My Cooper..the truth

[SamHarrison]

Some of you may have read in Modern Mini Magazine recently about the problems I have had with my mini. The feature does not tell the full story and in light of a few comments made on here i shall go forward and explain everything in detail.

I bought the mini from a Friend back in April 2005 for £9,500. When i bought the car it had no rear brake lights just the 3rd High Level light. Every set of lights i pulled up at i got told by some other "helpfull" motorist about the problem like i never knew.

A trip to brighton was when the first real problem came to light.. the rear brakes started to grind on the discs. It appeared that the pads had worn down to the shoes and began to score the discs. So that week i had the pads changed and not the.

The next thing to go was the Mid section of the Scorpion Exhaust System. at Idle it rattled like a cow bell and was quite annoying at traffic lights because people were looking at me for the wrong reasons.

the front brakes also started to judder at this time so I went to get the whole lot sorted. In went a Quicksilver RaceX Stainless Cat-Back System with an upswept 3.5inch rolled lip Exit. The front brakes were replaced with EBC Grooved and Dimpled Dics and Green Stuff Pads.

The car at soem point had hit a kerb really hard. so hard the drivers front wheel had broken in half. The only problem with this was that the front tower had pushed up and mushroomed. the Suspension rod had also pushed into the bonnet causing a raised dent in it (pin prick). The accident had caused the tracking to o out and instead of me getting it fixed i just left it untill the 3rd tyre in 6months.. it was getting expensive.

At 42k the Original Gearbox blew an internal oil seal which in turn leaked oil onto the clutch and burnt that out.
I had the choice of buying a brand new gear box.. £1,100, a re-con gear box £900 or a 2nd hand gear box off a 53plate totalled cooper that had done 23k so i opted for that as it was priced at £700. I also had a new fly wheel and clutch fitted to the car as advised by a now defunct mini "specalist"

2 Days after getting the mini back I was car-jacked while sitting in a car park with a female friend of mine. 2 youths of a non white appearance approached my car..kicked the drivers wing (still dented) and then wrenched the door open and threatened me with an Iron Bar.. I was then dragged from the car and so was she.

The car was recovered 2.5hrs later. the centre column had been cut badly, the MP3 Player had been taken and the car was a mess inside with blood, mud and magnesium poweder from the forensics team (i still find that stuff even today)

One evening while driving in traffic the engine management warning light came on and i was restricted to how fast i could drive.. not good when you are on the A13 and it's a 70mph limit and you can go no faster than 40mph no matter how much you put your foot down.
It transpired that the throttle body had become faulty and kept on sticking. so that had to be sorted out along with the compulsary ABS wiring loom recall

The next thing to go wrong was an engine mount that snapped and a stabaliser bracket that snapped on the gear box.. basically every time i tried to put my foot down the engine was responding by trying to rotate round the gear box like a propeller on a plane.. that made for a very bumpy journey.
I had also had a Clifford Alarm System fitted to my car and unbeknown to me they fitter had drilled through (only a very tiny bit) the brake line near the brake fluid resovior. Every time i put my foot on the brakes more fluid leaked out.
so i had to have.. new brake line, new stabiliser bracket and a new engine mount.
Next to go was the drive shaft.. sooo in goes another of those.. woo hoo

hmm what next.. ah yes the 2nd hand gear box after 10k went the same way as the original one.
So in went a re-conditioned box and a Stage 1 perfomance clutch kit (from mini mania Uk)
that box lasted just 2k before a bearing broke and shot off destroying the gear box. when it was removed, bleeding oil all over the place, and then tipped up loads of bits fell out. luckily for me that box had a 12month 12k millage warranty on it so that was replaced for me for free.

The clutch control cylinder in the footwell split and leaked brake fluid in my footwell.. that had to be replaced.. still haven't got all the fluid out of the carpet..

Coming back from MITP the Clutch slave cylinder split and leaked brake fluid all over the gear box..i initially thought it was the gearbox leaking oil..thank god (or someone similar) it wasn't..

Other things that have gone wrong with the car... the horn is knackerd and only blowing on one note at the moment.. I blew an exhaust gasket, i broke an exhaust bracket it's had 2 windscreens in the last 18months and just 2 days ago a massive rock (small stone) hit the windscreen and has put a massive chip in it with a nice set of spiders legs..
the front fog light glass is broken and needs replacing before the MOT next month

the rear brake discs became cracked and warped and needed replacing (and upgrading i might add..)

I think that just about covers it..

