Ive owned my Mini now for just over a year and during that time I have used NAM to answer several questions and for guidance on various projects. As an effort to pay back, I offer this little diary of my efforts to replace the starter on my 2004 Mini.
Last Saturday I hoped in the car for a quick trip. Clutch in, key in…nothing. All the usual lights came on but the starter didn’t budge. Id never had a problem before and I never had any issue with starting the car. I could let the car roll down hill and start it, but nothing from the starter.
My immediate belief was that this was a problem with something other than the starter. I was thinking relays or clutch switch etc. I checked all but found no solution. To make a long story short, these well tested troubleshooting steps will work to diagnose most starter problems.
1. Try to jump start the car. If that doesn’t work move on
2.Gain access to the starter and check for constant voltage on the big wire at the starter. If voltage is their, move on
3. Seek the assistance of someone to attempt to start the car. If, while the key is turned, you have voltage at the solenoid lead, then you probably have a bad starter.
My wife and 6 month old son Aidan (you can never get them wrenching too soon) provided the able body assistance to help me check the voltage at the starter. I also did the old jumper cable trick and tried to jump from the battery direct to the solenoid but it didn’t work
This is the short version of my troubleshooting steps but I reached the conclusion that my starter was bad but now had to get it out. I had read several internet posts that stated the exhaust manifold had to be removed which meant breaking the exhaust lose at the converter. Im now assuming that those steps are necessary on the S as some of the extra plumbing might fill the space I used to extract the starter. I hoped to avoid introducing exhaust leaks and the trouble of trying to break lose rusty exhaust bolts. It looked to me like a pretty good space behind the engine so I opted to try to remove and replace the starter without tearing into the exhaust.

Step one in the process was to unhook the battery. I forgot step one and generated a few sparks when I removed the heat shield over the starter.
Step Two- remove the heat shield. Its one 10mm bolt by the oil filter and then a big tug toward the passenger side. After that, squish the shield together like a folded piece of bread. You can then get it out coming up from the hole by the oil filter. Don’t worry; the shield can be bent back into shape very easily. To continue efforts to gain access, pull the 10mm bolts from the fire wall and move the two reservoirs directly to the left of the battery. DON’T PULL THE HOSES OR BREAK THE CONNECTIONS- YOU ARE JUST DOING IT TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE BOTTOM OF THE ENGINE.
Step Three- disconnect the wires from the starter. I think it’s a 10mm nut for the solenoid and a 12 mm nut for the main starter wire. These wires are very secure and wont just pop off. You may have to cut a few wire ties including the large one that wraps all the way around the starter.
Step Four- the starter is held in by two 15mm bolts that are extremely tight. For the top bolt, I used a 15 mm ratcheting wrench to get it out. You have to be a bit of a contortionist to get to the bolt but if you are even trying this repair, then you have enough skill to figure it out. The bolt also holds a wire clamp to the engine block so remember that for when you reinstall it.
Step Five- the fun part. You might be able to do this a different way but this is how I got to it. You can easily reach down and feel the lower bolt. The problem is that there is very little clearance to actual turn the tool. I jacked up the car using all the necessary safety precautions (chocked the front and rear wheels, use a jack stand etc) just to gain some clearance. I only lifted the driver’s side of the car. I then removed the nuts holding the power steering fan on. I let it fall but did not disconnect the wires. I don’t like crawling under cars so I went back to the top of the car and placed the tool (15mm socket, medium extension and a ½ drive ratchet) on the bolt with the ratchet pointing down. As a side note- you will have to play with the combination of socket and extension to get the tool to an area where you can actual get clearance. Remember, these bolts are way over tight. I finally got it to break lose by basically putting a foot on each wheel and pulling with all my might. At one point I thought I was going to move the car before it broke lose. Well, it came lose; I fell over and hit my head on the concrete. After that it practically came out by hand.
Step Six- Go back to the top of the car and pull the starter from the engine. I then flipped it over so the geared side was coming up first. You have to slowly turn and twist the starter to get it through the opening by the oil filter. I thought I was in trouble when it wouldn’t pass the large, black shield/box separating the engine compartment from the wiper drive. I was happy to discover that the box is plastic and bent in very easily. Once the starter was clear, it snapped right back into shape.Once the starter was out, I took it up to the auto parts store for testing. It really didn’t matter- after the pain of getting it out, a new one was going in just to not have to repeat the process in the future. Luckily, the tester confirmed my suspicion that the starter was bad.
Step Seven- find a starter. At this particular time, nobody had or could get the Duralast $130 starter- they were out of stock with no availability date. I ended up with the $218 starter from Advanced Auto Parts. That was a bit of a rub for me as it’s the most I ever paid for a starter. Hopefully it’s a bit better quality than the cheapest available. I guess only time will tell.
Step Eight- Reverse the above to put it in. You can complete the steps in any obvious order. No need to put one bolt in before the other. I ran into one problem during the install that you should be aware of. The larger post on the rebuilt starter is bigger than the post on the stock starter. The terminal on the wire ended up being just a bit too small. I had to cut a few wire ties in order to get the wire up to the top of the engine so I could run a drill through it to oversize it a bit. Finally, I waited to put the shield back on until after I ops checked the starter. I had to wait a bit for the exhaust to cool off before I could put the shield back on.
Im sure the pro wrench could have done this much faster. Sometimes I got more time than money so I gave it a shot. Worse case was that it was going on the tow truck to a mechanic so I really didn’t have much to lose. Take your time and all will work out.

 

Nice write up. Thanks for taking the time to do it, although I hope I never need to use it!