Howdy - long time lurker, first time poster.

My wife drives a 2009 R56 Mini Cooper S with about 78k miles. The car was always dealer serviced until 60k miles. It's kind of a bop around town car that my wife puts 5,000 to 7,000 miles a year on. She's contemplating a new job that will be closer to 20 miles a day. The car has a few nagging issues that I'd like to resolve so that she's squared away for that commute.

1. Brake Pad Sensors - I replaced these when I did the brakes, unfortunately one or both of the sensors is not functioning correctly (permanent "yellow" brake warning light). Will the sensor work OK if I just plug new ones in and tuck them out of the way? I think I probably broke one of them trying to fit them into the pad. I don't really need the sensor. Pads are easy to check.

2. Oil Dipstick - the car uses some oil and I have a hell of a time trying to read the stock dipstick. With that said, I have a hard time justifying $75 bucks for the craven speed one. Any chance there's a knockoff one for something a little more reasonable?

3. Windshield Washer System - The system is not working and hasn't for about 2 years. I'm guessing the reservoir must leak, but my wife told me that it doesn't work when filled either. Is there a common failure here? I'm not finding much on google.

4. Automatic Trans Fluid - Even though its "lifetime" fluid, I think I'll try to mix in some new fluid. What mileage is responsible to change the trans fluid? It's very strange that it's not really possible to service the transmission. I have reservations about over or under filling it because of the lack of a dipstick.

I have a love/hate relationship with this car. My wife loves the car, it's a blast to drive, we own it outright, and aesthetically it has aged very well. However, I've done more unscheduled maintenance on this car than any other vehicle I've ever owned - so that's where my frustration comes from. But, I just put new tires on it, so I want to keep it going as long as possible. I'll keep fixing it until the engine or trans goes out.

Thanks everyone.

 

Check the washer pump. I had a similar issue, turned out the washer pump stem had cracked. Replaced it through FCP Euro for $7, part number is 67128377987. If you have the Bi Xenon lights with the headlight washers, it is a diffrent part number.

FCP Euro has the pump for about 7 bucks

 

1. Brake Pad Sensors - I replaced these when I did the brakes, unfortunately one or both of the sensors is not functioning correctly (permanent "yellow" brake warning light). Will the sensor work OK if I just plug new ones in and tuck them out of the way? I think I probably broke one of them trying to fit them into the pad. I don't really need the sensor. Pads are easy to check.

Many of us just snip the sensor off and tie the two wire ends together. The sensor consists of nothing more than a loop of wire encased in plastic which is held in the pad. As the pad wears down, eventually the sensor begins to contact the rotor and eventually the sensor wears down to break the wire. This open circuit causes the indicator light. ASSUMING the sensor is plugged in correctly to the harness .. you can 'fool' the car by connecting the two ends. I solder and shrink tube it and then zip tie out of the way. BTW there are actually TWO bake pad warning systems .. the sensor just described AND a simple counter (like the oil change warning). You can have good sensors but fail to resent the counter (thru the steering wheel stalk) and you still get THAT lite . . . . <this lite can come on even if the pads are OK .....it is a guestimate>

2. Oil Dipstick - the car uses some oil and I have a hell of a time trying to read the stock dipstick. With that said, I have a hard time justifying $75 bucks for the craven speed one. Any chance there's a knockoff one for something a little more reasonable? I find blotting against a brown paper towel is cheap and easy . . . .

 

2. In a pinch, use a dipstick from a car with one of the easy-to-read metal ones and match the length of your OEM one to the metal one...in other words, only insert the metal one as far into the dipstick tube as the OEM one would go...it's better than trying to read the OEM one and not being sure...I used this method with a metal one from a Jeep Liberty until I could pony up the bucks for the Cravenspeed one...IMHO the ease of the Cravenspeed one makes it worth the bucks until someone comes up with something cheaper and better...YMMV

 

Saw on the forum somewhere to put a piece of yellow heat shrink tubing on the scale of the dipstick. Just have not done it yet

 

This was going to be my suggestion. I didn't know this was necessary when I replaced my brakes last summer.

 

here is a cool fix i learned from some random guy here for reading the oil stick easier; with a fret saw or something like that, create 3 little dents over the oil stick (deep enough ofc, but not deep enough to break it). that way the oil will stick to the stick easily thus you will read it easier.