If you could attribute all those faults to the way i drive then i'd have no problem with the costs i've incurred.. but with it being common knowledge of the faults that lay in the original Midland gearbox it is no supprise i've been through so many..

the exhaust had been on there 4years so i guess that was about right to start to go wrong.. the front discs were the same..

so far nothing else major has gone wrong in the last 2 months..although i bet i have just shot myself in the foot by saying that..

Sam

[Richard Crofts]

Shouldn't do it but god I had to laugh! Man you must have the most unlucky MINI ever! Good to hear its going OK at the moment though.

R

[SamHarrison]

I laugh all the time...nervously

[GR33NIE]

I read the article in ModernMini mate, recognised your name straight away

As it's already been said you must be one of the unluckiest MINI owners ever It's amazing how many things can go wrong

[Bhozar]

Wow. I really feel for you and your bad luck mate. At least it can only get better!

[SamHarrison]

Indeed.. there is not much more that can go wrong to be honnest.. maybe a crack in the block..blow a valve.. break a pistond rod.. fracture the manifold.. or the top of the list.. total the car..

but fingers crossed none of that will happen

ps.. the original owner had already had a front on accident before doing the modifications...

[Haggi]

puts the few small problems ive had nperspective hats off mate for sticking whith it

[humph]

Sam, I'm assuming that you're referring to a comment I made in another thread last night. Having read the comment back it doesn't really read in the way it was intended and I apologize . As I said in the original post I really like your car, and the way it looks is a credit to you. My heart went out to you when I read the magazine article and I was impressed that you have stuck with the MINI. It was your article that planted the seed of doubt in my head as to whether I had done the right thing buying my 03 Cooper works, and when the clutch was replaced under warranty recently the car was soon replaced/updated as well. So here's to many trouble free miles ahead of you (& me).

[Root Ginger]

Quote: Originally Posted by SamHarrison (original)

The front fog light glass is broken and needs replacing before the MOT next month

Front foglight glass will not be an MOT failure. Front fogs are not part of the MOT Perhaps a bit of good news for you for once.

[SamHarrison]

Quote: Originally Posted by Root Ginger (original)

Front foglight glass will not be an MOT failure. Front fogs are not part of the MOT Perhaps a bit of good news for you for once.

woo hooo... this month is becomming cheaper...

[SamHarrison]

Quote: Originally Posted by Humph (original)

Sam, I'm assuming that you're referring to a comment I made in another thread last night. Having read the comment back it doesn't really read in the way it was intended and I apologize . As I said in the original post I really like your car, and the way it looks is a credit to you. My heart went out to you when I read the magazine article and I was impressed that you have stuck with the MINI. It was your article that planted the seed of doubt in my head as to whether I had done the right thing buying my 03 Cooper works, and when the clutch was replaced under warranty recently the car was soon replaced/updated as well. So here's to many trouble free miles ahead of you (& me).

i have been receiving some comments from other people too so dont worry. the usual suspect is that i've had so many gearboxes etc because i'm a bad driver.. i do drive fast but i never crunch gears etc..

plus the full story makes for an interesting read!!!

[CC07ERS]

dry your eyes mate it could be worse you could drive a 1ltr corsa

[deanquartermaine]

Quote: Originally Posted by SC06GVK (original)

dry your eyes mate it could be worse you could drive a 1ltr corsa

My ex girlfriend had a Corsa, what a shocking example of a car. I have never driven such a bad car.

There isn't a word to describe how bad the ride of a Corsa is

[Foxy Mini]

Quote: Originally Posted by SC06GVK (original)

dry your eyes mate it could be worse you could drive a 1ltr corsa

My sister does....and she has about 5 MINI keyrings on the key for it

One day she will get some taste I'm sure

[Bajanmini]

Here's my take on it,my cooper has had the midlands gearbox replaced at one year,the syncromesh on second gear is in question on this one,mind you it's out of warranty now so i've reported it ,am told the best to expect is good will.At BMW labour charges it would make more sense to get a workshop manual and buy an up graded gearbox from minimania and have an outside mecanic install it rather than pay to have another problem installed,i have an exaust and induction kit and plan to chip the engine,this will only compound the problem with more power.Window has been stuck for 3 months,read on here to give it a good wack and now it works again,no doubt the motor will have to be replaced in the future as stater on other treads.Boot rattles from 6 months old,thermometer in the rev counter dont work no more,door lock driver side dont work unless you insert the key and they are other quirks stated on this forum which i have not have the pleasure to expierence as yet.I am not bashing anyone and love my mini,but this is absolut nonsense coming from a company like BMW,who would believe they dont know about it with threads all over this forum .The car is a dream to drive as we all know,but have owned a Japanese car prior for 180.000 miles and certainly not had to replace a gearbox let alone twice.Regards