My first roadtrip in my MCS
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1st Gear
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 19
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From: Denver, CO
My first roadtrip in my MCS
On January 7th I went out and bought a car, pretty much on a whim, because my 86' BMW had been giving me too much downtime and I wanted reliability but I didn't want to get too far from BMW. I've been in love with the Mini since I saw my first one in Europe. So, I go to carmax, I buy the 05' MCS with 80k on the motor for $13500 plus $2000 for the warranty and of course tax for another $1000. I say to myself, YES! A brand-newish 2005 MINI!! I drive it home, to and from work for a day and DING the EML light comes on. DAMN! 48 hours later and I've got lights on. Off to carmax, carmax ships it to Mini, Mini replaces some piece of the intake that had gone bad. Fine, whatever, that took a week...
After the install of the CAI and my coil pack, wires, n plugs the car started ticking. I was like ehh, no big deal, it's just a little tick. So I went ahead and installed the pulley and flashed the ECU. The ticking didn't stop, but it didn't go away either. So then I'm like alright whatever, I'm taking this car on my trip to NY with my girlfriend. I wanted to show my friends and family what I had purchased (of course) and I'm from upstate NY. So I bought some tickets to go see Coheed & Cambria in Syracuse.
The day before I left for NY was pretty hectic and I had dropped my car off to get my windows tinted. The guy at the shop next door told me he wanted to check my oil because of the ticking. We checked it, it was down a quart. Odd... I've only had the car 3000 miles and it's down a quart? Oh well, put a quart in and I'll skip the window tinting just in case it's something really bad and I need my $200 for something else.
Monday morning, I go to work, then come home. I pack the Mini putting the back seats down to achieve maximum cargo room (I was traveling with my girlfriend, otherwise I could've thrown a duffel bag in the passenger seat and left). We left my driveway at 9pm. I had a nice long night drive ahead of me. So even with the ticking, the random disappearance of oil (my saturn had the ability to eat oil too), and the general overall newness of the vehicle to me, I went. I drove straight there, getting about 30 mpg @ 75mph. When I stopped for fuel in New Jesey, the guy asked me if it was a diesel, of course i was like NO! but, the ticking had obviously gotten a little worse. So I got up to NY and it was snowing a little but it was only the end of March so it wasn't bad or unexpected. I pulled into my parents driveway at 4:30 am. Not a bad trip up... No cops, no rain, no traffic. (yeah, in that order)
Since it was already Tuesday I took a quick nap and then went for a drive around my hometown of Red Hook. Not much had changed of course but since I live in Virginia Beach which is flat, straight, and filled with traffic lights, the Hudson Valley back roads are welcoming to my Mini. I drove around to see different people taking the long way there every time. The car only sounded bad at idle, so I figured as long as my foot was on the gas, everything would be alright.
Wednesday morning we left Red Hook at about 9am and headed up towards Syracuse for the concert. I stopped in Rome to see a friend, drove up past 'Cuse to Oswego, where I went to college, for some lunch at the Sub Shop. It really is fantastic any of you are ever up there, I absolutely love the Texas Hot Cheeseburger...mmmmm. Sorry! So we had lunch and went back to Syracuse for the concert. IT WAS FANTASTIC! I'm a huge fan of Co & Ca if you couldn't already tell. After the concert we went to stay at my friends house for the night. The topic of conversation, my Mini and how much fun it is to drive. The best part was, I didn't bring it up, they did.
Thursday morning, we left for Niagara Falls around 8am. I filled the Mini with fuel and bought a few energy drinks for myself. We ended up stopping at a rest stop off the NYS Thruway for some souvenirs my gf wanted to buy for her family. We got to Canada around 12:30pm and saw the falls and had some food. It was pretty cool. We left there around 4:30pm and headed back to the states. But, instead of taking the trip down the thruway back to my hometown, I decided a straight shot to NYC was a better idea. So we drove straight there and of course as I approached the Lincoln Tunnel, my gas light came on. For any of you that have ever been to NYC... how many gas stations have you seen? Me, personally, one or two on the outskirts of Hell's Kitchen by the Jacob Javits Center. I would usually go see the car show every April. I actually really miss seeing all the concept cars.
Anyway, we got in at 11:30pm and I had to valet my car. Oh no, it's a 6spd manual in a city full of automatics and maybe a 5spd honda or toyota. Yeah, he couldn't find reverse and he stalled out in the middle of the road with a taxi coming up behind him. *insert heart into throat* ugh, finally he got it started again and backed it into a parking spot. (I hate valet parking) So we got in and went to sleep, finally.
