the supercharger does not always have all of the airflow passing through it, and therefore not being stressed by creating boost pressure, but it is always turning.

 

In a nutshell, unless you have been driving spiritedly, there is no need to let it idle.

 

Trico,

Thanks for that info. I did confirm that there is an indicator light on the roof near the rear view mirror that will illuminate when the air bag is off. Funny, I never noticed this indicator light before. Also the car was manufactured in April of 2003, so I guess it does not have those quality changes included that you mentioned. The service record on the car did not state that the coolant tank had to be replaced, so I assume it is OK. I also asked about the rear control arm. I saw some posts about the bolt connecting the control arm to the frame breaking, but also nothing in the service record about that needing to be replaced.

 

There is no reason to let the supercharger "cool" at all, it never gets as hot as a turbo charger because there are no exhaust gasses run thru it. Just shut it off when you're ready and don't give it a thought...........

 

Did the service record indicate the power steering motor and fan being replaced? My guess is that almost every one of those failed and was replaced with an updated fan and had the wiring updated to have its own fuse. The new fan also has a rock shield that helps a lot. When the pump goes the engine typically overheats. Not a good thing.

Window motors are known to fail but not all of them. Coolant tanks should be updated as they were changed slightly to be stronger. You'll see when it starts to leak. I think your April build had the softer springs BTW as the 2003 run started in September 2002.

All that said I went out to Artoo and did not see any indicator near the rear-view mirror or on the roof control panel. What are you referring to as I have never see anything like that on a 2003.

Rich

 

Good question. There's no oem light for the airbags that indicate they are operational on my July 2003 build. In addition, I'm not aware of any oem switch that disables the passenger air bag. I suppose its possible someone hacked a mod on yours.

 

This is for your last question
I feel it to be true as with only a few on here that you do need to lett it idle for 30 seconds or so. The purpose isn't to let it slow down, it's to circulate the oil and give it a chance to cool down. Also SC's do generate a considerable amount of heat. If they didn't they wouldn't have innercoolers. So giving the oil a chance to cool is self while circulating will lessen the chance of warpage in those parts that are easily heated. Also, there is some form of a wastegate on the SC that can determine how much boost to let into the engine, although it usually doesn't happen I have read or MCS's going into limp mode, which restricts the amount of boost under load to a lower amount. I personally have driven one under limp mode. So to wrap up my thoughts, from my FI experiences I've had I think it would be a good idea to let it cool down on hot day, and after every spirited drive, however if you run down the road to get a gallon of milk from the quikemart I see no reason to let it idle more then a second.
-Keith