I am over 36K so I am entering the realm of self-funded MINI maintainence. Obviously at this point I will be evaluating what should be done at the dealership and what should be done elsewhere or by myself.

Current situation: "MAINTANCE" has been showing up on the display every time I start the car for the past few weeks so I scheduled an apt with the dealer and took it in this morning. I was expecting it to be an oil change, but instead it was rear brakes. They wanted to to a brake system flush ($100), replace a microfilter? ($50), replace pads ($250) and potentially replace rotors ($250). I told them to go ahead and do the flush and filter and call me when they knew whether it needed rotors (which it shouldn't since this is the first brake service). I think I will do the pads myself since I'm not a fan of the OEM pads and it seems like a fairly easy project.

I am also considering doing oil changes at a local shop in the future. Are there any special MINI requirements that I need to be aware of? Do I need to be concerned about voiding the warranty (I have the 6/100K)?

What is the best way to determine what the car is complaining about without taking the key into the dealer?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

What is the best way to determine what the car is complaining about without taking the key into the dealer?


thru the on board computer and the dash display as explained in the owner's manual . . .

"controls" section of the manual ... service requirements sub section ... tells you how to pull up all the tracking widows . . .

hopefully you did not tell them to do rotors but not pads .... when you take the rears apart to do pads, you're 90% of the way to the rotor. There's just one more torx bolt to get the rotor off - and maybe a few whacks with a mallet if it sticks.

MINI recommends changing (flush) brake fluid every 2 years

I'm thinking your "microfilter" was the cabin airfilter which takes about 2 minutes to change with no tools. The filter itself is not cheap ... on these two items your price was not terrible IMO.

$250 for pads isn't terrible but ANOTHER $250 if rotors are needed is in my mind out of line. like I said the additional labor is minimal

you might want to read the DIY on the oil change and decide if your shop can handle it. If "shop" means a quik change place probably a bad idea. If shop works on BMWs the old style paper element filter shouldn't mess 'em up too bad. Many find the best bet it to DIY .... if you can handle pads you can handle an oil change. I don't even need to lift my 07 to get to the bung, there's enuf room for a drain pan and still get to the plug with a low profile pan.

 

Thanks Capn!

It ended up not needing rotors so I told them not to do the pads or rotors. I guess I will be on the lookout for some good aftermarket pads.

The microfilter ended up costing $50 for the part and $50 for labor and I still don't know what it is. Is there a filter somewhere in the brake system or would this have to be the cabin air filter?

The good news is that they detailed my car (including the engine compartment) for free and it looks awesome!

 

The dealership detailed your car? Without your permission? Detailed as in polish and wax?

I'd have someone's head. Of course, I post a sign in mine when I take one in for service: "do not wash unless you use two buckets with grids, microfiber mitts, and waffle weave drying towels."

 

The microfilter ended up costing $50 for the part and $50 for labor and I still don't know what it is. Is there a filter somewhere in the brake system or would this have to be the cabin air filter?

$50 for the cabin filter is about right altho it can be found for much less as well ... but MiniMania for example will be $45 to $50 depending on OEM vs third party and plain paper vs charcoal impregnated

$50 to put it in is criminal

that and the engine air filter are the only ones I can think of, or have changed, and the same basic comments apply to the engine air filter altho it should only cost around $30

 

Looks like they gave it the same detail service they give all their used cars before putting them on the lot. They only mentioned washing it but there is definitely shine on the tires and wheels and there are a couple of drips below the roof rack that lead me to believe they put something on the paint as well. The car was pretty dirty when I took it in so I can't blame them if they assumed that I am not overly particular about detailing. It would be nice to know what is on the paint though.

 

Cabin air filter. It is supposed to get pollen and other particles out of the air that gets drawn into the HVAC (heating/ventilation/air-conditioning) system.

 

I just watched a video http://www.promini.com/technical/cab...er_install.php on replacing the cabin air filter, It looks like a 5 minute job that can be done with no tools.

 

yep - once you have done it, 5 minutes leaves time to take a break in the middle!

 

Can you use compressed air to clean the old filter and save $50 bucks, or should you just buy a new filter.

 

if the filter is doing its job, all you'll blow off is the surface crud but the micro-holes in the paper are still gonna be plugged. In a pinch I'll blow the big stuff off the filter in my shop vac but don't get anything near full performance until I actually buy a new paper element.

For an engine filter, you can switch to foam and then wash with water ... but that doesn't work well with a paper filter (in this application - my paper pool filter element can be washed over and over but that's not regular paper....) foam engine filters are often treated with oil so they grab more dirt - oil into the engine is not always a good thing via this path and oil into the pass' compartment would be quite uncool!

p.s.

the first time I checked my cabin filter was after my 02 went out of pre-pay maintenance ... where the dealer checks it ....

I don't think compressed air woulda cleaned it

 

Wow - that's dirty.

I have a compressor and blow out a lot of filters but if mine looks like that I'll buy a new one.

 

Thanks for the inputs guys. I will definitely do this one myself next time and I may as the dealer to refund part of the $50 labor charge.