Friday morning we slept in til about 9. We got up, had breakfast, then walked around the city. We met up with my friend for lunch and made a game plan for getting out of the city. We met him after he got out of work and went back to his apartment. I googled the closest gas station and luckily it was just up the road. The Mini said I had 15 miles left on my tank o' gas, so we were good. We sat thru rush hour traffic and a broken down tractor trailer in the middle of it. We left NYC around 4 and got back to Red Hook around 7. The 2 hr drive took 3 hrs... oh well. It was a good drive overall.
Saturday we drove around my hometown some more and visited a few more people. Most common question "Oh my God... You fit in that?" Yeah, I'm 6'2 200lbs, I fit. I always offer the gawker a chance to sit in it and then they say "Oh wow! It's actually pretty spacious!" Yup... for two people it's an excellent car, add a dog or a friend and you're still good to go.
Sunday morning we had breakfast with Mom, Dad, & Grandma and hit the road. Sunday drives are always fun, all the traffic and all the cops, ugh. So going slightly over the speed limit. I made it from Red Hook to Virginia Beach in 8 hours (only 30 minutes more than the way home). The ticking never went away, it never got any worse, and I never lost any oil. I drove 2200 miles, spent around $400 in gas and tolls, and had a great time in my new car.
The reason I waited until now to post this story...
I had posted about the ticking noise after doing a search. I found a few different noises the Mini can make and I had narrowed it down to my timing chain tensioner. So after driving around for a few more weeks, I dropped the car off at carmax last Friday morning, I had a call from them THAT AFTERNOON. It was the timing chain tensioner! Since my headlight wasn't aligning properly and my sunroof had a clicking noise, they sent it to Mini. I get a call Monday... "Sir, we found metal flakes in your oil, we need you to authorize a complete motor tear down." Oh, s***. They're gonna find the pulley.
I had put the intake and ignition back to stock already. But the pulley really worried me. So on friday, the warranty people made it out to look at the motor. It was deemed replaceable. So now, I'm getting a new motor put in the car... Just in time to drive up to NY to see my sister graduate college.
Mini Count on the way up (including to 'Cuse and Canada):13
Mini Count on the way back: 35
Attached::: A Mini we spotted at a toll plaza. There was an accident in my toll lane so I had NO chance of catching him.
That's my story!
After the install of the CAI and my coil pack, wires, n plugs the car started ticking. I was like ehh, no big deal, it's just a little tick. So I went ahead and installed the pulley and flashed the ECU. The ticking didn't stop, but it didn't go away either. So then I'm like alright whatever, I'm taking this car on my trip to NY with my girlfriend. I wanted to show my friends and family what I had purchased (of course) and I'm from upstate NY. So I bought some tickets to go see Coheed & Cambria in Syracuse.
The day before I left for NY was pretty hectic and I had dropped my car off to get my windows tinted. The guy at the shop next door told me he wanted to check my oil because of the ticking. We checked it, it was down a quart. Odd... I've only had the car 3000 miles and it's down a quart? Oh well, put a quart in and I'll skip the window tinting just in case it's something really bad and I need my $200 for something else.
Monday morning, I go to work, then come home. I pack the Mini putting the back seats down to achieve maximum cargo room (I was traveling with my girlfriend, otherwise I could've thrown a duffel bag in the passenger seat and left). We left my driveway at 9pm. I had a nice long night drive ahead of me. So even with the ticking, the random disappearance of oil (my saturn had the ability to eat oil too), and the general overall newness of the vehicle to me, I went. I drove straight there, getting about 30 mpg @ 75mph. When I stopped for fuel in New Jesey, the guy asked me if it was a diesel, of course i was like NO! but, the ticking had obviously gotten a little worse. So I got up to NY and it was snowing a little but it was only the end of March so it wasn't bad or unexpected. I pulled into my parents driveway at 4:30 am. Not a bad trip up... No cops, no rain, no traffic. (yeah, in that order)
Since it was already Tuesday I took a quick nap and then went for a drive around my hometown of Red Hook. Not much had changed of course but since I live in Virginia Beach which is flat, straight, and filled with traffic lights, the Hudson Valley back roads are welcoming to my Mini. I drove around to see different people taking the long way there every time. The car only sounded bad at idle, so I figured as long as my foot was on the gas, everything would be alright.
Wednesday morning we left Red Hook at about 9am and headed up towards Syracuse for the concert. I stopped in Rome to see a friend, drove up past 'Cuse to Oswego, where I went to college, for some lunch at the Sub Shop. It really is fantastic any of you are ever up there, I absolutely love the Texas Hot Cheeseburger...mmmmm. Sorry! So we had lunch and went back to Syracuse for the concert. IT WAS FANTASTIC! I'm a huge fan of Co & Ca if you couldn't already tell. After the concert we went to stay at my friends house for the night. The topic of conversation, my Mini and how much fun it is to drive. The best part was, I didn't bring it up, they did.
Thursday morning, we left for Niagara Falls around 8am. I filled the Mini with fuel and bought a few energy drinks for myself. We ended up stopping at a rest stop off the NYS Thruway for some souvenirs my gf wanted to buy for her family. We got to Canada around 12:30pm and saw the falls and had some food. It was pretty cool. We left there around 4:30pm and headed back to the states. But, instead of taking the trip down the thruway back to my hometown, I decided a straight shot to NYC was a better idea. So we drove straight there and of course as I approached the Lincoln Tunnel, my gas light came on. For any of you that have ever been to NYC... how many gas stations have you seen? Me, personally, one or two on the outskirts of Hell's Kitchen by the Jacob Javits Center. I would usually go see the car show every April. I actually really miss seeing all the concept cars.
Anyway, we got in at 11:30pm and I had to valet my car. Oh no, it's a 6spd manual in a city full of automatics and maybe a 5spd honda or toyota. Yeah, he couldn't find reverse and he stalled out in the middle of the road with a taxi coming up behind him. *insert heart into throat* ugh, finally he got it started again and backed it into a parking spot. (I hate valet parking) So we got in and went to sleep, finally.Friday morning we slept in til about 9. We got up, had breakfast, then walked around the city. We met up with my friend for lunch and made a game plan for getting out of the city. We met him after he got out of work and went back to his apartment. I googled the closest gas station and luckily it was just up the road. The Mini said I had 15 miles left on my tank o' gas, so we were good. We sat thru rush hour traffic and a broken down tractor trailer in the middle of it. We left NYC around 4 and got back to Red Hook around 7. The 2 hr drive took 3 hrs... oh well. It was a good drive overall.
Saturday we drove around my hometown some more and visited a few more people. Most common question "Oh my God... You fit in that?" Yeah, I'm 6'2 200lbs, I fit. I always offer the gawker a chance to sit in it and then they say "Oh wow! It's actually pretty spacious!" Yup... for two people it's an excellent car, add a dog or a friend and you're still good to go.
Sunday morning we had breakfast with Mom, Dad, & Grandma and hit the road. Sunday drives are always fun, all the traffic and all the cops, ugh. So going slightly over the speed limit. I made it from Red Hook to Virginia Beach in 8 hours (only 30 minutes more than the way home). The ticking never went away, it never got any worse, and I never lost any oil. I drove 2200 miles, spent around $400 in gas and tolls, and had a great time in my new car.
The reason I waited until now to post this story...
I had posted about the ticking noise after doing a search. I found a few different noises the Mini can make and I had narrowed it down to my timing chain tensioner. So after driving around for a few more weeks, I dropped the car off at carmax last Friday morning, I had a call from them THAT AFTERNOON. It was the timing chain tensioner! Since my headlight wasn't aligning properly and my sunroof had a clicking noise, they sent it to Mini. I get a call Monday... "Sir, we found metal flakes in your oil, we need you to authorize a complete motor tear down." Oh, s***. They're gonna find the pulley.
I had put the intake and ignition back to stock already. But the pulley really worried me. So on friday, the warranty people made it out to look at the motor. It was deemed replaceable. So now, I'm getting a new motor put in the car... Just in time to drive up to NY to see my sister graduate college.Mini Count on the way up (including to 'Cuse and Canada):13
Mini Count on the way back: 35
Attached::: A Mini we spotted at a toll plaza. There was an accident in my toll lane so I had NO chance of catching him.
That's my story!
Fun little trip, glad to hear you're going to get a new engine, guess your glad for the warranty. I used to like the night drives, but the eyes don't handle like they did, good for avoiding traffic though.
Fun little trip, glad to hear you're going to get a new engine, guess your glad for the warranty. I used to like the night drives, but the eyes don't handle like they did, good for avoiding traffic though.
Thread Starter
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1st Gear
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
From: Denver, CO
By the way... Does anyone know of that Mini that I posted a pic of? Is there a spot on the forum for I SPOTTED YOU?
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